Jeanette Settembre, NY Daily News, Oct 11, 2016
And it turns out, many don't even know what it Mctastes like.Only one in five millennials - ages 18 to 34 - have tried the iconic double-decker burger, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The massive mouthful comprised of two beef patties, special sauce, American cheese, pickles onions and lettuce served on a three-part sesame seed bun is waning in relevance, as customers ditch the frozen patty for "better-for-you" varieties at Shake Shack and Smashburger.
McDonald’s, hoping to grab a slice of that business, is testing fresh, instead of frozen beef, different cooking techniques and a new ordering method for customized, made-to-order burgers.
Still, the challenge remains upholding speed and value - 70% of McDonald's U.S. business is from drive-through orders. And it takes just 90 seconds for the customer to get their order shortly after it's placed, according to the Journal.
The chain's global sales plummeted 2.3%, and declined 2.6% in the U.S. for the first three months of 2015, according to the Los Angeles Times. In 2014, McDonald's burgers were ranked last in a Consumer Reports taste survey of 21 burger chains. Participants deemed them the "worst tasting of all the major U.S. burger chains."
In recent years, McDonald's suffered as more and more consumers started perceiving its food as unhealthy for its high calories, saturated fat and sodium counts laced in many of its signature items, including the colossal Big Mac.
Once an icon of American food and gluttony, 14 billion Big Macs have been sold in 13,000 McDonald's restaurants in 66 countries since its inception, according to the Brandon Sun. The gut-busting burger was created by Jim Delligatti, in a suburb north of Pittsburgh in 1967. It sold for 45 cents and hit McDonald's nationwide one year later."Many local drive-ins and chains were serving double-decker burgers. It was the trend at the time," Delligatti told the Guardian in 1993.
"So to broaden our customer base, I decided to create one of my own and I wanted it BIG."
It quickly became a global phenomenon. The Economist created the Big Mac index in 1986 as a lighthearted way of measuring purchasing power parity between different countries.
Today, the patties are priced around $4.29, a few bucks shy of a ShackBurger ($6.84).
The chain is already testing customizable burger options in some markets for eaters to choose a type of meat, bun and toppings like guacamole and bacon.
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