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A FORMER McDonald’s corporate chef has revealed the crucial reason why a popular chicken item has disappeared from the menu.
Customers haven’t been able to get the previously offered food option for years, and it may be their fault.
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The item in question is none other than grilled chicken.
McDonald’s notably started as strictly a burger chain back in the 1940s, but by the late 1970s and early 1980s, it added its very first chicken-based items — Chicken McNuggets and the McChicken.
Grilled chicken offerings arrived much later in 1994 with the McGrilled Chicken Classic and, most recently, the Artisan Grilled Chicken in 2015.
Grilled chicken was also included in its beloved Snack Wraps, but the variation vanished altogether in 2020 after the height of the coronavirus pandemic and never came back.
While the axing of grilled chicken offerings appeared to be somewhat of a vendor and logistics issue, Chef Mike Haracz (@chefmikeharacz) said it was the low demand that killed it in a recent clip on TikTok.
“It’s really because y’all didn’t buy enough,” Chef Mike told viewers.
“A lot of times there are menu items that need to meet a certain threshold to be profitable for McDonald’s to keep on the menu.”
He continued to note other health-conscious items that were also axed, seemingly due to lack of demand and, therefore, profitability, including salads.
TOO COMPLICATED
Chef Mike said McDonald’s found that customers would still buy the less healthy options even if they took the healthy ones away.
From a business perspective, it was costing them more to keep the grilled chicken, salads, and other selections rather than taking them away from those who did buy them.
“McDonald’s realized that if those options are not available, you’re still gonna come in and order the other thing,” Chef Mike noted.
“This also drastically simplifies things in the kitchen, the less different types of protein that they need to cook and have available at any given time, that makes things a lot easier.”
“The more they can make the same thing over and over again, it’s more profitable for McDonald’s,” the ex-McDonald’s chef added.
Still, several customers argued in the comments that certain items like Snack Wraps were bought up by a large group of customers.
The McDonald’s Snack Wrap
Fans have been begging the fast food chain to bring back the item to the menu, nearly 10 years after it disappeared
2006: The snack wrap was first introduced on menus in stores nationwide.
2016: McDonald’sbegan to phase out the wrap, with former and current employees saying it was too complicated and time-consuming compared to what it cost customers.
2020: Some individual franchises across the US were still able to make and sell the snack wraps for several years. By 2020, the item was removed across stores throughout the country.
2023: McDonald’s revealed it would increase its focus on chicken offerings, including a snack wrap, in the coming years.
2024: Stores in North Carolina were spotted testing McCrispy chicken strips, a key ingredient for the snack wrap.
2025: The snack wrap is expected to return to menus in the US.
WRAP RETURN
“Dude. Where the Snack Wraps go? I know ‘we’ did buy those! Please help!” someone exclaimed.
Another employee responded and confirmed that aside from demand, the process for the kitchen was “too complicated” and “slowed down” orders more than anything.
“Franchisees didn’t like it,” they claimed.
Those who loved the Snack Wraps are in luck, however, as McDonald’s confirmed it was working on it again in 2023.
It’s expected to make a hallowed return with crispy chicken instead of grilled, at McDonald’s over 14,000 locations in the United States next year.
Recently, the fast food giant has had other concerns, including an E.coli outbreak reportedly linked to its Quarter Pounder that left one dead and 49 sick.
Four other competing chains pulled some ingredients as a result.
McDonald’s also recently caused an uproar among fans when it released its Collector’s Meal Cups.
