McDonald's Is Making Over 50 Tweaks To Its Burgers In A Big Upgrade

Burger devotees who bristle at menu changes better brace themselves. McDonald's, the leading quick-service burger chain in America by sales volume in 2022, has some customer surprises en route — at least 50 of them. McDonald's revealed to the Wall Street Journal that 2024 will come with dozens of improvements to their existing burgers, including many longtime favorites such as the Big Mac, standard hamburger, classic and double cheeseburgers, and the McDouble. 

The extent of the upgrades is still unknown to most customers, but quite a few details have been revealed. There are no drastic alterations known as yet, but the subtle tweaks are likely to be accepted by even ardent supporters of McDonald's old-time classics. 

The changes include fluffier, buttery brioche buns, with scattered sesame seeds for the Big Macs, and those buns will be thicker on the bottom to encourage heat retention. For burgers with cheese, eaters will notice better and more even melting due to a new practice of bringing the cheese to room temperature before cooking. Rehydrated onions will be added to the patties directly on the grill, providing a fresher taste, and items such as lettuce and pickles will be refreshed more frequently. 

Then there's the burger meat itself. Expect it to be juicier due to a simple change in grill placement: instead of cooking eight patties at a time, there will be only six, purportedly resulting in less pressure and more juiciness. You'll also see more sear and more Big Mac sauce.  

Some venues on the West Coast of America had already rolled out the changes by December 2023, including ones in Seattle, Denver, Salt Lake City, Portland, Boise, and California cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sacramento. However, introduction into those U.S. cities came only after international implementation in Canada, Belgium, and Australia.

Even before new details were provided to the Wall Street Journal, McDonald's had already revealed its intent as early as April 2023. Since that time, the announced list of changes has dramatically increased. In the face of rising consumer prices, internal restructuring, and the lowest rating of all fast food restaurants on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) for 2022 and 2023, McDonald's is ripe for refreshment.

Chris Young, the senior director for McDonald's global menu strategy, explained to the Journal that although they were proficient in doing things quickly and safely, that didn't necessarily result in great taste. The company plans to fix that with further rollouts of the new changes to all venues by early 2024. There's no new word yet on whether, as announced in the earlier April press release, customers can expect the McDonald's Hamburglar character to colorfully introduce the improved burgers at local venues nationwide.