The McDonald's Premium line is a group of products introduced by McDonald's in the spring of 2003. It includes the company's larger chicken sandwiches, its salad line, and its coffee products. The sandwiches are targeted at various demographic markets, the grilled chicken sandwiches and salads are targeted at both the female and health-conscious demographic markets. [1] [2] The entire line is intended to bring in a larger, more affluent, adult audience seeking better quality products. [3]
McDonald's line of larger chicken sandwiches (The Classic, Club and Ranch BLT) [4] were introduced in July 2005 as part of McDonald's menu revamp.
The classic includes Lettuce, Tomato, and Mayo. The Club also has Lettuce Tomato and Mayo, but also comes with Swiss cheese and bacon. The ranch BLT comes with a creamy ranch sauce, Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato.
All three can be chosen with either buttermilk crispy or grilled chicken and all are served on a honey wheat roll.
A Spicy Chicken sandwich, with chipotle spices in the breading, was part of the premium line for a limited time in 2006. It was made the same way as a Classic, but with ranch instead of mayo. The spicy Chicken was brought back temporarily in late 2008, but it was not part of the premium line. In 2011, the honey wheat roll for the sandwiches was replaced with a whole grain bakery style bun to make the sandwiches "more neutral" in flavor. The entire Premium Chicken sandwich line was replaced in 2015 by the Crispy Chicken Deluxe (in August renamed the Buttermilk Crispy Chicken Sandwich) and the Grilled Chicken Deluxe, two sandwiches that were part of the ill-fated Deluxe sandwich line in 1996 and have been slightly reformulated, meaning that they are now served on artisan rolls.
The Premium product line in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom includes McDonald's salad products. First introduced in March 2003, the salads all are a mixture of iceberg lettuce and a lettuce assortment (romaine, etc.), with cherry tomatoes and different toppings to differentiate them; Each salad is sold plain or topped with either a grilled or crispy chicken patty which has been chopped and added to the salad just prior to selling. The line includes varieties of Newman's Own salad dressing that are tailored for each type of salad. The line includes:
Additional dressing flavors offered include a low fat Italian dressing and low fat balsamic vinaigrette. [5]
The advertising for its chicken strips product has been modified so that the word Premium appears in its description in its print, online and broadcast media. The word is capitalized, which indicates its association with the line.
McDonald's stopped selling chicken selects in 2013, but they were brought back for a limited time promotion in March 2015 to combat McDonald's low sales.
In the United States McDonald's has upgraded its coffee line. In the Northeastern States coffee is sold under the Newman's Own brand. In 2007 McDonald's expanded the Premium coffee line to include flavored iced coffee. In 2008–2009 it was expanded once more to lattes, cappuccinos and mochas in the North American market.
The Premium coffee line is designed to compete in the high end coffee segment created by Peet's Coffee, specifically the international chains Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts and is advertised under the McCafé brand. [6]
A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or chilis; condiments such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, relish, or a "special sauce", often a variation of Thousand Island dressing; and are frequently placed on sesame seed buns. A hamburger patty topped with cheese is called a cheeseburger.
A BLT is a type of sandwich, named for the initials of its primary ingredients, bacon, lettuce, and tomato. It can be made with varying recipes according to personal preference. Simple variants include using different types of lettuce or tomato, toasting or not, or adding mayonnaise. More pronounced variants can include using turkey bacon or tofu in place of bacon, or removing the lettuce entirely.
Cheese fries or cheesy chips is a dish consisting of French fries covered in cheese, with the possible addition of various other toppings. Cheese fries are generally served as a lunch or dinner dish. They can be found in fast-food locations, diners, and grills mainly in English speaking countries.
The McChicken is a chicken sandwich sold by the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's. In some countries, such as Australia, India, New Zealand, and the UK, it is considered to be a chicken burger, especially given it is not a sandwich as that word is understood in some of those non-American varieties of English. It consists of a toasted wheat bun, a breaded patty, shredded lettuce and mayonnaise.
The TenderCrisp is a chicken sandwich sold by international fast-food restaurant chain Burger King and its Australian franchisee, Hungry Jack's. It is one of their "indulgent" products.
A wrap is a culinary dish made with a soft flatbread rolled around a filling.
Buttermilk Crispy Tenders were chicken strips sold by the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's in the United States and Canada. Chicken Selects were introduced in early 1998 for a limited time and offered again in early 2002 and late 2003 and then permanently starting in 2004. In the UK, they were launched on the "Pound Saver Menu", which offers various menu items for £0.99.
As far back as the 1970s, international fast food restaurant chain Burger King has attempted to introduce a premium line of burgers. These sandwiches are part of a system which eventually became known as the barbell strategy; a plan designed to expand Burger King's menu with both more sophisticated, adult-oriented fare along with products that are more value-oriented. This program is intended to bring in a larger, more affluent adult audience who will be willing to spend more on the better quality products on one side while maintaining a lower cost value menu dedicated to a more cost-conscious audience on the other. The hope is that the customers would be drawn in initially for the lower prices of the value-menu and upgrade to the more expensive products, upping overall sales.
The Snack Wrap is a menu item available at McDonald's in the United Kingdom and Canada. It consists of 100% white meat chicken breast, lettuce, shredded cheddar jack cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, and sauce, wrapped in a soft flour tortilla. It was created to serve as a snack to satisfy hunger between meals.
When the predecessor of international fast food restaurant chain Burger King (BK) first opened in 1953, its menu predominantly consisted of hamburgers, French fries, soft drinks, milkshakes, and desserts. After being acquired by its Miami, Florida franchisees and renamed in 1954, BK began expanding its menu by adding the Whopper sandwich in 1957, and has since added non-beef items such as chicken, fish, and vegetarian offerings, including salads and meatless sandwiches. Other additions include a breakfast menu and beverages such as Icees, juices, and bottled waters. As the company expanded both inside and outside the United States, it introduced localized versions of its products that conform to regional tastes and cultural or religious beliefs. To generate additional sales, BK occasionally introduces limited-time offers of special versions of its products, or brings out completely new products intended for either long- or short-term sales. Not all of these products and services have been successful; in 1992, Burger King introduced limited table service featuring special dinner platters, but this concept failed to generate interest and was discontinued.
The McArabia is a pita bread sandwich available at all McDonald's outlets in Arab countries and Pakistan. It is known as the Grilled Chicken foldover in Singapore, Malaysia and South Africa, as McOriental in Spain, France and Holland, the McTurco in Turkey, Greek Mac in Greece and Cyprus, and as the McKebab in Israel. The sandwich was originally made to meet West Asian local taste.
The McDonald's Deluxe line was a series of sandwiches introduced in the early to mid 1990s and marketed by McDonald's with the intent of capturing the adult fast food consumer market, presented as a more sophisticated burger for adult tastes. The sandwiches sold poorly and the entire line was discontinued on August 18, 2000. The Deluxe series was a marketing disaster and is now considered to be one of the most expensive flops in McDonald's history.
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries. McDonald's traces its origins to a 1940 restaurant in San Bernardino, California. After expanding within the United States, McDonald's became an international corporation in 1967, when it opened a location in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. By the end of the 1970s, McDonald's restaurants existed in five of the Earth's seven continents; an African location came in 1992 in Casablanca, Morocco.
Seven-layer salad is an American dish that includes a colorful combination of seven layers of ingredients: iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, sweet peas, hard-boiled eggs, sharp cheddar cheese, and bacon pieces. The salad is topped with a mayonnaise-based dressing and sometimes sour cream is added. It is often served in a glass bowl or large pan so the layers can be observed. The dish is often associated with potlucks, picnics, and barbecues, where a large gathering of people takes place and many people need to be fed. There are many variants of the seven-layer salad and it can be made with additional layers, making it an eight-layer salad instead.
The Big N’ Tasty is a hamburger sold by the international fast food chain McDonald's. It is designed to compete with the Whopper sandwich. A similar variation called the Big Tasty, without the center "N'", which was first released in Saudi Arabia, is sold outside the United States in parts of Europe, South America, South Africa, The Middle East, and Taiwan.
The fast-food restaurant chain Burger King was the first major fast food chain to introduce a grilled chicken sandwich to the marketplace, in 1990, six months before Wendy's and four years before McDonald's. Since then, Burger King, and its Australian franchise Hungry Jack's have offered a variety of grilled chicken sandwiches, as have Wendy's and McDonald's.
...McDonald's has persuaded millions of mostly female customers to buy its healthier, higher-priced salads.
New products, like McDonald's premium salads topped with hot chicken and Newman's Own salad dressing, will play a big role in efforts to attract consumers who have special concerns about health issues in their diet.
'We wanted to create something that reflects consumers' changing tastes, met their lifestyle needs, and was premium quality,' said Executive Chef Dan Coudreaut
