McDonald’s recent decision to serve fresh meat in its quarter pound burgers has paid off, with sales significantly spiking in the past 12 months.
The fast food empire’s reported Quarter Pounder sales initially jumped by more than 50 percent just a month after the restaurant chain introduced fresh beef in its burgers across the company’s 14,000 U.S. locations back in May 2018.
Sales of the Quarter Pounder continued to grow at an annual average of 30 percent throughout the year.
“With the introduction of fresh beef and the promotions including fresh beef quarter-pound burgers helping result in a sustained quarter-pound burger sales increase 30 percent on average throughout the entire first year,” Kempczinski said.
To optimize quality and safeguard against any possible food safety issues, McDonald’s introduced specially designed packaging for the fresh beef patties, developed dedicated kitchen utensils, added new refrigerators to maintain safe storage temperatures, and increased the internal temperature required for cooking the patties.
The chain said the transition away from frozen beef aimed to provide customers with a “hotter and juicier” burger. Fresh beef Quarter Pounders are available in most states, excluding Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories.
“When we listen to our customers, good things happen,” McDonald’s SVP and Chief Supply Chain Officer, North America Marion Gross said.
The shift represents the most significant change to McDonald’s since the All Day Breakfast was introduced in October 6, 2015 and rolled out to supply nearly 3,000 independent franchisees.
“We could not have been successful without our supply chain partners who shared learnings and best practices to ensure the massive transformation went smoothly and elevated our existing food quality and safety procedures,” Gross said.
