The Chain Gang

Five Guys Forcing McDonald’s to Pretend Their Food Is High Quality

Okay, yes, the fries are really good.
Okay, yes, the fries are really good. Photo: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Here’s something you might not know: McDonald’s employs a “director of sensory science.” (We wonder what her senses would tell her about the bathroom at the McD’s on First Avenue in the East Village.) You see, now that chains like Five Guys and Smashburger are making people realize that fast-food burgers don’t necessarily have to taste like burnt tar, McDonald’s is, according to Bloomberg, “being forced to open up about the provenance of its beef, potatoes and more.” Which isn’t necessarily a great thing when you’re a giant company focused on making and selling your food as cheaply as possible.

But, according to the Bloomberg story, the company is doing everything in its power to convince people that their food — and especially their French fries — is actually pretty tasty. You’ve probably seen those ads that profile McDonald’s suppliers, which aim to remind potential customers that the chain’s super-processed stuff does actually begin its life as real ingredients before being turned into science food.

The odd thing is, when you head to the McDonald’s site, you’ll see their main promotion at the minute isn’t actually about the quality of their food at all. It’s about how cheap it is. And there’s a special push for the 20-piece McNuggets, which as you may know are just pulverized chicken goop that gets deep-fried. And which, at the moment, only cost five bucks — a price point that no doubt reflects the care and attention the mega-chain devotes to its chickens before mashing them up into nuggets.

McDonald’s Pursuit of Perfect Fries Risks Overpromising [Bloomberg]
Related: McDonald’s Hamburgers: Almost Entirely Indestructible

Five Guys Forcing McDonald’s to Pretend Their Food Is High Quality