McDonald's Discontinued Its Grilled Chicken for a Reason, Ex-Chef Says
From Chicken McNuggets to McCrispy sandwiches, McDonald's restaurants in the United States sell a variety of popular fried chicken menu items. But the fast-food giant's menu has lacked a grilled chicken option for the past few years, and a chain insider just revealed why that's the case.
McDonald's restaurants used to offer a Grilled Chicken Sandwich to appeal to more health-conscious consumers who stopped by for a bite, but the offering was discontinued in 2020. According to Mike Haracz, a former McDonald's corporate chef turned TikToker (@chefmikeharacz), the company opted to retire the sandwich because "y'all didn't buy enough."
"A lot of times, there are menu items that need to meet a certain threshold to be profitable for McDonald's to keep them on the menu. For a time, they had salads. They had grilled chicken. They had better-for-you options for those people who want to eat a little better," he explained in a video earlier this month.
McDonald's ultimately realized that customers wouldn't stop visiting the chain if it pulled those lower performing, healthier options from menus. Per Haracz, the company knew that customers would continue spending money at its restaurants and just opt for the less healthy menu items instead.
Another benefit of eliminating grilled chicken, according to the former corporate chef, is that it "drastically simplifies things in the kitchen."
"The [fewer] different types of protein that they need to cook and have available at any given time, that makes things a lot easier," he said. "The more they can make the same thing over and over again, it's more profitable for McDonald's."
While McDonald's may benefit from the lack of grilled chicken, many customers are still grieving the loss of the healthier option to this day.
"The Grilled Chicken Sandwich was actually so good back in the day. I do miss it," one lamented in the comments section on Haracz' video.
"The Grilled Chicken Sandwiches were delicious. I worked there for a couple of years in high school and snuck 'em all the time," another wrote.
Though the chances of seeing grilled chicken return to McDonald's seem slim to nonexistent, the chain recently pulled another beloved discontinued menu item out of retirement: the McRib. The barbecue pork sandwich (520 calories) was last available in the fall of 2023, and it's returning to participating locations for a limited time starting on Dec. 3. McDonald's is also selling half-gallon jugs of its McRib sauce online for a limited time and while supplies last.
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