The World’s Most Famous Cheeseburger Is Getting An Upgrade

America’s most famous burger is getting a tasty upgrade. In hopes of keeping up with newer competitors, McDonalds has announced that it will be making changes to its signature burgers over the next coming months. 

The Today Show had the yummy details: The Golden Arches “in-house chefs have been cooking up ‘small but tasty improvements’ to several of the chain’s key menu items, including the Big Mac, McDouble and its classic Cheeseburger, Double Cheeseburger and Hamburger.

“The magic is in the details,” the chain says, before outlining the quartet of improvements:

• “Softer, pillowy buns” that will be freshly toasted
• A new and improved melted cheese that the chain says will make you want to “savor every last bit off the wrapper”
• Burger patties which will feature a “juicier, caramelized flavor” from adding white onions while the burgers are still on the grill
• “Even more of everyone’s favorite Big Mac sauce,” because the more sauce, the better

“I’ll always remember my first burger from McDonald’s. And now my culinary team and I have the best job in the world: thinking about ways to bring even more of that iconic McDonald’s taste to fans,” said Chef Chad Schafer, McDonald’s USA’s senior director of culinary innovation, in a press release.

“We found that small changes, like tweaking our process to get hotter, meltier cheese and adjusting our grill settings for a better sear, added up to a big difference in making our burgers more flavorful than ever,” he said.

“We found that small changes, like tweaking our process to get hotter, meltier cheese and adjusting our grill settings for a better sear, added up to a big difference in making our burgers more flavorful than ever,” chef Chad Schafer, senior director of culinary innovation of McDonald’s USA, said in a statement Monday. The upgrades apply to the Big Mac, McDouble burger, and classic cheeseburger, double cheeseburger and hamburger.

CNN reported that “the improvements were first made to burgers in international markets, the company said, and have already arrived in some US cities, including Los Angeles, Seattle, Phoenix, Las Vegas. They’ll be available nationally by early next year.

In 2018, McDonald’s announced that it was switching to fresh beef for its Quarter Pounders, a complicated move with a big sales payoff. In 2021, it launched a crispy chicken sandwich to replace previous iterations — a relatively late arrival in the chicken sandwich wars, but one that seems to have resonated with McDonald’s customers.

“We are gaining market share in both chicken and beef,” thanks to improved burgers and items like the chicken sandwich, said McDonald’s (MCD) CEO Chris Kempczinski during a January analyst call. “In an environment where our customers are looking for the simple and familiar, our core menu items have never been more relevant,” he said. In the US, sales at stores open at least 13 months jumped 5.9% in the fourth quarter of 2022, rising 10.3% for the whole year.

Focusing on promoting its core menu items, rather than introducing new products, is a way to keep processes simpler and reduce friction in the kitchen.”

Last year, McDonald’s began offering adult Happy Meals that were sponsored by celebrities. “We’re taking one of the most nostalgic McDonald’s experiences and literally repackaging it in a new way that’s hyper-relevant for our adult fans,” Tariq Hassan, McDonald’s USA chief marketing and customer experience officer.” 

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