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Summary List PlacementMcDonald's, the largest fast-food chain in the world, has been around for over 60 years. During that time, much has changed at the restaurant, including its menu.
What started out as a small barbecue shack serving 15-cent burgers has now become a global empire making billions of dollars each year. As time has gone on, tastes have changed and menu items have been continuously added and removed.
Some menu items like the McPizza and Fish McBites have long been forgotten. Other menu items have stood the test of time, including the famous Big Mac.
Here's how the McDonald's menu has changed since its beginnings in the 1940s.
SEE ALSO: THEN AND NOW: Photos show how McDonald's has changed through the years, from its menu to its mascot
The very first McDonald's menu was large. However, in 1948, the McDonald brothers reduced the restaurant's offerings down to just nine items.
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The new menu included hamburgers, cheeseburgers, soft drinks, milk, coffee, potato chips, and a slice of pie.
Needless to say, the menu has drastically expanded since then.
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In 2013, McDonald's had a whopping 145 items on its menu, with more being added consistently. Around the world, McDonald's visitors can try a variety of exclusive menu items not available in the US, like a chicken sandwich topped with mozzarella sticks in South Korea.
However, the coronavirus outbreak has caused the menu to shrink once again.
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McDonald's stopped serving all-day breakfast and removed its chicken tenders, grilled chicken sandwich, and salads from menus nationwide.
"To simplify operations in our kitchens and for our crew, and ensure the best possible experience for our customers, we are working with our franchisees and local restaurants to focus on serving our most popular choices and will begin temporarily removing some items from the menu," Bill Garrett, McDonald's senior vice president of operations, said in a statement to Business Insider in March 2020.
While some items, like the Bacon McDouble, are back, others have been permanently cut from the menu.
In 1949, potato chips were swapped with french fries and McDonald's began selling milkshakes.
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The new item called Triple Thick Milkshakes were made using Multimixer. The addition of milkshakes to the McDonald's menu would completely shift the future of the chain.
After Multimixer salesman Ray Kroc visited the original McDonald's brothers to sell them more mixers, he became intrigued in the business. He would go on to purchase the small business and become the tycoon and leader of the fast-food giant for 30 years.
Today we also have the McFlurry, which was created in Canada in 1995.
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McFlurries have come out in a variety of delicious flavors including Oreo, M&M, and the brand new Oreo Shamrock McFlurry.
In addition to McFlurries, McDonald's still offers "triple-thick" milkshakes in chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.
The first new item to be added to the national menu was the Filet-O-Fish sandwich in 1965.
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It was created in 1962 by Lou Groen, a McDonald's franchise owner in Cincinnati, Ohio, after he realized hamburger sales were declining on Fridays during the season of Lent. By 1965, it was a staple on menus nationwide and is still popular each spring.
It's still a popular choice. In 2009, a McDonald's commercial advertising the Filet-O-Fish went viral.
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The ad, which showed a bass wall decoration singing "Gimme Back That Filet-O-Fish" cemented the sandwich's place in McDonald's history.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, 300 million Filet-O-Fish sandwiches were sold in 2013 alone.
In 1968, the Big Mac was released nationwide.
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Created by owner and operator Jim Delligatti of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1967, the first "Big Mac" featured a triple-decker burger and sold for 45 cents.
When the burger was chosen to roll out across the US, there was a lot of deliberation over the name. Two other name options included the Aristocrat and the Blue Ribbon Burger, but both were nixed.
However, Esther Glickstein Rose, a 21-year-old secretary for the company's advertising department in 1967, had the winning name — "Big Mac." According to the AP, executives and other employees at the time laughed at the name. However, it stuck and went on to become "one of the best-known product names of all time."
Today, an estimated 900 million Big Macs are sold each year around the world.
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Little has changed about the burger's appearance since its debut. However, McDonald's announced on October 1, 2018, that it would remove all artificial preservatives, flavors, and coloring from the Big Mac.
Before the pandemic, the chain introduced a larger version of the Big Mac, the Double Mac.
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The Double Big Mac contains four beef patties instead of two. The chain also released a smaller version of the Big Mac, called the Little Mac, that only has one patty and two buns.
The coronavirus pandemic and meat plant closures caused some competing chains to cut back on stacked burgers. However, while McDonald's says its meat supply chain has been unaffected, the double-stacked Big Mac has been removed from menus, at least for now.
But its burger offerings haven't stopped with the Big Mac. The Quarter Pounder was released in 1971 and, in 2007, McDonald's released an Angus Third Pounder burger.
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Southern California franchisee Mike Pernecky had asked the chain to release a burger bigger than the Quarter Pounder. Pernecky worked with the McDonald's corporate culinary team to develop the Angus burgers, helping the chain to release the new entrée in Deluxe, Bacon & Cheese, and Mushroom & Swiss styles.
However, after a three-month deliberation, McDonald's made the decision to pull its thicker burgers in 2013. That same year, McDonald's also pulled its Fish McBites, a spin-off of the popular Filet-O-Fish sandwich.
These days, you can't get a Third Pounder, but you can get a Double Quarter Pounder.
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However, while Double Quarter Pounders are a staple on most US-based McDonald's menus, you won't always find them worldwide.
In August 2019, McDonald's announced it would be bringing the famous burger back to the UK and Ireland after an eight-year hiatus. However, the burger only remained on menus for seven weeks before it was discontinued again.
The chain's recent Travis Scott collaboration — featuring a Quarter Pounder — sent McDonald's fans into a frenzy.
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The "Cactus Jack" meal includes a Quarter Pounder with cheese, bacon, and lettuce, plus a medium fry with barbecue sauce, and a Sprite with extra ice, all for just $6.
After its release, the meal deal exploded on the internet, even causing some locations to experience a burger shortage as a result of the hoards of people trying to get their hands on Scott's signature order.
Chicken McNuggets were added to menus in 1983.
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According to USA Today, many diners in the 1980s were looking to reduce their fat intake and were shaking up their diets by introducing more lean protein and poultry and cutting out red meat. For McDonald's, adding chicken to their menu was a no-brainer.
McDonald's brought out a spicy version of its chicken McNuggets in September 2020.
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The new menu item is thought to be in response to the flourishing market for fast-food chicken products, as well as the smash success of Wendy's spicy chicken nuggets.
However, Business Insider's resident fast-food taste-tester Irene Jiang found that while the idea for spicy chicken nuggets is interesting, the reality fell far short of her expectations.
McDonald's debuted the McChicken in 1980, and it was a disappointment at first.
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The chicken sandwich didn't perform as well as expected and was quickly replaced with the now-famous Chicken McNuggets. After the chicken nuggets took off, the McChicken made its way back onto menus in 1988.
It was removed and re-released several times over the next decade, only to be removed most recently at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
However, in 2021, McDonald's released its newest entry into the infamous fast-food chicken sandwich wars: the Crispy Chicken Sandwich.
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The sandwich was released nationally on February 24 after a successful testing period in select cities.
The sandwich comes in three versions: original, spicy, and deluxe. Some have compared the chain's new offerings with competitors like Chick-fil-A, and one Insider reporter even noted that they tasted almost identical.
Chicken Selects debuted in 2004 and became a massive success.
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However, they disappeared off of menus in 2013.
"As always, we are constantly evolving our menu and listening to our customers to meet their changing needs," McDonald's representative Danya Proud said in a statement.
In 2017, McDonald's answered fans and foodies' prayers by bringing back their tenders under the new name Buttermilk Crispy Tenders.
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"Our customers expect and deserve more from us, which pushed us to not only pursue a buttermilk crispy tender option but also ensure 100% white meat chicken with no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives," a McDonald's representative told Business Insider at the time. "We are now also offering our most extensive line of dipping sauces ever with this new dish."
After they were released, they promptly sold out in a huge success not replicated until the Popeyes chicken sandwich. The chicken tenders still appear to be a popular menu item, despite being temporarily removed from menus as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Happy Meals came out in 1979.
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The original idea for the Happy Meal is said to have come from a McDonald's employee in Guatemala named Yolanda Fernández de Cofiño. Fernández de Cofiño developed a meal deal she called the "Menu Ronald," which included a hamburger, small fries, and a small sundae specifically for kids.
McDonald's advertising executive Bob Bernstein then introduced the idea to swap the small sundae for a plastic toy. In 1979, McDonald's rolled out its first Happy Meal nationwide. The first one was circus-themed.
However, in the early 2000s, McDonald's faced criticism of its meals marketed towards children as childhood obesity continued to rise.
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In 2018, McDonald's removed chocolate milk and cheeseburgers from its Happy Meal menu.
The chain has promised that at least 50% of Happy Meals will be 600 or fewer calories and also have reduced sodium, saturated fat, and added sugar by 2022.
The infamous McRib sandwich first appeared on McDonald's menus in 1981.
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After four years of lackluster sales, it was removed from the chain's menu. However, in 1989, the McRib returned. Until 2005, the item could be found on many McDonald's menus worldwide and is a staple at locations in Germany and Luxembourg.
In December 2020, the McRib made its triumphant return.
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McDonald's relaunched its McRib sandwich across the US on December 2, 2020, after legions of McRib fans begged the fast-food chain to bring the menu item back nationally for years.
The fast-food chain had been hyping up the menu item's long-awaited return for weeks, including launching a sweepstake that gives 10,000 fans the chance to get a free sandwich. Though the menu item was released for a limited time, it still appears to be available as of March 3.
McDonald's introduced the "Supersize" option in April 1992.
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Supersize fries came in a 7-ounce carton, versus the 6-ounce carton of the "large" fries size. In 2004, McDonald's announced it would be phasing out its supersized options in what spokesman Walt Riker described as a move towards "menu simplification."
Many, however, believed the action to be a result of the 2004 documentary film, "Supersize Me," in which filmmaker Morgan Spurlock ate McDonald's food every day for a month and documented his deteriorating health.
Riker said at the time that the decision had "nothing to do with that (film) whatsoever."
In 2004, Mcdonald's released its "Real Life Choices" menu with "healthier" options.
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The menu featured items considered to be low-fat, low-calorie, and low-carb, including a grilled chicken sandwich and fruit yogurt.
"We created the McDonald's Real Life Choices program to make it easy for our customers to eat at McDonald's no matter what their lifestyle," Ed Acre, a McDonald's restaurant owner, said at the time.
Now, you won't find a specific diet menu at McDonald's, although salads were available before the coronavirus pandemic.
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However, salads were removed as part of the new, "simplified" coronavirus pandemic menu.
Plant-based fast food items are all the rage today, but McDonald's began developing vegetarian burgers years ago.
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In 2012, McDonald's opened its first vegetarian restaurant in Amritsar, India. In India, most of the population are Hindu and don't consume beef, and in 2012, 42% of the population reported avoiding meat altogether.
According to McDonald's India's website, the menu still offers a number of interesting vegetarian menu items, including the McVeggie and the vegan McAloo which features a fried patty made from potatoes and peas.
Today, plant-based menu options are soaring in popularity, and McDonald's is poised to release its own Beyond Meat burger in all US locations.
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Though the burger has yet to roll out nationwide, Business Insider had the opportunity to try the new menu item, which comes off the heels of the successful Impossible Whopper sold at Burger King.
There's a huge opportunity in the fast-food industry for vegan and vegetarian menu items. According to a previous article by Business Insider, the addition of the Impossible Whopper showed to boost sales at Burger King, something analysts believe McDonald's may be trying to replicate in its own restaurants.
In 1972, Herb Peterson of Santa Barbara, California, pitched his latest creation to McDonald's owner Ray Croc — it was what we now know as the Egg McMuffin.
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Kroc later told the story of how the Egg McMuffin came to be in his 1977 autobiography, "Grinding it Out: The Making of McDonald's."
"He didn't want me to reject it out of hand, which I might have done, because it was a crazy idea — a breakfast sandwich," Kroc wrote. "It consisted of an egg that had been formed in a Teflon circle, with the yolk broken, and was dressed with a slice of cheese and a slice of grilled Canadian bacon. This was served open-faced on a toasted and buttered English muffin. I boggled a bit at the presentation. But then I tasted it, and I was sold."
According to Time, Patty Turner, the wife of a McDonald's executive, came up with the name "Egg McMuffin." By 1975, the Egg McMuffin was being sold nationwide for the low price of 63 cents.
By 1981, breakfast accounted for 18% of all McDonald's sales, Time reported.
Usually, you can get your McDonald's Egg McMuffin — and many other breakfast items — any time of day.
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In 1993, McDonald's opened the first McCafé in Melbourne, Australia. In 2015, the company expanded its breakfast menu to be all day. McDonald's also released two new chicken-based breakfast sandwiches nationwide in an effort to compete with rival restaurants Chick-fil-A, Wendy's, and Popeyes.
However, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, McDonald's breakfast has been limited to just the morning.
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McDonald's US President Joe Erlinger tweeted after the announcement in March, "All day breakfast's response to this news: 'I'll be back.'"
However, six months later, All Day Breakfast still has not returned, and many McDonald's franchisees and workers are rallying for the famous all-day menu to never return.
"As McDonald's and franchisees evaluate if and how we bring All Day Breakfast back to our menus, we want to ensure these improvements will remain consistent for our customers,"McDonald's said in a statement to Business Insider. "Any final decision will be made in partnership with our franchisees, based on consumer demand, and designed to drive the business while minimizing operational disruptions."
The chain also sells coffee — in 1993, McDonald's opened the first McCafé in Melbourne, Australia.
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The new coffee chain would operate as a smaller sect of the larger McDonald's franchise. The first US location opened in Chicago, Illinois, in 2001. McDonald's relaunched McCafé branded products in 2017 after shifting its focus away from the coffee brand.
Brick-and-mortar McCafé locations have closed, but customers can still get McCafé drinks in McDonald's locations.
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You can purchase everything from coffee favorites like caramel macchiatos and french vanilla lattes to the iconic Shamrock Shake.
McDonald's restaurants in Hawaii began serving Spam, eggs, and rice for breakfast in 2002.
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Spam is extremely popular on the island state. However, while one Hawaii-based blogger said you could still find the item on Hawaiian McDonald's menus in 2019, Spam appears to have since been removed.
You can still get a breakfast platter from McDonald's in most locations nationwide.
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The McDonald's Big Breakfast platter includes a biscuit, sausage, scrambled eggs, pancakes, and hash browns.
McDonald's has had a number of seemingly strange items on its menu, including pizza.
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A national menu item in the 1980s and 1990s, McDonald's pizza is now discontinued in most locations. As of 2017, there were only three McDonald's locations in the US that still sold it — Pomeroy, Ohio; Spenser, West Virginia; and Orlando, Florida.
Now, according to Yelp reviews, only the Orlando location still sells pizza, which makes sense considering it is one of the largest McDonald's in the world. The menu also includes paninis.
Another unusual addition to the McDonald's menu was lobster rolls in the early '90s.
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The very first "McLobster" was released in 1993 and was brought back on-and-off throughout the 2000s.
In 2016, McDonald's relaunched its $9 lobster roll in a number of New England locations. Made with "100% North Atlantic lobster meat," the rolls have yet to make their buttery return to menus in the past few years.
There are a number of other McDonald's menu items you can no longer order in the US, including mozzarella sticks and McSpaghetti.
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