12 McDonald's Menu Items That Failed Spectacularly

[AsahinaKimi]

New product development always has a level of risk attached to it, and for fast food companies like McDonald's (NYSE: MCD - News), the pace of the business requires the constant creation of new menu items.

McDonald's has hundreds of different products that are offered in locations worldwide, but for every tremendously successful one like the iconic Big Mac, there's a spectacular failure.

Why? Ineffective marketing, bad product launches and consumer reluctance for change are common. But when you're dealing with food, there's always the simplest of reasons: people just don't like the taste.

We've compiled 12 of the biggest failures McDonald's has ever had. Some fizzled into obscurity, while others vanished completely.

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/113424/mcdonalds-menu-items-that-failed-bizinsider

McLobster
McGratin Croquette
Hula Burger
Pizza & McPizza
McSpaghetti
McAfrika
Arch Deluxe
McHotDog
McDLT
McLean Deluxe
Big N' Tasty
Super-size

0.0" that just mcSucks..(lol!)

[theophilus]

1. I liked the McDLT a lot. Back then it was more like food. n/t

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. +1 n/t

[Bluebear]

8. Loved em!

[Renew Deal]

11. I just found a ridiculous 80's McDLT commercial with Jason Alexander.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTSdUOC8Kac

:rofl:

[JHB]

34. Did anyone else half expect...

...him to start singing about Dr. Pepper?

"I've seen that commercial before.... for a completely different product!"

[XemaSab]

50. Dude...

That's the most 80's thing I've ever seen in my life.

[BoWanZi]

20. Me too!

[WCGreen]

21. Yep, that was good stuff.....

[joshcryer]

48. You can still sorta get it if you order a chicken sandwich without the chicken.

[AngryOldDem]

56. So did I. n/t

[vercetti2021]

2. Wow

Pizza & McPizza
McSpaghetti
McLobster

Those sound disgusting.

Big N tasty was good and super size every now and then.

They had hot dogs? Damn i learn something new each day.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

Don't forger the McCain

[OffWithTheirHeads]

4. Don't forget the McCain

[Shandris]

5. What surprises me is that someone who gets paid an unchristly amount of...

...money thought most of those were a good idea. I could have saved them a LOT of time with -most- of those.

McLobster? Please. That's like going to Don Pablo's for a cheeseburger. You don't cross specialties. Tertiary things (like shakes and the McCafe stuff) is okay. Diametrically opposed products are not.

McGratin? Do I really need to say anything? :P

Hula Burger is a niche. People SAY they like it more than they REALLY like it. Ask -anyone- who has ever worked at a pizza joint. Tons of people 'like' Hawaiian pizza...and you still make an average of 1/day.

McSpaghetti. Should have been marketed to kids only, otherwise you hit the 'cross genre' again. Chef Boyardee is cheaper and just as fast.

McAfrika. Yeah.

Arch Deluxe. HORSERADISH?!? Seriously? See the Hula Burger and change 'Hawaiian pizza' to 'things with horseradish'.

MrHotDog. Okay, this one I would have approved. When I used to go to McDonalds, I often wished they had a good hot dog.

McDLT. Great idea...too much effort. Also, backlash against styrofoam. Better packaging might have saved it.

McLean Deluxe. You DO realize this is McDonald's, right? Be happy you can sell a 'diet' coke.

Big 'N Tasty. Putting salt and pepper on the patty isn't a separate menu item!

Sorry so long, but this one piqued my interest. And darnit...now I'm hungry. :(

[bullwinkle428]

6. Why I love the Internet, Part 248. Check out this commercial for the McDLT

from the 1980s starring Jason Alexander of "Seinfeld" fame! :rofl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTSdUOC8Kac

[JVS]

7. The McDLT sneaks its way onto the menu under various guises.

Right now it's the Big n' Tasty

[Selatius]

31. Yeah, but even they ditched the Big N Tasty in most markets now.

The McDLT could work, but I think the packaging doomed the original incarnation. The article stated that people were becoming more environmentally conscious, and the packaging for the McDLT used a lot of styrofoam. If they used paper or cardboard paper like they do with Big Mac containers, they might be able to bring it back. I saw the hilarious commercial; it's funny and out of time, but the burger does still look good.

[JVS]

36. The reasoning for the McDLT packaging is really non-applicable now anyway.

The McDLT was designed to keep Burger King's whopper from taking market share (hence the tomatoes and lettuce), but one of the other big selling points of Burger King was that you could "have it your way." At the time McDonalds kept up a speed advantage by having several of each burger already made and under a heatlamp when you made your order. This was terrific for speed, as your cheesebuger could be grabbed off the shelf and put in your bag instantly, but it also meant that you couldn't specify the details of the burger. For example, there was no such thing as a quarter pounder without onions. The reason the whopper could offer lettuce and tomato on their burger is that they weren't sitting there under heat lamps, instead they were assembled according to order. The McDLT packaging allowed McDonalds to put a pre-made burger on the shelf and "keep the hot hot and the cool cool". But somewhere in the 90s the public got kind of grossed out by eating burgers that were pre-made and now McDonalds operates on a made to order basis too. This means they don't need to insulate the hot and cold separately, they can just put them together and pass them to you. It also means you can order your burger your way at McDonalds too.

[Occulus]

49. The Big N Tasty is now the Angus Burger

Almost the same ingredients, but 'upscale' quality.

[izquierdista]

9. I wouldn't know

The last time I ate at a McDonald's was 1975. Please let me know if they come up with something edible.

[Shandris]

13. If you are willing to accept that you will be ingesting large amounts of sugar...

...the only product of theirs I will buy is the Vanilla McCafe. It's surprisingly tasty, far more so than any other 'fast service' milkshake I've ever had. It's a relatively reasonable price, well sized, and rather thin (which, for me, is the selling point. I HATE thick shakes, ugh!).

It's not going to beat a $5 fountain shake of course, but you get what you pay for. For less than $3 here in Indiana, you can do much worse. I know I wouldn't have made it through those first few days after having my teeth extracted without them.

[joshcryer]

27. Their breakfast burritos are awesome!

[Renew Deal]

10. The only one of those that I think I remember is the McLobster

I feel like I saw that somewhere, though some Lobster Rolls are terrible enough to be McLobsters.

[Aerows]

12. The Arch Deluxe was awful

They put some kind of strange sauce on it. McLobster sounds like that might have been pretty tasty LOL.

[flvegan]

14. McLobster?

Really?

[Yupster]

16. Honey - for our anniversary I'm going to take you out or a lobster dinner

Surprise.

[Gormy Cuss]

18. They had the temerity to debut that in Maine.

Really.

[flvegan]

19. Shut the front door.

They did not.

[TlalocW]

15. I remember the McPizza fondly

It was essentially a Hot Pocket (before Hot Pockets), and it tasted like high school pizza, but when you're in high school like I was, it was pretty good.

TlalocW

[Hugabear]

17. Everything on their menu SHOULD be a fail

Complete, total, utter crap. Nutritional failure aside, most of their food just tastes awful.

[Ter]

23. Your opinion

I think their burgers taste better than home-made burgers, and their McNuggets are amazing. :)

[joshcryer]

28. Depends, imo, they can't beat a fire grilled burger. But I agree.

For a quick snack (if you have a 5000 calorie a day work load) they're great.

[Hugabear]

38. My opinion yes, but I can think of plenty of better tasting fast food options

I rarely do fast-food burgers, but when I do, IMHO there are much better tasting options.

In my area, I'd have to say that Checkers is usually the best tasting fast-food burger joint.

[joshcryer]

47. I'd have to agree about Checkers, definitely. But for me, a couple of double cheese burgers for $1.

...can't be beat when I'm hungry and on the go. :P

Yes, they're unhealthy, but I need a lot of calories during long days.

[Skittles]

52. their FRIES

still awesome after all these decades :D

[WCGreen]

22. They had roast beef for awhile...

[Kennah]

24. Anyone could see that McAfrika would fail ...

... but they never tried a McJeffrey kids meal, complete with furry wall?

[Lasher]

25. I wish I could get a McRib right now.

[joshcryer]

26. Big N' Tasty was freaking awesome, precursor to the dollar menu, imo.

I loved the Big N' Tasty! Totally crapped on the Big Mac because its secret sauce was ... mayo.

[Morning Dew]

32. I loved the Big N' Tasty too.

Not quite big enough but much more tasty than anything else on the menu.

[dionysus]

55. thousand island dressing

[BadgerKid]

29. No McTongue and McTripe, eh?

Probably wouldn't go over so well with mainstream American tastes.

[clu]

30. as much as i hate to say it

they nailed it with the premium chicken sandwiches. it's a little more than whataburger's grilled chicken fillet, but they use better cuts of chicken breast

[Divine Discontent]

33. I find BK's is better chicken, but yes, they got better with the McD version. I liked the McPizza,

but I cannot believe they actually had a McLobster sandwich for $6, and debuted it in Maine! That surely made them laugh!

[TheManInTheMac]

35. McAfrika?

"The McAfrika was one of the biggest marketing catastrophes McDonald's ever caused for itself. It contained beef, cheese, tomatoes and salad in a pita-like sandwich.

It was released in 2002 during a slew of famines in southern Africa. McDonald's apologized and pulled the item, once the PR crisis heated up.

McDonald's did it again with the McAfrica in a 2008 promotion for the Olympics. Unsurprisingly, it received a similar negative outcry."



Well some people just can't take a joke.

[deminks]

37. We can still order the Big N' Tasty here. It's not on the menu,

but you can still order one. At least you could a month ago, last time I went.

[laundry_queen]

39. I loved at least 3 of those

I can't believe how many people dislike the Arch deluxe. When that was out, when our family went to McDonalds, everyone ordered THAT. LOL. 4 Arch Deluxes, once a week. Can't say we didn't try to keep them going. We all bitched and complained when it vanished. We all liked the McDLT too! Their pizza wasn't that bad. I liked it quite a bit. For awhile, that's all my brother would eat when we went there. I don't remember any of the other ones - Oh, I remember the McLean Deluxe but never tried it. My mom, who will try anything prefaced with lean, light or diet said it was too dry so I never bothered.

Some of those things I can tell just from the names they were going to tank - McLobster? wtf? They've come out with some good ones recently though. One of the newer one tastes just like the McDLT used to, but I can't remember what it's called. I admit, I love McDonalds. Although, now it's a rare treat as I'm too broke for even McDonalds. The good stuff is really pricey now.

[AsahinaKimi]

40. I never tried any of them..

I love lobster but.. a MCLobster scares me.

[HappyMe]

41. Why isn't that hideous McRib barf on the list? nt

[Shandris]

42. ...because it's one of their highest-selling sandwiches?

[HappyMe]

43. Ugh!

It's funky. I'm not sure that it should even be called meat.


:puke:

[Shandris]

51. Hahaha. Totally agree with ya there!

Once upon a time, I thought they were 'good'. Compared to what my dad's fridge consisted of when I was growing up (he was a truck driver, out all week, once the entirety of the fridge's contents were -- no kidding -- a half jar of mayo and a bottle of ketchup (!)), it was. But now that I'm an adult, you'd be hard-pressed to PAY me to eat that. Or anything from there, other than the aforementioned McCafe when I had my teeth pulled.

[onager]

44. McDonald's in Egypt delivered.

Right to your door. You just called, placed the order and it arrived...well, eventually. Usually pretty quick, though.

The delivery vehicles were motor-scooters with a closed box on the back. So if you were finicky, you had to think about your food sitting in dense traffic, absorbing tons of hydrocarbons during the trip.

I lived in Alexandria, and an absolute highlight of my life was when Burger King finally opened there, in 2007. I always preferred Whoppers to McDonalds, and the Egyptian version tasted exactly like the American original.

Another good Egyptian junk-food place was Hardee's, which sold good hot dogs. Though not as good as the Foot-Long Dog/Fries at the Mouslim Sandwich Shop, a small joint right down the street from my apartment. All the employees looked like Osama bin Laden, but those guys made a great dog.

Travel Tip: don't EVER go to a KFC in the Middle East. I made that mistake in Saudi Arabia, an experience that convinced me Col. Sanders should have been executed by firing squad.

Look for a "Tikkah Chicken" place instead, which are all over the place. You get more, better and cheaper food than The Colonel.

I had it even better in Alexandria. I could walk out my door and see about a dozen "street chicken" stands. A whole roast chicken, fresh hot flat-bread, and a serving of great spicy vegetables for about 3 bucks American. And no, I never got sick.

[craigmatic]

45. supersize didn't fail. It was actually very popular. That movie ended it though.

[Buns_of_Fire]

46. I never cared much for the McLiver or Rocky Mountain Oyster McNuggets. nt

[jmowreader]

53. McLobster is a lobster roll, not something strange and unusual

It's something you can only sell in New England because the rest of the world has no fucking idea what a lobster roll is.

[Scurrilous]

54. The McDLT & the Arch Deluxe were pretty good.

Alas.:P