McDonald’s will debut a long-awaited and much anticipated line of chicken sandwiches on February 24, the company announced.
The line will feature a trio of chicken sandwiches: the Crispy Chicken Sandwich, the Spicy Chicken Sandwich and a Deluxe Chicken Sandwich.
The Crispy Chicken Sandwich is a white meat chicken filet topped with pickles on a buttered potato roll, while the Spicy Chicken Sandwich is topped with Spicy Pepper Sauce and the Deluxe Chicken Sandwich features additional toppings of lettuce, tomato and mayo.
“We’ve heard our customers loud and clear, and we know they’re craving more chicken options,” Linda VanGosen, vice president of menu innovation, said in a statement.
“We’re confident all chicken fans — from traditionalists to spice enthusiasts — will discover a new menu favorite they’ll come back for time and time again.”
The quick service restaurant chain has been conducting regional tests of the new chicken sandwich since December 2019.
A long time coming
The brand has been under pressure to release a competitive chicken product for at least a year. In July 2019, the board of the National Owners Association (NOA), a group of McDonald’s franchisee owners, called chicken sandwiches a top priority to help bring in more customers and better compete in the chicken sandwich wars, which boosted sales for the entire quick service restaurant chicken market.
In August 2020, Chris Kempczinski, McDonald's CEO, promised customers that innovation in chicken would be coming by the end of the year. In September, the chain launched Spicy Chicken McNuggets and Mighty Hot Sauce, the first time McDonald’s introduced a new Chicken McNuggets flavor.
“We’re certainly working on ways that we can update and upgrade our chicken offering in the U.S. Suffice to say we will continue to be competing and innovating in chicken,” Kempczinski told Time.
The three new chicken sandwiches are a “significant opportunity to expand its chicken offerings, a category that is growing faster than beef” and build on the “extraordinary global strength of Chicken McNuggets and the McChicken sandwich,” the company noted at its November 2020 investors meeting.
The Crispy Chicken line of sandwiches won’t be the only innovation expected for the brand this year. McDonald’s also plans to debut a plant-based patty called the McPlant burger on a market-by-market basis in 2021.
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