
Why the McWrap Is So Important to McDonald's - kitcar
http://www.businessweek.com/printer/articles/132030-why-the-mcwrap-is-so-important-to-mcdonalds
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a-priori
The most interesting part about this, to me, is this:

"After lengthy discussions with produce suppliers around the country,
Coudreaut managed to add one new ingredient to the McDonald’s arsenal: the
English cucumber. That might not seem like a big change, but when the chain
added sliced apples to its menu, it immediately became one of the largest
buyers of apples in the country. The company had to build up reserves of
edamame before it introduced its Asian salad. Coudreaut would like to add
guacamole one day. Who knows what that would do to the avocado supply?"

It's mind-blowing that McDonald's works on a large enough scale that
introducing a vegetable to their menu means that they needed to be concerned
about exhausting the supply of that vegetable.

~~~
Ecio78
I don't eat too often @ MacDonald's and I'm not in the US, so correct me if
I'm wrong, but wasn't cucumber already present inside i.e. a BigMac? I don't
like cucumbers (and neither my wife) and I remember every time taking a small
slice out from the burger

~~~
jrnkntl
Technically yes, but we're talking about pickles[1] in a big mac. And a
property of pickled cucumber is that they can be conserved for much and much
longer, therefore easier in the 'hit' on global supply and also way cheaper.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickled_cucumber](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickled_cucumber)

~~~
Ecio78
Thank you for the clarification!

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frankcaron
You know, between McDonalds, BK, et al and the street meat vendors around, I
don't understand why all fast food vendors in the US and Canada haven't opted
for Korean-style lettuce wraps. Firm, crunchy, fresh lettuce makes for such a
better health-conscious sandwich vessel.

The healthiness of these wraps is hindered dramatically by the far-from-
filling* carbs and empty cals of the tortillas / flatbreads, and I'd bet at
scale the lettuce isn't much more expensive than the wraps.

*Corrected from complex

~~~
epistasis
Im speculating, but I would think that getting lettuce of that quality and
freshness would be far too big a challenge for typical US fast food chain
distribution. Fluctuations in demand and short shelf life would make it very
difficult for most fast food restaurants to avoid wasting a good percentage of
the lettuce, I would think.

~~~
stephengillie
The funny part about this is they could easily grow lettuce on the roofs of
their restaurants. In fact, you can take a head of lettuce, use it, put the
remaining stalk in water, and it may grow new roots. If it does, you can
replant it and grow your own lettuce.

I have 2 friends who have done this in their kitchens before having to move
the plant back into dirt. When I move to an apartment with a south-facing
window, I'll definitely join them.

~~~
derleth
> they could easily grow lettuce on the roofs of their restaurants.

In some parts of the year in some regions. Otherwise it's down to greenhouses
and irrigation. Not to mention relying on minimum wage employees to farm
successfully enough to build a business around.

~~~
MrDOS
Not to mention some restaurants – pretty much every non-standalone location,
such as those inside Wal-Marts, malls, even commercial development rows –
don't have their own roofs per se, or if they do, employees would not
necessarily be permitted access. Plus, can you imagine the time involved in
having location employees deal with harvesting produce?

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mikro2nd
The most telling comment? "[H]is goal is to change people’s perceptions about
McDonald’s food not being real"

Not "His goal is to change McDonalds food into something real". Just all about
perception/spin.

~~~
arkitaip
Well, it is marketing after all...

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cpursley
I just can't wait until they bring out a falafel wrap. Their new premium
mcwraps are actually pretty good for something on the run and I'm not even a
big fast-food fan.

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rickdale
The problem McDonalds has is that no matter how 'healthy' a meal they put
together, anyone that pays attention to their health and what they eat, would
not consider McDonalds a healthy meal. On the other spectrum, the type of
people going to fast food every day think of Subway as a healthy choice and
therefore when most people choose McDonalds, its not for a healthy food
choice, but more for the indulgence. So while the McWrap might be a
significant addition to McDonalds menu, the Double Cheeseburger, French Fries
and Big Macs will continue to reign supreme.

-EDIT- For those arguing that they can eat healthy at McDonalds, I really strongly recommend reconsidering your nutrition plan. I didn't want to go there with this comment, I was trying to make the point that a healthy dieter won't opt for McDonalds, but people have seemed to want to argue that they can and apparently do eat healthy at McDonalds. Thats cool with me, but if you have fitness/bodyweight goals to achieve, best to stick with food directly from the farm. In addition, when you get your nutrition right, you feel good, and that feeling is addictive. If you are scrambling to McDonalds and then ordering a 'healthy choice', there is better way.

And thats my two cents.

~~~
MichaelApproved
I pay attention to what I eat and consider some options at McDonalds healthy.
Their grilled chicken sandwich and salads are great options. I also like
healthy choices from Subway.

I hear arguments like yours all the time but they're never backed up with
actual data. It's just generic fast food bashing. Many fast food places have
healthy choices along side unhealthy choices. The options are there.

~~~
rickdale
I have to disagree. If you pay attention to pesticides, or organic stuff then
you are just out of luck at a McDonalds. That 'healthy' chicken breast is
actually really low quality chicken. You say you pay attention to your health
by choosing the 'healthy' options at McDonalds, but realistically thats not
all that healthy, especially for me.

Everyones genetics allow them to eat differently. If McDonalds is healthy and
working for you, great. If you want to try something different, figure out
where the meat and vegetables are coming from before you put it in your mouth.
Might seem extreme, but actually its logical.

Also, my point wasn't the lack of healthy options at a fast food joint
(ironic), but is that generally people don't go there to eat healthy.
Remember, you are what you eat. Even the most in shape people know there is no
such thing as exercising yourself into shape without a good diet.

Side note: I live in a world where processed foods are the devil and pretty
cook and subsist off of 1 meal per day. I am the extreme. But I used to be on
the opposite side of the spectrum, picking a fast food place daily for lunch
and stuff. Lost over 50lbs and bf under 15 for the first time in my life. I
went from almost diabetic to completely healthy, "with a strong heart".

Also, a shout out to fatburningman.com because that site will teach you some
honest fitness, life and health skills.

~~~
MichaelApproved
Now you're turning into an argument about organic foods and pesticides. Based
on your definition of healthly food, many supermarkets would be in the same
category as fast food places.

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Amadou
Normally I don't believe in making these kinds of posts but - I've never heard
of the McWrap before. Is it really "summer blockbuster" level of advertising?
Have I been able to insulate myself that well from such things with ad-block
and watching pirated tv shows (which have the ads excised)? Or was that
hyperbole in the article?

~~~
btucker
Here around Boston, they've done tons of advertising on the trains & busses.
That's how I had heard of it.

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cm2012
The consultant at the end critical of McDonald's focus on variety is really
thinking wrong for McDonalds. Chipotle and Five Guys of course should focus -
they have to take a niche market to compete with the bug guys. McDonalds as
the market leader has to go for variety if they want to keep growing sales.

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tptacek
Wait, "fresher, seemingly healthier offerings from competitors such as Five
Guys"?

~~~
rdl
The meat isn't frozen, and to the extent Five Guys is a downmarket In n Out
minus religion, they serve relatively "unadulterated" if otherwise unhealthy
burgers/shakes/fries.

~~~
count
Calling Five Guys a 'downmarket' anything is silly. They're probably the most
expensive / up market fast food burger place out there. And they don't do
shakes (at least here on the East Coast, where they started). Burgers, dogs,
and fries (well, and some 'veggie' versions of sandwich).

~~~
rdl
In N Out is essentially the same (worse fries, but with shakes, and with
customizations like animal style and the 4x4), and is religious, and has been
around since 1948 (vs. 1986, and only recently in California). Five Guys
charges twice as much for the same burger, though. I've tried both head to
head once Five Guys opened in San Jose, and the meat, cheese, and lettuce/etc.
itself was better from In N Out, the bread at both sucked, and fries at in n
out were horrible by comparison (although IMO McD's fries are still the best).

Shake Shack is better than either (and, 3x the price of in n out), but is only
on the East Coast.

~~~
count
Interesting - I had the opposite experience. I had In N Out in San Diego, and
then flew to DC, and have Five Guys. I much preferred the Five Guys. In N Out
tasted/felt low quality.

I do agree about Shake Shack though :)

~~~
rdl
There may be some variability between restaurants of the same chain, too.

I really want to do the Church/Popeyes/KFC/Grocery/homemade fried chicken
double-blind test sometime.

~~~
count
Oooh, that's a good idea. All 4 of those are within a 5 minute drive of here.
Toss in Hardees to round things out...

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mark_l_watson
There are better alternatives to McDonald's. When I used to travel on business
I found Subway veggie sandwichs to be OK, as an example. I have not spent much
time on it recently, but I have a web app
([http://cookingspace.com](http://cookingspace.com)) were my goal was to show
how recipes can be morphed, based on what ingredients you have in our kitchen.
My wife and I can both make nutritious and tasty food fairly quickly with
whatever we have in our kitchen. My goal was to teach people to eat better,
but so few people use the app on a regular basis that I consider that a failed
project.

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panacea
Interesting that they highlighted the Big Mac and the Sausage & Egg Muffin as
core products.

Nothing else really tempts me. The Big Mac for when I want a (guilt inducing)
lunch, and the muffin for the best breakfast hangover go-to I know of.

But then I remember that the awesome fries and coke supplement the appeal of
the Big Mac, and the hash brown and juice are the same for the muffin.

Everything else seems tailored to crafting a menu that funnels people into
keeping those two products on people's mental radars as permitted breakfast
and lunch options.

~~~
Already__Taken
Breakfast hangover cure is the vanilla milkshake.

~~~
stephengillie
Or a shot (not a full can, just a shot) of cheap beer. :)

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MrDOS
As a Canadian, I find the cost difference startling. The article talks about
the wraps being expensive at $4, which sounded reasonable to me, being on par
with the cost of their salad offerings north of the 49th. Then in the next
sentence, they refer to the “$4 Angus Third Pounder burger”, which was
actually $7 here. I had no idea there was such a divergence in pricing.

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Mikeb85
I don't know about the US, but where I live in Canada, there is a definite
decline in the amount of McDonald's restaurants and other fast food chains. I
know of at least half a dozen Chinese and Indian restaurants that used to be
McDonald's restaurants, and many ex-Pizza Huts too. Ethnic fast food is just
so much better (and healthier!).

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queensnake
Yo people, let them have their ads, don't submit printer-only versions!

[http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-03/why-the-
mcwr...](http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-07-03/why-the-mcwrap-is-so-
important-to-mcdonalds#r=most%20popular)

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rayiner
Chipotle has totally replaced McDonalds for me (though obviously it doesn't
play in the same price range). If you can afford $8 for lunch, why would you
want pre-fab food when you can get freshly sliced chicken you can see being
grilled right behind the prep station?

~~~
tptacek
Worth mentioning that while Chipotle campaigns based on a farm-to-table ethos,
McDonalds is also pushing suppliers towards humane sourcing.

That said: I'll feed Chipotle to my kids, and we actively avoid McDonalds.

Fun fact about Chipotle: all their pork and (I think?) beef is cooked sous-
vide in a central kitchen in Chicago.

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BryantD
This is a pure publicity piece. McDonald's had a chicken wrap on the menu in
2006, albeit without as many vegetables. An article about the business of the
McWrap would talk about earlier versions of the menu item, whether or not they
succeeded, and so on.

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nighthawk24
"the product of years of research and testing"

All that to catch up with a Mexican Taco which predates the arrival of
Europeans in Mexico?

~~~
pyre
That's a little unfair. I'm pretty sure that there were no 'restaurant chains'
with the size of McDonald's in Mexico prior to the arrival of Europeans. The
'years of research and testing,' includes a lot of consideration of storage,
distribution, preparation, etc issues.

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seivan
I am still waiting for a high fat, low carb addition to their menu.

~~~
benjamincburns
If you have Hardees in your area, check out the low carb thick burger.
Sometimes it's not posted on the menu, but it's there if you ask. It's
essentially the "frisco" with the large outer leaves of a head of iceburg used
as the bread. Though if you actually want it to be low carb, order it without
the ketchup. Be warned, though. It's salty as hell and whether or not it's
edible as a sandwich depends on how accustom the person is to making it.

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zipop
I think their real problem is preservatives.

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derleth
Do you have any evidence of this?

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ygmelnikova
Seeing more and more of these so called 'news articles' that are clearly well
placed, long copy marketing. Didn't feel like you we're being sold, did you?
But I'll bet you want to try a McWrap!

~~~
derekp7
You mean kind of like
[http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html)
?

