McDonald’s wants you to believe that chicken is the next great American breakfast meat.
Sound farfetched?
Remember, this is the company that revolutionized the chicken world with the McNugget, and two years ago slapped some poultry in a tortilla, called it a Snack Wrap and created one of the hottest concepts in fast food.
McDonald’s just launched a marketing blitz for a new fried-chicken breakfast biscuit and fried chicken sandwich, each dubbed Southern-style. It’s one of the company’s biggest launches in the past two years and marks the debut of chicken on McDonald’s breakfast menu.
How well fried Southern food will play in the North is an open question. But the line underscores the importance of chicken to the Oak Brook-based fast-food giant.
It’s not that McDonald’s, the globe’s hamburger heavyweight, is veering away from beef. The company’s biggest-selling sandwich is the double cheeseburger. But chicken is where more of the action is.
McDonald’s last big national burger rollout was the Big N’ Tasty in 2001. But the company has added a new chicken item to its menu every year since 2003, said Wade Thoma, vice president of U.S. menu management for McDonald’s.
In addition to its wrap, the firm has added a line of chicken-based salads and a family of premium chicken sandwiches. Plus, McDonald’s plans “some kind of new chicken news” each year through at least 2011, Thoma said.
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Chicken talk
McDonald’s Southern-style items are simple affairs. The sandwich, which costs $2.89, comes on a plain steamed bun, with butter and two pickles as condiments. The biscuit, $1.89, comes adorned only with butter. On Thursday, customers who buy any medium or large drink at any U.S. McDonald’s can receive a free Southern-style sandwich or breakfast biscuit.
