Skip to main content
What to Expect From Consumers This Holiday Season: Shopify President
What to Expect From Consumers This Holiday Season: Shopify President

McDonald's Menu Adds a Mighty New Item

The fast-food chain is making big promises with a new sandwich.

Marketing fast food has, for years, been all about things being bigger and better. Yum! Brands  (YUM) - Get Free Report chain Taco Bell tacks "supreme" at the end of a product to indicate that it has more cheese and sour cream and, in Japan, there is even the four-patty King Yeti Super One Pound Beef Burger from the Restaurant Brands International  (QSR) - Get Free Report-owned Burger King.

Many will remember the "supersize" option that became the subject of the Morgan Spurlock documentary and was later discontinued. McDonald's  (MCD) - Get Free Report has another superlative in its arsenal now: the word "mighty."

At several points in its history, McDonald's experimented with a product called the Mighty Wings. The breaded bone-in chicken wings served with dipping sauces were introduced in 1990 and again in 2013 but ultimately failed to take off.

While a very similar product called McWings have become a staple in many Asian and European branches of the Golden Arches, the "mighty" rebrand did not work in the U.S. Sales were poor and they have not been back on the menus since 2016.

What's Mighty And Has A Lot Of Bacon?

Maybe the mighty moniker works better abroad  -- McDonald's UK marked the end of November by launching the Mighty McMuffin. Already a breakfast menu staple in Australia, the sandwich has sausage, egg, cheese and multiple slices of bacon piled atop of the English muffin normally used for McDonald's breakfast sandwiches.

"A pork sausage patty seasoned with herbs, a free-range egg, two slices of bacon and a slice of cheese served in a toasted English muffin with either tomato ketchup or brown sauce," reads the description. "Delicious."

For condiments, customers have the choice between ketchup or brown sauce (the tomato-based sauce in HP bottles that can be found in the US but is not a part of the local palate to the point of being offered at McDonald's.) 

The Mighty McMuffin joins a breakfast menu that includes both American classics like the regular McMuffin and hash browns to the UK-only bacon roll (literally just pieces of bacon on a bun.) It costs £3.99 or roughly $4.82 USD.

While the McMuffin is not tied to the holidays, it came out at the same time as the UK branch's festive menu that includes clearly wintery treats like the Celebrations McFlurry and the Festive Pie filled with mincemeat and custard.

But while the other two may be more creative, the meat bomb was what caught the internet's attention after a TikTok video of a McDonald's worker assembling it went viral.

Food That Is Designed For The Internet

The abundance of protein-rich items caused the old debate between those going "more meat always!" and those slightly repulsed by the caloric and cholesterol overload. There are already multiple videos of food bloggers reviewing it and some social media posts about how it's the "best thing in the world."

That is, in fact, the point of these kind of over-the-top combinations. Fans see it, exchange thoughts on whether the chain "really went there" on the internet and ultimately help the chain do its marketing. Sometimes the virality is the point more than actual sales but, as shown by the Mighty McMuffin's experience in Australia, the chain has enough hard-core meat fans to make it popular in stores as well.

"These are part of a long tradition of companies creating new, slightly outrageous, fast food and snack food combinations -- more cheese, more meat, more layers, adding sauces," food historian Ashley Rose Young told BBC in 2019.