If you’ve been to McDonald’s recently, you might have noticed their menu has changed somewhat. The contents in the menu hasn’t actually changed that much. They’ve added a couple of new items. What seems to be a bigger change is the way the menu has been presented. It’s now designed to get you to buy pricier items.
The new menu came as part of McDonald’s introduction of their new range of premium burgers. The new signature collection, as they’re called, features three burgers: classic cheese with Angus beef, spicy tortilla with Angus beef, and spicy chicken with apple slaw.
The pricier meat, of course, means that McDonald’s has to up their burger prices somewhat. Fancy paying S$10.95 for a set meal? Yes, that’s right, Extra Value Meals had not cost over S$10 before this.
In order to get customers to pony up more money for the burgers, McDonald’s has now cleverly redesigned its menu.
The new burgers, of course, are now prominently featured in the pictures. You remember there used to be a panel that showed all the Extra Value Meals? Well, that panel only shows the new Signature collection.
There are still some pictures of the old burgers strewn around the menu. However, you might easily find yourself caught unprepared when it comes to your turn in the queue to order, and not seeing your familiar extra value meals, you may just select from the new upgraded meat offerings.
In fact, to help you justify the upgraded meat, in case you noticed the higher price tag, McDonald’s has also removed some of the cheaper items from the menu. The new menu has the main food items organised into three categories: beef, fish and vegetables, and chicken.
Now, if you were looking at your beef burgers, you might consider that the new Classic Cheese with Angus Beef at S$10.95 is merely S$1.50 more than the Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese. The Single Quarter Pounder with Cheese isn’t on the menu, but it is available to order. Similarly, the very budget friendly S$2 Cheese Burger is not listed in the menu, but you can still order it.
Sneaky?
Well, I suppose that’s what marketing is about.
I think crossing that S$10 is a sort of a psychological barrier for pricing of fast food.
I’ve to admit that the Classic Cheese with Angus Beef was pretty good. I was offered a free sample. I’m not sure if I can bring myself to pay S$10.95 for fast food though.