McDonald’s Promises To Speed Up Burger Innovation. Here’s How

McDonald’s has long been at the forefront of fast-food innovation, and now the burger giant promises that it is going to shake up and speed up its innovation. Let’s take a look at how it plans to do that.

McDonald’s Wants To Get Things to Market Quickly

In an exclusive interview with the Wall Street Journal, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski claimed that the burger company is shaking up its operations and development teams to get new menu items and technology to locations faster. Recent efforts to produce new sandwiches, including a years-long process to enhance McDonald’s famous burgers, have taken far too long.

McDonald’s is attempting to regain traction in a challenging market for fast-food franchises. Consumers are dissatisfied, and some have started to regard fast food as overly pricey. Numerous restaurant businesses have expressed low financial forecasts for this year, citing concerned customers and geopolitical uncertainty.

Kempczinski, who has led the world’s largest fast-food chain by sales since 2019, said McDonald’s strategic objectives emphasize greater agility, but the business needs to speed up the deployment of new goods and technology to restaurants and enhance store coordination.

Jill McDonald will be the chain’s first chief restaurant experience officer under the new structure, effective May 1. McDonald presently leads the company’s worldwide division, which encompasses Europe, Canada, and Australia.

“I wanted one person who’s actually looking at all these tech things through the eyes of the restaurant general manager,” Kempczinski said. “We just need to make sure that our menu offering doesn’t give somebody a reason why they come to us for their food and they maybe go to the place next door to go get the beverage.”

McDonald’s also plans to expand to 50,000 locations by 2027, up from a current 43,500 restaurants. Kempczinski expressed hope that the new innovation structure will help McDonald’s gain market share in the coming year, notably in beef, chicken, and coffee.

The Controversial Grimace Tumbler

While the fast-food giant is still struggling to attract new and returning customers following an E. coli outbreak last year, it received some positive press in February for its controversial but beloved Grimace tumbler.

The controversy arose, however, when U.S. customers were disappointed to learn that McDonald’s had launched the new product exclusively in Australia.

The limited-edition Grimace Tumbler is a purple insulated cup with a yellow cover bearing the popular character’s visage. McDonald’s Australia also noted that it is “a 1.18L stainless steel tumbler that is double wall vacuum insulated.”

“It’s the perfect accessory — keeping drinks cold for up to 24 hours and hot for up to 6 hours,” the website wrote at the time, adding that all sales would benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities Australia.

As evidenced by the comments on a Facebook post, American admirers of the purple monster were extremely unhappy when they discovered they couldn’t get their hands on one of the cups.

“These are only available in Australia, and I’m honestly so deeply saddened,” one commented.

“I’m in the U.S., and if I can’t get my hands on this I’m throwing a fit!!” a different fan wrote.

“Dear McDonald’s, stop showing us cool stuff like this if we are unable to get it. It really just makes us dislike you,” another upset customer stated.

Grimace is one of McDonald’s most popular pantheon figures. Most recently, he and his long-lost uncle, Uncle O’Grimacey (who was initially featured in a marketing campaign in the 1970s), announced the reintroduction of the iconic Shamrock Shake.

A press release stated, “This Shamrock Season celebration came to life when Grimace stumbled upon his family’s original Shamrock Shake recipe. That discovery sparked Grimace to reconnect with his vibrant, joyful, and generous uncle, Uncle O’Grimacey.”