McDonald's Pivots to Chicken in a Bid To Improve Weak Sales: Will It Work?

After a tepid Q4 earnings report that saw McDonald's miss a few key metrics, namely same-store sales open at least a year (down 1.4%), flat net sales, and an expectations miss in terms of overall revenue ($6.39 billion versus $6.44 projected by Wall Street), it appears that a simple focus on value proposition may not be enough to drive significant growth.

Now, as Quartz detailed, it appears that the red-and-yellow brand is pivoting to chicken menu offerings — as well as a return of some nostalgic promos — in order to recapture consumer interest.

McDonald's Brings Back Chicken Snack Wrap, Launches Chicken Strips, and Continues To Advertise McCrispy and Chicken Big Mac

One of the biggest pieces of news for fans of the Golden Arches was the reintroduction of the restaurant chain's beloved Chicken Snack Wrap to menus nationwide. During a Feb. 10 earnings call, via a transcription provided by The Motley Fool, president and CEO Chris Kempczinski briefly touched upon the high level of interest surrounding the snack wrap's return.

"This year, there is incredible energy for the return of Snack Wraps in the U.S., along with a few other markets," Kempczinski said.

Immediately afterward, the McDonald's CEO outlined the launch of a chicken strip menu offering coming in the near future and spoke to the usage of the company's popular Big Mac variant — the Chicken Big Mac — as a periodic attraction.

"We'll continue to pulse in the Chicken Big Mac as a limited-time-only offering over time. In 2024, the Chicken Big Mac helped generate chicken market share growth in France and the U.S.," he added.

McDonald's has had some success with chicken strips in the past, according to Mashed. The Chicken Selects were a hit during a nearly 10-year original run, as were the Buttermilk Crispy Tenders put forth in 2017. The COVID-19 pandemic curtailed the running time of the latter, but it appears that McDonald's is ramping up for a third kick at the can.

Finally, Kempczinski reiterated that McDonald's would continue its rollout of the McCrispy sandwich, which features an all-white meat chicken fillet — as opposed to the chopped and blended McChicken staple — as well as a buttered potato bun.

"We continue to roll out McCrispy, which is now in over 70 markets and will be available in nearly all markets by the end of 2025," the CEO stated.

McDonald's and Other Fast-Food Restaurants Turn to Chicken as Price of Beef Rises

There may also be another motivating factor for McDonald's to pivot toward a chicken-heavy menu besides appealing to consumer tastes: The price of chicken is very attractive compared to the price of beef.

Per a December 2024 report from The Washington Post, this latest push by the Golden Arches is emblematic of a longstanding trend of fast-food restaurants adopting more chicken-based offerings. Chicken is a convenient protein to prepare and is much less costly than its beef counterparts.

"If I’m a restaurant or a chain, I’ve got to put a meal in front of people they can afford,” said David Anderson, a livestock economist at Texas A&M University. “If I want to put something on a menu to reduce my costs, it makes a lot of sense to put a chicken item out there.”

Anderson indicated that, at the time, the price of a fresh, whole chicken in the U.S. was $1.99 a pound, versus about $5.59 per pound of ground beef.

Gesturing toward increased labor costs and persistent inflationary pressures affecting corporations and consumers alike, the Washington Post report suggested it was logical for McDonald's, and other restaurant brands, to move toward chicken as a result.

"McDonald’s chicken market is twice the size of beef and growing much faster, executives said in their most recent investor call. The fast-food giant serves about 300 million pounds of chicken each year, and its sales are now equally split between chicken and beef," Washington Post reporter Hannah Ziegler wrote.

"New chicken products contributed to 3 percent revenue growth and a slight same-store sales increase in the United States for the company during the third quarter," she added.

McDonald's was joined by both Burger King as well as Shake Shack in buffing up the number of chicken-based menu items last year, with the latter running a promotion for a free chicken sandwich with any purchase of $10 or more on Sundays. Burger King, on the other hand, built upon its launch of crispy chicken snack wraps with a Fiery Royal Chicken Sandwich and Fiery Chicken Fries last summer.