Pretty Soon, McDonald’s Could Have Even More Chicken Items

McDonald’s, like a lot of classic fast food chains, faces an eternal dilemma: How does it keep up with the times without losing its core identity? Many have argued that the latter has already happened, and that the restaurant isn’t what it used to be, but its core iconography and menu items still remain: The Golden Arches, Ronald McDonald, and, more importantly for our purposes, the Quarter Pounder, the Cheeseburger, and the Big Mac. None of these a chain make, of course, but its burgers remain arguably its most important foods. 

Videos by Sporked

That could be changing, though, thanks to the times we find ourselves in and changing customer tastes. By all accounts, we’ll be getting more chicken items at the chain in the future, and some of them are already in development. 

The Future Is Chicken

Last week, McDonald’s informed both its investors and the wider world about some of its plans for the next few years, and its continuation of its McDonald’s NEXT initiative (which we last checked in with a few months ago, with the news that it was redesigning its restaurants and bringing the Playplace back). Amidst a flurry of news and potential moves, came the announcement that the restaurant was looking to gain an extra 1.5 percentage points of the global chicken market share by 2030, and the same gain in the beverage category. At the same time, it would look to sustain its global lead in the beef category. 

As The Guardian notes, this move reflects a wider industry shift towards chicken, which has been driven by its increased popularity amongst Gen Z customers. McDonald’s, therefore, isn’t missing a trick. “McDonald’s has the unmatched scale, customer insights, brand loyalty, and operational capabilities to not only adapt to the next wave of change in our industry, but to turn it into an advantage,” said its CEO Chris Kempczinski in a press release. 

And What Will This Change Look Like?

Restaurant Dive reported that McDonald’s is planning several moves for a more chicken-forward future, which include an expansion of its McCrispy platform and McWings menu (the latter into new markets around the world), a further push of its new chicken strips, and new grilled chicken wraps and sandwiches. The chain is also apparently exploring new chicken bowls and grilled chicken choices, in a bid to ride the high-protein wave that’s taken over the food world. McDonald’s has also been focusing heavily on chicken this year, testing new McCrispy Tenders and recently bringing back its Spicy McNuggets. Those burgers aren’t going anywhere — but they’ll soon have a lot more company.