Large List of Discontinued Items (McDonald's)

Before I give the list I'd like to ask if any of you guys have a good idea about something to write about. I'm running out of items, and I tried to find out why there are no White Castle here, but I couldn't find anything.

Hula Burger (1963): A normal burger, but with a large piece of pineapple in the middle instead of a patty.
McFeast (1980s): The burger has the normal parts, but a modified mayonnaise sauce that had lemon juice in it.
McDLT(1984-1991): This burger is pretty unique. The bottom bun and the meat are cooked, while the rest of the burger is not. Then the two halves are packaged in two things of Styrofoam, and then the buyer would put it together when they ate. It was discontinued because of the Styrofoam and how bad it is for the enviroment.
Beefsteak Sandwich (1980s): This was not served until after 4:00 P.M. It was made of better quality. Also there were packets of steak sauce to put on.
Mickey D (1993): 1/3 pound of beef on a crusty roll. It was 5.3 ounces compared to 3.2 of the Big Mac.
Onion Nuggets: Pieces of union were cut up into small pieces. This was released with the beefsteak sandwich on the dinner menu.
Torta (2000): A Mexican sandwich, as far as I know the only attempt they've had of that.
Roast Beef on a Roll (1968): A roast beef sandwich, copied from Arby's

These are a few of the many discontinued item from just McDonalds. I find the McDLT the most interesting of them all, because of how it got discontinued.
-Jesse Fajnzylber

Big n Tasty

Before when I was talking about my favorite foods at McDonald's I mentioned the Big n Tasty, and also how I thought it might be gone. I looked online, and I'm confirming that now, the delicious meal at McDonald's has been discontinued. I'm not sure why they did it, I like it, and I know a bunch of other people who like all that fat a lot too. But McDonald's reasoning is they have to make room "newer, tastier, awesomer Angus Burgers". I tried to view the article from where that quote came from, but it wouldn't let me onto the site. But also the Burger was discontinued on September 1st 2010. Looking around the world it seems as it has been discontinued in other countries earlier. It is said it was removed from Denmark for unknown reasons, and in Sweden it comes back on the menu occasionally as a promotional item. Also it is available in the UK seasonally also. They have it in the summer and the winters, and the reason for this is, is to have it when they don't have the monopoly event running.
-Jesse Fajnzylber

Star Bucks Seasonal Drinks

Sorry to the Star Buck's fans here. I was looking today at my reader, and at the bottom was an article 4 days ago about a Star Bucks seasonal items. It was a buy 1 get 1 free deal, starting on Thursday the 19th and ended today Sunday the 21st. So if you didn't know about this deal, then its too late. The seasonal drinks that you could buy sound very fattening but very delicious. The 8 drinks include,  Caramel Brulee Latte, Peppermint Mocha, Gingerbread Latte, Eggnog Latte, Peppermint White Hot Chocolate, Peppermint Hot Chocolate, Caramel Brulée Frappuccino and Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino.  The article didn't talk about if they have these flavors every year or even when they started the christmas drinks. Also it didn't mention if they are going to have deals like this for other hollidays. If this was the first time they did, and its successful, I'm sure they'll do it again. If it's not the first time they've done it, then clearly this helps them sell their product.
-Jesse Fajnzylber

McDonald's Arch Deluxe

The Arch Deluxe had a quarter pound patty, and then all of the traditional condiments. Also there was an option to put bacon on it. This might have been one of the most failed item that McDonald's has ever produced. The idea behind the Arch Deluxe was that it would be a burger for adults. McDonald's spent around $300 million on advertising this burger. It was first released in 1996, and there are several reasons as to why it failed. One is that it was more expensive than any other item on the menu. Another reason is that it was extremely unhealthy, and that's saying something because everything at McDonald's is extremely unhealthy. Looking at the calorie facts, it shows that it is not that much worse for you than a whopper or a big mac, so I'm wondering if the unhealthy part was really a factor. The last reason is that the ads were unconventional. This item is still available in France, and it is called the royal deluxe. The same can not be said in Japan. They introduced it there in 2003, and it has been discontinued since.
-Jesse Fajnzylber

McDonald's Supersize

This might be one of the most well known discontinued item. The super-size was discontinued from the McDonald's restaurants after "Super Size Me' was published. After the movie was published a lot of people pressured McDonald's into discontinuing the item. They originally took it off in March 2004, it came back in the summer of 06, and then discontinued it again in December 09. It was really unhealthy, but it's a shame that it was discontinued. The super sizing originally started in 1993 as the Dino Size for the promotion of Jurassic Park. They kept the new size, and renamed it the super size after the movie was out of the theaters. The logic behind the super size is that people would feel greedy buying 2 medium fries, or drinks. This way they can only buy it once, and it is more tempting the consumer. Also the super size spread to other fast food restaurants. Their way of discontinuing the item was by getting rid of their small, and making the super size the new large.
-Jesse Fajnzylber

Shamrock Shake

I remember that my favorite shake of all time was that green shake at McDonalds. The Shamrock Shake is McDonald's limited time shake during St. Patrick's day. It is a minty green shake that is delicious. I would always go to McDonald's during St. Patrick's day to get the shake. I don't know if the taste or the color was what made the shake so good, but I kept on getting it over anything else. The green color for some reason makes this appetizing, even though green is usually a turn off like like in vegetables. The shake was first made in 1970, and since then a lot of other seasonal drinks have come out at different shops. Not only did seasonal drinks come out after this, this was the first seasonal item, and led to many other companies copying this idea. ex: Starbucks has many seasonal coffees. In the 80's McDonald's used a character named Uncle O'Grimacey to advertise the shake, but that character has been canceled. In 2008 the item finally was reintroduced to Canada, after it had been discontinued 5 years previous. 
-Jesse Fajnzylber

Happy Meals (2)

Before I had a post on Happy Meals and I spoke about how they are very good for the company. People then responded by saying they might be good for the company, but it is bad because it lures children into eating fast food at an early age. I agree with this, and clearly some people in San Francisco do too. After election day the board of supervisors in the city actually banned happy meals from most McDonalds restaurants in the area. This was not one of the topics to vote on, as I just said it was decided by the board of supervisors. This shows that the government is finally starting to realize the horrors of fast food. And they have also realized that it is up to them to save our future. Kids are getting sucked in early, and they need to be the ones to break the chain. I would suspect that this new policy will spread to other major cities.
Article: "Now this is a strange Election Day vote. Too bad the fast foodies of San Francisco didn’t get a say in the decision. The city’s board of supervisors voted Tuesday to ban most of McDonald’s  Happy Meals served at restaurants, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.
McDonald’s spokeswoman Danya Proud told the paper that the chain was “extremely disappointed” with the decision.  “It’s not what our customers want, nor is it something they asked for.”

Tell us: What do you think of this vote? Silly, or sane? Could your kid live without a Happy Meal fix? 

(Fast Food Maven) 

-Jesse Fajnzylber

Burger King Hotdogs

Jack gave me the idea for this one, Burger King hot dogs. I was looking around a bit on Google to see if they indeed did sell hot dogs at BK. The main thing that people remembered about BK's hot dogs were the containers in which they were sold. They were in little Styrofoam  boxes. People online said that the hot dogs were sold until at least the mid 80's and started in at least the 70s. As to why they stopped there are a couple of reasons that I could find online. One is because they were undercooked, and just not that good tasting. The other reason is because you can buy large pack of hot dogs at supermarkets for extremely cheap prices. There are also some restaurants that sell very good hot dogs. Because of this McDonald's can't compete with the cheap prices of store bought hot dogs, or the quality of a hot dog at a restaurant. They must have just realized selling hot dogs was not profitable enough, and discontinued the item.
-Jesse Fajnzylber

Park Place

My topic for the I-Search project is going to be discontinued items/or special items.
Yesterday I went to McDonald's and ordered my meal. Right now the Monopoly game is going on, which I had mentioned earlier. I didn't realize that big macs were part of the game so when I saw the two monopoly pieces on the box of my sandwich I was kind of pumped. I peeled the first one off and there in front of me was park place. I was shocked, as completing this monopoly is worth $1,000,000. I of course later go online and check it out. Supposedly two of them had been released in some period of time, and the chance of getting one was 1/350,000,000 or something. It didn't specify the period of time, and much more than 2 people had park place online. Even if there are 10 park places I think McDonald's only released 1 or 2 boardwalks so many people just had pointless park places. Also I got the park place on 10/30. Monopoly at McDonald's is ending tomorrow, so I had only a two day window. So overall the game is really just a scam to get peoples hopes up.
-Jesse Fajnzylber

Whopper

The whopper was made by James McLamore in 1957. Since then there have been a lot of variations to the whopper. There are different whoppers that are available in different locations in the world. They are big successes there, but might sound nasty here.

• he Garlic Whopper has chopped garlic added
  Available in Israel and in some restaurants in Sweden ('Whopper Garlic')
• The Mustard Whopper replaces the mayonnaise with mustard
  Available in the US states of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas
• The Rodeo Whopper replaces the raw onion and ketchup with onion rings and barbecue sauce
  Available in Argentina and Israel
• The Whopper Pepper has added Jalapeños and a tabasco kind of flavoured sauce instead of mayo, cheese is also standard on this one.
  Available in Sweden
• The Whopper with roasted onions and mushrooms
  Available in Israel
• The Whopper Teriyaki has teriyaki sauce instead of ketchup
  Available in Japan
• The Italian Whopper has avocado instead of lettuce
  Available in Chile
• The Bacon and Cheese Double Whopper - two ¼ lb (113.4 gram) hamburger patties, 4 pieces of bacon and 2 slices of American cheese
  Available in Japan and Hong Kong
• Bulgogi Whopper uses Bulgogi sauce in it.
  Available in South Korea 

This is a list of the variations I found on wikipedia. Also when windows 7 came out there was a 7 stacker whopper that was released in Japan. Another strange burger in the double whopper junior. You would think if you could have two whopper junior patties, you could just have a whopper. 
FInally the whopper was such a big success is because it gave the people that there was an idea that people could have it their way. Which is the Burger King logo. According to BK there are 221,184 different ways you can have a whopper, and don't ask me how they got that number.
-Jesse Fajnzylber

McDonald's Video Game

I never knew before that there was a video game after McDonald's. The video game is to alert people the cruelty of fast food companies, and in this case McDonald's.The game was released in 2006. The game is supposed to be a business tycoon kind of game. If anyone has ever played roller-coaster tycoon, it is a parody of that. In the game there are 4 different "stations" that you, the manager, are allowed to work on. The farmland, the slaughter house, the restaurant, and the headquarters. A quote from Wikipedia says, "In the game, the player plays the role of a McDonald's CEO, choosing whether or not to feed the player's cows genetically altered grain, or plow over rainforests, or feed the player's cows to other cows. The player can also choose advertising strategies and public official corruption to counteract opponents of the player's actions." I thought this was pretty funny. The purpose of the game was too put McDonald's in a bad light. McDonald's commented by saying the game is not associated with the company, and it is representing them incorrectly. The games name on websites has been changed to Burger Tycoon, and Ronald McDonald has been changed to a bear.


Here is a link to the game if anyone is interested "http://www.addictinggames.com/burgertycoon.html"
-Jesse Fajnzylber

XXL Evaluation

Taco Bell has recently just released a new item. It is called the XXL chalupa. I saw the commercial of it on tv recently and I was curious if it was good. First thing, it was extremely greasy, but I didn't notice until I touched the table, and my hand slid all over it. I don't want this to stop someone from trying the chalupa, it was good and tasty. Another thing about it, is that I did not find that it filled me up that much. I ate more food after the chalupa, so it could be a good entrée or dessert to a meal.
   "An XXL-sized crispy Chalupa shell packed with seasoned ground beef, crispy lettuce, fiesta salsa, a blend of three cheeses–cheddar, pepper jack and mozzarella–and nacho cheese sauce, red strips and topped with reduced-fat sour cream." This quote is taken from the Taco Bell website, and these are the materials of the chalupa. I also found that the shell held together well, meaning it didn't snap in half like tacos, and it made it an un-messy snack.
  Finally it had 650 calories, 350 of which were from fat. 39 grams of fat, 9 of which was sat. fat. 1300 mg of sodium and 55 mg of cholesterol. Clearly not the healthiest choice, but compared to other options at fast food I'd say this is in the middle, and comparing it to a whopper the nutrition facts are very similar, except the whopper has 300 less mg of sodium.
-Jesse Fajnzylber

Picture of Green McDonald's

-Jesse Fajnzylber

Green McDonalds

I'm copying this article from a blog that I have been following, "fast food maven". It is short and very easy to understand so i see no point in rewriting it.
"The move to save our planet is catching on in the fast-food industry with McDonald’s making the latest splash Thursday morning.
At 10:30 a.m., the world’s largest burger chain will debut a newly rebuilt McDonald’s in Riverside that will become the first McDonald’s west of the Mississippi –  and the fourth in the U.S. — to seek LEED Gold certification.
McDonald’s said the 44-year-old restaurant opens with a “host” of eco-friendly and sustainable features,  including:

• Light colored hardscape to reduce heat emissions from site
• Native drought tolerant plants to reduce water consumption by landscape
• Low-flow plumbing fixtures to reduce water usage
• 294 photovoltaic panels to generate a percentage of the restaurant’s power from solar energy
• Recycled denim insulation inside the building

The restaurant is at 2242 University Ave., Riverside. It’s unclear if any Orange County McDonald’s plan to go ‘green’ any time soon."

-Jesse Fajnzylber

"http://fastfood.ocregister.com/2010/10/14/mcdonalds-arches-go-green-in-southern-california/76680/"

Happy Meals

  I personally think that happy meals were a huge success to the companies. For one thing it would attract children which would make them much more money, and also the companies that are putting their items into happy meals will pay of the fast food restaurant well.
  The McDonald's, in America, happy meals consists of, fries or apple fries, soda or juice, and a burger or chicken strips.  McDonald's has a brief idea of a pasta happy meal in 2007, it was discontinued to 2008, clearly unsuccessful. Also in some countries they have offered more variety like grilled cheese sandwiches or other healthy wraps.
  They also have the might happy meal, meant for pre-teens who aren't able to eat a full meal yet. In this everything is put up a step, like hamburger goes to double-hamburger, or 4 piece chicken strips go to 6 piece.
  The idea of a toy in the happy meal was introduced into America in 1994. Before it was just in Canada, where people could pre-order their toys, and then receive them for free the next week. Originally they were pretty bland toys like a ball or a Frisbee, now they often move and are always more complex. They also have the element of collecting all of the toys in a series. This makes the children want to go back, and maybe complete their collections.
 One of the most recent isn't exactly a toy, its more of a prize. The only one i remember is the monopoly option. They had a year or two again, and recently on commercials I noticed it is back. They way it works is that you get a property from monopoly, and if you got a monopoly that your prize can range from $50-$500,000. I'm not exactly sure on the max but, I'm pretty sure it is around half a million. The rewards now makes adults want to go back, in the hope of completing their monopoly.
-Jesse Fajnzylber

Ronald McDonald

The clown, that is now known today by 96% of students in America, was first seen in 1963. Originally, the clown was in McDonald-land, and the advertisements on TV would be about his adventures. More recently, Ronald McDonald has shifted to being around normal kids in normal activities. This helped promote the idea that because the clown was friendly to children, McDonald's was a good family restaurant to eat at.
  In the real world Ronald McDonald is a figure too. He visits kids who are sick in hospitals, hoping they will feel better. Also Ronald has his own house, "The Ronald McDonald House" which is a sanitary place for adults to stay, while their children are at hospitals.
  The first person to play the clown was Willard Scott. In his book he claims that he created the clown, but two other employees, George Voorhis and Terry Teene. They claimed that together, in the beginning of 1963 they made the clown, with his french fries pockets together. However McDonald's still claims today that Voorhis and Teene had nothing to do with the clown.
  There are 12 different actors that during some time have been the clown on ads. Some of them were clowns during the same year as others. With all of the success with Ronald McDonald. The cheery figure is the second most known figures by kids in America after Santa Claus.
-Jesse Fajnzylber

Ray Kroc

  Ray Kroc had an entire paragraph in my paper, so I thought it would be smart to add a blog about him also.  That way it would be easier to see my ideas and maybe find something about him that I missed before.
  Ray Kroc was born in Chicago Illinois, in 1902. During WW1 he became an ambulance driver, and met Walt Disney. After the war, until 1950 he has many jobs, and none of them are good for him. He start selling milk shake mixes, and thats how he met the McDonald brothers. He partnered up with them, and become one of the founders to McDonalds.
  By 1960 the company had expanded to a little over 200 companies. With all of this success, the brothers were content with the size of the franchise, however Kroc wanted to expand the company more. A year later he buys the company from them for $2.7 dollars, and 1.9% of income.
  When Kroc starts to lead the company he makes a lot of great changes, that shapes the McDonalds that we all go to today. His first idea was to copy Henry Ford's idea of an assembly line. This means that there are stations for each part of a Burger. So one stations puts on the lettuce, another puts on the tomatoes, etc. This helped increase the numbers of burgers made, which lead to faster service, and more money. He also made all outlets standardize their items. That way every Big Mac would taste exactly the same.Another standardization he set, was that all there would be refunds to all customers at all restaurants if the order comes out incorrect. Also there would be a refund if a customer had to wait more than 5 minutes, really making the term fast food real.
-Jesse Fajnzylber

Personal Thoughts about Fast Food

  Most people's favorite fast food place is McDonald's, but personally I prefer Burger King. When I was a vegetarian I started to eat Burger King because they offer veggie burgers, and McDonalds does not, and thats probably why I like Burger King more. The only thing that is better at McDonalds is their fries, but that is just a fact and no one can argue it. I'm more of a burger person and I think that the whopper is just much tastier and bigger than the Big Mac. The Big Mac, is actually surprisingly small, and if I'm not mistaken it costs as much as a triple whopper which is what i normally get at Burger King. The triple whopper is extremely filling, and finishing the entire thing, with the three patties is such an accomplishing feeling.
  There are other foods that I like at fast food restaurants that I usually get, on top of the burger. At Burger King I often get the 4 piece tender crisp off the dollar menu. It's very cheap and very tasty. At McDonalds I like the Big and Tasty, but the last time I went there they didn't have any, so I'm not sure if it was discontinued or not. At Taco Bell I always get the crunch rap supreme. The first time I got it, I had low expectations, because it smelled funky, but it was delicious. KFC has a famous bowl which I like, but a lot of people also don't like it. Then other restaurants like Wendy's and Sonic I've only been to once. Sonic might have been my favorite fast food place, it was definitely very close to Burger King. I think I just got a regular Burger there. Wendy's is also very good, and underrated. The one time I went there I got the 1/4 pounder, and some chicken sandwich off the dollar menu.
  If I had to give an order to all the fast food restaurants I've been too it would be, Burger King, Sonic, McDonalds, Wendys, Taco Bell, and then KFC, but I love them all.
  Finally, in Dedham there is this road with BK, McDonalds, and Taco Bell. My friends and I have gone to all three occasionally, and named it the trifecta. My most amazing accomplishment was all 3 of those restaurant and KFC in one sitting. I finished eating with 3,410 calories and wanting to die.
-Jesse Fajnzylber

Basic History of McDonald's

  The famous fast food restaurant, started in 1940, the brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald. The restaurant was first seen in San Bernardino, California. In 1948 the company came up with the idea of quick service, starting modern fast food.
  McDonald's mascot now is Ronald McDonald. Before the well known clown there was one other mascot. The mascot's name was Speedee. Speedee had a human body, a hamburger face, and a chefs hat. Ronald McDonald was created in 1967, and a clown with puffy costume legs was trademarked by McDonald's.
  Other important trademarks in the history of the restaurant have to do with the name and the golden arches. May 4th 1961 the name McDonald's was trademarked, and the description of the restaurant was "Drive-In Restaurant Services".  On September 13th 1961 the company put a trademark on the double arched m, or now known as the golden arches. September 6th 1962 the double arched m became a single arch. This logo is in until November 18th 1968, when the golden arches come back, and they have been here since that date.
  In 1987 McDonald's introduces the play place. It helped increase sales with more children wanting to come to McDonald's. From 2004-2007 the incoming money increased 27% up to $22.8 billion. Today there are over 31,000 McDonald's restaurants world wide. Along with the 31,000 restaurants there are over 400,000 employees.

History of Burger King

  The first time the Burger King restaraunt was seen in the world was is 1953, in Jacksonville, Florida. It was created by Keith J. Kramer and his uncle in law, Matthew Burns. They called their new restaraunt Insta-Burger King. The insta part of the name came from their device to cook their burgers, the insta-broiler. The BK menu consisted of a burger, fries, soda, and milkshakes. In 1957 McLamore creates the whopper. In 1959 Insta-Burger King was falling apart and was rebought James McLamore and David R. Edgerton.
  The first thing the two of them do when they are incharge is rename it to the name known today, Burger King. They run the company well for 8 years, expanding it to over 250 locations in the United States. During this 8 year span the company beging to do well again. The total price of the company goes up. Then the two of them sold it to  the Pillsbury company in 1967.
  Under the Pillsbury company BK started to do better in the beginning. The ideas that the Pillsbury company suggested were poorly run by managers of each BK outlet, which led to BK total value to decrease for the rest of 20th century.
  During this time Pillsbury hires McDonald's excutive, Donald N. Smith to help the company. While his ideas are helpful, like having owners of the outler living within an hour of that outlet, it didn't save BK in the 20th century. After Donald retired, in 1988, the next CEO was easier on Donald's laws, and the company continued to go downhill.
  In 2000, Diageo, the CEO of the time attempts to sell Burger King. In 2002 TGP Capital buys BK for a price of 1.5 billion dollars. Since TGP has been in charge of Burger King the company has done much better. Every year the companies net worth would go up until 2007 when the finicial crises started. Since then BK has become smaller, while their enemies, McDonalds has gotten bigger.
  The company's "golden age" was in the 1970's when their ads were the best. It had a mascot, The Magical Burger King. Also the ads had slogans and jingles that were very well known. Starting in the 80's the ads also started to get worse.
  Today there are 12,000 BK outlets in 73 countries. 66% of the outlets are in the U.S. Also there are 41,000 workers in BK worldwide. There are also 11.4 million customers a day.