McDonald's Introduces Two New Sandwiches Across the Country to Its Menu

McDonald's, a fast-food giant, has introduced a new take on a modern classic, rolling out nationwide. The chain has a huge portfolio of billion-dollar brands, giving it flexibility in adding new versions of fan-favorite items to its menu. Wendy's has been leaning on its iconic Frosty to excite customers by dropping vanilla multiple times per year to add something new or bring back a favorite seasonal flavor. Burger King has leveraged its signature sandwich, the Whopper, in an absurd amount of ways, holding a $1 million contest in which customers were asked to submit Whopper ideas and regularly offering new versions of its most popular sandwich.

McDonald's (MCD) has an embarrassment of riches, at least when it comes to billion-dollar brands. Core menu items, such as the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Chicken McNuggets, and World-Famous Fries, represent about 65% of systemwide sales and driving profitable growth. The company can innovate by making small changes to any one of these highly popular items. When Popeye's revolutionized the fast-food chicken sandwich, McDonald's tried a few different sandwiches before settling on the Crispy Chicken Sandwich, which was renamed the McCrispy after joining the chain's permanent menu.

The success of the McCrispy Chicken Sandwich offers menu expansion and limited-time-offer opportunities for the chain worldwide. In the U.K., McDonald's continued to drive excitement in chicken by creating fresh takes on new global favorites. This past quarter, the market featured a new line extension, McCrispy Deluxe, offered alongside the McCrispy and the McSpicy in the market. By combining strong execution of core menu offerings with new flavor news and limited additional complexity, McDonald's continues to strengthen its chicken credibility with customers and maintain its market-share leadership in the chicken category.