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McDonald’s is chasing the bargain eater

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McDonald’s revives its discount menu, hoping to lure back consumers feeling the pinch of rising prices

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The McDonald's logo is pictured in front of a store in Dearborn, Michigan on October 17, 2024. (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)

The McDonald’s logo is pictured in front of a store in Dearborn, Michigan on October 17, 2024. (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)

In its latest attempt to woo back inflation-weary consumers, McDonald’s is offering yet another meal deal.

On Monday, Sept. 8, the fast-food giant reintroduced its “Extra Value Meals,” a discount menu offering that McDonald’s first launched in 1991 and subsequently eliminated in 2019. The incentive includes an $8 Big Mac Combo Meal with medium fries and a medium soft drink, a $5 Sausage McMuffin with Egg Meal with hash browns and a small coffee, along with other meal options. Per McDonald’s, the combination meal deals “will save customers as much as 15% compared to buying each item individually,” CNN reported. Meal prices will vary depending on location.

Other noteworthy items include the Ranch Snack Wrap, a returning fan-favorite, which is now in a full meal alongside medium fries and a medium Sprite. There’s also the brand-new Spicy Snack Wrap Meal and Ranch & Spicy Snack Wrap Meal, which combine both wraps with fries and a Sprite. The Snack Wrap will be available for $2.99 through the end of the year.

McDonald’s Extra Value Meals is expected to last until the end of the year. The chain is slated to roll out additional discounts in November, including $5 Sausage, Egg and Cheese McGriddles and $8 10-piece Chicken McNuggets meals, according to USA TODAY.

“McDonald’s USA is laser-focused on delivering value and affordability for our customers, and I’m incredibly proud of how our franchisees and teams continue to step up to make it a reality,” McDonald’s USA president Joe Erlinger said in a recent news release. “From the $5 Meal Deal to McValue and now Extra Value Meals, we’re sending a clear message: we’re here for our customers. McDonald’s will always be a place where you can get the food you love at a price that fits your life.”

The recent meal deal comes more than a year after McDonald’s began luring back an increasing number of financially-conscious customers plagued by the high cost of food, especially fast food. A 2024 LendingTree survey of more than 2,000 adults between the ages of 18 and 78 found that a majority of Americans no longer consider fast food an affordable meal option. In fact, 78 percent of consumers, at the time, considered fast food to be a “luxury,” per the survey. Additionally, 71 percent of lower-income Americans who make less than $30,000 a year and 58 percent of parents with young children described fast food as a “luxury” because they’re struggling financially.

Last summer, McDonald’s launched a $5 value meal. In January, the chain expanded that deal with a new “Buy One, Add One for $1” option that includes breakfast. McDonald’s also revamped its marketing campaign, with a special cameo from John Cena, who is allegedly a “lifelong fan” of the chain.


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Amid an ongoing value meal wars — which McDonald’s has been embroiled in with fellow industry competitors Wendy’s and Burger King — the chain faced legal troubles and a decline in both restaurant sales and traffic following an E. coli outbreak linked to slivered onions served in its Quarter Pounder.

However, McDonald’s has managed to bounce back with sales doing better in recent months. In the wake of its “A Minecraft Movie” meal deal — which “marked the chain’s largest marketing campaign ever,” CNN reported in August — and new chicken strips, sales at McDonald’s US locations open at least a year increased 2.5% from April 1 to June 31. The boost comes after two consecutive quarters of declining sales.

In an earnings call on Aug. 6, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said restaurant visits from low-income consumers “once again declined by double digits versus the prior-year period.”

“Re-engaging the low-income consumer is critical as they typically visit our restaurants more frequently than middle- and high-income consumers,” he added.

Indeed, McDonald’s has made it its mission to do exactly that with its Extra Value Meals and future menu deals.

By

Joy Saha

Joy Saha is a staff writer at Salon. She writes about food news and trends and their intersection with culture. She holds a BA in journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park.


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