The McChronicles dropped by McDonald's today for lunch and detected a change to the Dollar Menu.Missing was the double cheeseburger, replacing it was the new McDouble. The McDouble is a double cheeseburger with only one slice of cheese. The McChronicles was told by the crew at the Clinton, NY McDonald's (store #2499) that the McDouble was launched yesterday, December 1st.
According to speculation on bloggingstocks, "One possibility is that McDonald's will attempt to market the new burger as healthier, eliminating one slice of cheese hacks off 15% of the fat and 11% of the calories." The blog also says, "Analysts estimate that the McStingy will cost about six cents less to make -- combined with the company's plan to raise the price to about the dollar mark, it could spell increased profitability for the chain."
Immediately after this experience, a friend of The McChronicles, Neal, called and reported that he, too, was surprised by the menu tweak.Neal (a 20-year old college student) added these points:
- I never realized a double cheeseburger had TWO slices of cheese to begin with
- I don't detect any big difference with only one slice of cheese
- I don't think $0.19 is a lot for one slice of cheese
Please COMMENT with your McDouble experience.
FOLLOW UP NOTE: See the McChronicles' subsequent posting on The McDouble.
The McChronicles: a blog about, not affiliated with, McDonald's.
Images: The McChronicles.
I am gonna get a McDouble and a Double Cheeseburger, try to see if theres a big difference.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I think you guys should do a segment on "Custom McDonalds" items. Basically, is there something that you guys do that is out of the norm?
For example, I MUST eat my cheeseburgers/double cheeseburgers with fries inside. I always get a fry when i get those burgers and put the fries in the burger, makes it extra tasty. Is there anything you guys do that is unique? or perhaps others? Some of my friends get the Franks Red Hot buffalo sauce that they offer (must ask for it), put that on a quarter pounder and add fries to it. It is mighty tasty.
i put mcnuggets and frys in my burgers! its awesome!
ReplyDeleteI work for a hospital in Atlanta with a McDonalds built into the Parking deck that is known for bad service. A patron asked for a McDouble with no cheese and was informed that wasn't an option...what he would have to get was a twice as expensive Double Cheeseburger...interesting.
ReplyDeleteOur McDonalds is really weird. We have never had the Double Cheeseburger on our Dollar Menu. The Big and Tasty was the burger of choice. Dbl Cheeseburgers were $1.69. After this change, the McDouble replaced the B&T and the double cheeseburger is now $1.49. Not sure how our location justifies a 30 cent premium over the rest of the chain, but there you go.
ReplyDeleteChris, you're not alone.. the only McDonalds in my little city played with the dollar menu this summer and took both the McChicken and Double Cheeseburger off of it, raising them to $1.39 for much of the last summer. Then in September they both appeared on the dollar menu again until I guess right now. I'll have to check and see what they've done with the McDouble invasion. My McDonalds location has always been more expensive than the national average because they demolished their old building and built a new one over 2 years ago. I guess they felt they needed to charge more all their food to help pay for the new facility. They never had medium fries on the dollar menu. It has always been the small paper packet frie 'box'. It's not like they fill a medium box of fries (or the large one for that matter) properly anyhow. You can sometimes get the small frie with as many fries as their medium size. I wish all french fries had to be weighed cause when the fries are cooked properly McDonalds employees often cheat the customer on quantity. Their scoop is too variable on frie quantities added to the boxes.
ReplyDelete@ShaqDonalds:
ReplyDeleteYou're talking about "Custom Crew Creations". Here is all we've posted on that so far: http://mcchronicles.blogspot.com/search?q=custom
Maybe we'll stir some more chatter up, based on your suggestion.
Thank you!
I wonder if that wrapper is what they wrap special orders in -- like if you ask for a hamburger with nothing on it and they have to grill it special for you. That might explain the "Created Just for You" bit. And then maybe they're using that stock of wrappers till the new McDouble wrappers come in.
ReplyDeleteJust got my first Mcdouble today - no taste difference to me from the double cheeseburger. I like to dip my fries in my sundae - yummm..fries and ice cream. Try it - you'll like it (dip in the vanilla shake works too)
ReplyDelete- XmasDVD.com
When your blog says "analysts say it will cost 6 cents less to make" I can confirm this. Sort of.
ReplyDeleteI was a McManager in several stores (franchisee - not corporate) in Ontario, and when we did our waste and orders, we calculated a slice of cheese at $0.07 canadian across the board - this would have been for both corp and franchisee stores as those prices are set by head office.
So yes. Cheaper to kae, same price point. Anyone want to know the real price of a double cheeseburger?
7 cents x 2 (cheese) $0.14
12 cents x 2 (meat): $0.24
8 cents x 1 (bun): $0.08
pickles, onions, kethchup and mustard (without trying to break down the cost of a bag of each split into several hundresd units accurateley: approx $0.05
not including labour at minimum wage to make it, electricity, gas, etc (that's all overhead but besides the point)...
$0.47 canadian.
Yes. I still eat there.
@Anonymous ^^
ReplyDeleteThat adds up to .51, not .47, perhaps that is why you worked at a McDonalds?
BURN!
ReplyDeleteHahaha, yeah. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteI was at the Neil Young concert last night at the ACC. Might be operating a tad, shall we say, slow.
ps: I'm a network engineer now and can subdivide octets in my head. I have no idea how I mis-added that ;) me bad.
McDonalds Australia have a burger like this on their menu introduced in September. However it has been done very differently.
ReplyDeleteAfter the olympics McDonalds Australia introduced a Value Picks menu. One of the items on it is a new burger called a double beef & Cheese. It is a double cheeseburger with only 1 slice of cheese and no pickles.
It is $1.95AU
A single cheeseburger is $2.00AU
I'm not sure of the DCB price but I think its around $3.25AU
And we have a menu item called Double beef and bacon for $3.95 - its identical except it has a slice of bacon on it.
So as a stand alone item its way under the price of the rest. You can add bacon to it and have a DBB at a discount price. The only rule they have is the Double beef & Cheese can't be in a meal.
The double beef & cheese burger has one piece of cheese. Its not that big of a difference, and its way cheaper thn the double cheeseburger. You can't even taste the differenceeeeee.
ReplyDelete@Steve: Awesome comment, thanks!
ReplyDelete@RhiRhi: Agreed. Many people are saying the same thing. Thank you for the comment.
I always order my burgers with "Mac Sauce." It usually takes a few minutes for them to know what I mean but nothing beats a Double with Big Mac sauce.
ReplyDeleteThe McDonald's closest to my work started shorting their double cheesburgers one slice of cheese in early November. The first time I thought the ran out of cheese, but they did it three weeks in a row. I guess they knew this was coming and decided to start screwing customers sooner than later. What really irritates me is that they didn't have the McDouble on the menu, so you didn't get a choice. I've had no appetite for McDonald's after the third time I got only once slice of cheese, and haven't been back. I don't know if they have the McDouble now.
ReplyDeleteSome people say there's little differece, but I wholeheartedly disagree. By slapping two patties together without the slice of cheese on top of each, the sandwich tastes much drier and chewy. The fact that each patty had its own piece of cheese on top that kind of melted into it made the double cheese the sandwich that everyone loves. I've noticed the same thing when someone got lazy and just put two pieces of chese on top of two patties, or put the cheese underneath each patty instead of on top of them. It throws the whole sandwich off. If I just wanted a chunk of rubbery meat with a piece of chese on the top and the bottom, I'd order a Quarter Pounder w/ cheese.
are you guys kidding me...
ReplyDeletesigh
this is blasphemy... i was wondering why my double cheeseburgers weren't a dollar anymore...
ReplyDeletei always order (well now) the mcburger (gay name) with lettuce and mac sauce -- they just recently started charging me for mac sauce, 20 cents per burger, that'll work for now, iused to basically get a big mac for a dollar.
ReplyDeletehttp://apps.mcdonalds.com/usa/food/dollar/mcdouble/
ReplyDeleteOfficial site about the McDouble with FAQ
The Dollar Menu is usually determined at the regional level. For example, I'm a manager in the New York Metro region (NYC, Hudson Valley, NY, Northern NJ) and our region hasn't had the Double Cheeseburger on the Dollar Menu for at least two or three years. My store sells it for $1.89, with the new McDouble being $1.69.
ReplyDeleteSome McDonalds have self serve dispensers for sauces. I once saw someone top their big mac with S&S sauce--as if the special sauce wasn't enough!
ReplyDeleteI get a side of tartar sauce and dip my McDouble and fries in it!! It's yummy :)
ReplyDeletein my store (in wisconsin) we have the mcdouble because the double cheeseburger was made into a value meal. the sandwich of a value meal cnat cost a dollar, so we had to up the price of the double cheese burger. to supplement it we made the mcdouble so that there is still a double cheeseburger of sorts ont he dollar menue.
ReplyDeletei just got back from mcD's. i did not know what a mcdouble was so i insisted on my all time fave..a double cheeseburger. mcdouble is a $1 and those bastards charged me $2.38 for what i now understand is only a slice of cheese...fml
ReplyDeleteI live in Memphis,TN and our McDoubles are $1. The Double cheeseburger is $1.39. I never knew the difference in the two except one cost more. I figure maybe the McDouble was processed incorrectly therefore they sell it but at a discount. I'm glad I read this to know it's a slice of cheese that makes it different. We also have a McDouble meal which is the burger medium fry and medium drink for only 3.59 (after tax) which is a deal! It's not advertised and many people don't know about it but there's a such thing.
ReplyDeletethey should all charge The Same Amount! the corporation can demand that if they want to
ReplyDeleteI'm from Australia and we have a $2 value picks menu.
ReplyDeleteat my local maccas, the mcdouble is not on the menu board, so you have to know it exists to get it. but anyway, its $2. a double cheeseburger is $4.25
$2.25 for a slice of cheese? i dont think so.
screw you mcdonalds australia.
Here in Germany the McDouble is €1.49 while the double cheeseburger is €2.29! That's 70 cents for one slice of cheese!
ReplyDeleteExcellent signage
ReplyDelete