Skip to Search Skip to Live Player Skip to Content Skip to Footer

McDonald’s Is Adding Something New To The Big Mac Experience

Author Phil Harris
Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun! (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

I don’t go to McDonald’s as often as I once did, but when it does happen, I don’t even have to look at the menu. I’m a Big Mac man from way back. Now, I’m no Don Gorske, the Wisconsin man who holds the Guinness World Record for having eaten over 32,000 Big Macs since 1972, but I’ve had my fair share. For me, it’s all about the balance of meat, cheese, vegetables, bread, and that special sauce. More about the sauce later.

The Big Mac was invented by a McDonald’s franchisee named Jim Delligatti in 1967. He operated several Mickey D’s in the greater Pittsburgh area and unveiled his creation at his Uniontown, Pennsylvania location on April 22, 1967. McDonald’s took the Big Mac nationwide the following year. The name “Big Mac” came from Esther Glickstein Rose, a 21-year-old secretary working at McDonald’s corporate office in Chicago. There’s actually a Big Mac Museum located inside the McDonald’s at 9061 US-30 in Irwin/North Huntingdon, PA, about 30 minutes east of Pittsburgh, where you can learn all about the iconic burger.

Something I learned recently is that the price of a Big Mac can vary greatly depending on where you buy it. I found a map on Pantry & Larder that shows how much a Big Mac costs anywhere in America. At the moment, the cheapest Big Mac in the U.S. is being sold for $3.49 at a McDonald’s in Stigler, Oklahoma. Very reasonable. On the other hand, a Big Mac in Lee, Massachusetts will cost you $8.09. What!?!

The price of a Big Mac can also fluctuate even within the same city. Let’s take Charlotte, for example. The McDonald’s at 6428 Fairview Road, across the street from SouthPark Mall, sells Big Macs for $4.29. But at 3058 Eastway Drive, that same Big Mac is $5.20. That’s almost a dollar more just six miles away.

Aside from the price and the packaging, the Big Mac has remained virtually unchanged since the 1960s. Remember the styrofoam containers? However, McDonald’s is trying something new this year: Big Mac Sauce Dip Cups. That’s right, they have repackaged the famous Big Mac “special sauce” in a tiny cup for your fries, McNuggets, or anything else you want to dip. According to Forbes, customers can get the Big Mac Sauce Dip Cups starting April 27th but only through the McD’s app. Try it quick because the sauce will be available as a limited-time offer and only at participating U.S. restaurants.

Phil Harris is 50% of "Phil & Mel in the Afternoon" on K104.7. He has been with the station since 2013 and on the air in Charlotte since 2000. Before coming to the Queen City, Phil worked for radio stations in Pittsburgh, Austin, and Seattle. In addition to the weekly "Throwback Threesome" music video feature, Phil writes about things that matter to Charlotte sports fans and pet owners. He happens to be both.

McDonald’s Looking To Replace Plastic Straws With 'Sippy Cup' Drink Lids

Plastic straws may soon become a thing of the past at the Golden Arches. According to Restaurant Business, McDonald’s is testing strawless lids in select U.S. markets, including Minneapolis. The lids come with a pullback tab that keeps the top closed for transport and exposes a half-moon opening for drinking when pulled. The benefits allegedly include easy sipping and no spillage. They’ve also been compared to children’s sippy cups.

McDonald’s actually started phasing out plastic straws in favor of paper ones for environmental reasons back in 2018. That has not gone so well. Customers in the UK complained that the paper straws aren’t user-friendly. Furthermore, the paper straws were not recyclable even though they were supposed to save the planet. Ironically, the plastic ones are.

Eliminating single-use plastics is still a good idea because so much of them end up in the oceans. At the end of 2020, McDonald’s said 25% of restaurants in its 30 largest markets offered customers recycled packaging. The company has pledged to recycle food and beverage packaging in 100% of its restaurants by the end of 2025. This test of the strawless lids alone is expected to reduce 400 metric tons of plastic waste per year, even though the lids themselves are made of plastic.

This plan could work. McDonald’s has seen successful pilots of strawless lids in other countries, including China. In 2018, Starbucks made a commitment to ban plastic straws in its stores worldwide by 2020. The coffee chain followed through by introducing its own strawless recyclable lids across the U.S. and Canada.

Reviews of the strawless lids have been mixed. Today shared some tweets from McDonald’s customers:

  • It's a sippy cup!

  • Does it affect the taste?

  • Slight overreaction...

  • Save the turtles!

Sign me up for the K104.7 email newsletter!

Your favorite station is giving you exclusive access to some great content. Become a K 104.7 VIP Member and get exclusive access to music news, contests, quizzes, and MORE!

*
*
By clicking "Subscribe" I agree to the website's terms of Service and Privacy Policy. I understand I can unsubscribe at any time.
Author Phil Harris
Category:
Tags:
,,

More Phil Harris and Melany Myers

Load More