McDonald's is bringing back one of its most expensive failures — but there's a catch

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McDonald's is testing a new take on a high-profile flop.

The fast-food chain recently began a test of Archburgers made with fresh beef at a handful of restaurants, McDonald's confirmed to Business Insider. According to a note from Nomura analyst Mark Kalinowski, McDonald's is testing the fresh-beef burger at seven locations in Oklahoma and Texas.

With the test, it appears that McDonald's "Arch Sauce" has returned to the menu for the first time since the late 1990s.

Error loading player: No playable sources found Now Playing: McDonald's Is Bringing Back Its Wildly Popular Dollar Menu Media: Money

Arch Sauce is a mustard-mayo combination that McDonald's debuted as a topping for the Arch Deluxe — a sandwich aimed at more sophisticated and "adult" customers — that debuted in 1996.

McDonald's spent an estimated $150 million to $200 million advertising the Arch Deluxe's rollout, which was, at the time, the most expensive promotional campaign in fast-food history, The New York Times reported.

The fast-food chain's executives predicted that the burger would bring in $1 billion in sales in 1996. However, the burger — which, at between $2.09 and $2.49, was pricier than typical McDonald's fare — failed to win over customers and was discontinued in the late '90s.

In 2018, McDonald's is once again trying to use Arch Sauce to appeal to more gourmet-minded customers, pairing it with fresh beef in the Archburger. But this time, the burger is more reasonably priced, starting at $2.19 for an Archburger with cheese, pickle, onions, and Arch Sauce. A Big Mac, for comparison, typically costs about $3.99.

"We are continuing to raise the bar for our customers with new menu items and ways to experience our brand," representative Becca Hary said.

PublicAccount1234 on January 3rd, 2018 at 15:10 UTC »

The McDLT? Hot side hot and cool side cool? And twice the styrofoam!

Jarhyn on January 3rd, 2018 at 14:54 UTC »

Now, if only they could bring back the Angus 1/3 lb burgers...

The Angus bacon and cheese was the only burger from McDonald's that I ever enjoyed.

Edit: people are talking all kinds of crap about why it was pulled, from some rumor that it was because Americans are bad at math, to claims that it was the price of beef. It wasn't exactly the price of beef; the Angus burgers are in fact still offered in Canada. And it wasn't that Americans are bad at math (though many probably are). In reality it was to do with maintaining their corporate image in the US as "the cheap option", and having really expensive burgers on the menu eroded that image.

autotldr on January 3rd, 2018 at 14:52 UTC »

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 70%. (I'm a bot)

McDonald's is bringing back one of its most expensive failures - but there's a catch.

McDonald's spent an estimated $150 million to $200 million advertising the Arch Deluxe's rollout, which was, at the time, the most expensive promotional campaign in fast-food history, The New York Times reported.

The burger - which, at between $2.09 and $2.49, was pricier than typical McDonald's fare - failed to win over customers and was discontinued in the late '90s. In 2018, McDonald's is once again trying to use Arch Sauce to appeal to more gourmet-minded customers, pairing it with fresh beef in the Archburger.

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