Find out what MNers think of the new McDonald’s Happy Meal menu options

[EmmaMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the Mumsnetters who attended the McDonald’s family fun day to try out the new Happy Meal menu with their 5-11 year olds. Testers visited a McDonald’s restaurant in St Pauls for music, games, face painting, and for their children to try the new customisable grilled chicken wrap menu option in Happy Meals. This new option was added to the Happy Meal menu after running research via a survey and focus group with Mumsnetters and gransnetters to find out what they’d like to see in Happy Meals.

Here’s what McDonald’s has to say: “We are constantly looking for ways to enhance our menu, from introducing new items to evolving the recipes of our iconic favourites. We’ve taken big steps to improve our Happy Meal in recent years and reducing saturated fat, salt and sugar content across our menu remains a priority. This is why we have been working with Mumsnet to provide even greater choice for parents and their families. We’ve heard from Mumsnetters about what they’d love to see added to the Happy Meal menu and we’re excited to be launching it.”

Testers please share any photos you took at the event and answer the following questions:

• What did you and your children think of the new Grilled Chicken Wrap option on the Happy Meal menu?
• What did you think about being able to customise the Grilled Chicken Wrap? What options did you pick?
• What did you think of the event? Have you been to a Family Fun event before?
• What else would you like to see from McDonald’s for you and your family to better enjoy the restaurant experience?
• What are your main considerations when eating out as a family?

Everyone who leaves their feedback on event will be entered into a prize draw for the chance to win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

To find out what gransnetters think of the new Happy Meal option click here.

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

I'm sorry, but it simply cannot be true that there is no demand for vegetarian food and is very unlikely that there is no demand for gluten free food either - many restaurants, including chains, who sell far less food than McDonalds offer vegetarian or gluten free options (or whole menus) and find they sell lots and make money too.

If McDonalds was interested in seeing what demand is, all they have to do is run a trial period with some options and make sure they are well publicised. A key reason vegetarians and gluten free people don't go is because there aren't options - this is widely known, so that customer base goes elsewhere.

But look at what has happened with both vegetarian and gluten free offerings in other places over the last 10 years - they have rocketed - and this is businesses responding to demand....so it is simply not right to say there is no demand or that there is no supply in other restaurants. It may well be that mcDonalds always offers more meat dishes (no problem) but to offer nothing gluten free, when many families now do have a gluten free member or certainly a vegetarian member doesn't make sense.....unless they simply don't want to offer those products, for whatever reason....in which case, they should be honest about why they don't offer them, because everyone can see it simply isn't true to say that in the UK there isn't enough demand for gluten free or vegetarian food.

WombatChocolate We have two vegetarian burgers on our menu and they are very poor sellers. While they are not selling well it doesn’t make sense to add another vegetarian product or go even more obscure for gluten free or vegan.

What about a vegetarian option in the Happy Meal? Why isn't there one?

Why is McDonalds the only restaurant without a children's vegetarian option in 2018? Other restaurants might sell less vegetarians children's meals than meat options, but they still offer them because they are providing an overall offering to cover a range of needs within any family.

I don't think you are understanding business - restaurants don't just look at how many of an individual item sell, but the wider picture. Offering vegetarian or gluten free options doesn't just mean they sell, but groups come in and buy both the standard menu items and the specialist items as well - the overall spend is higher, because otherwise that whole family goes elsewhere. It is entirely the norm these days for restaurants to offer something for gluten free people and for vegetarians and places with a very similar customer profile to McDonalds do too. From serving on the till and not hearing many people ask for vegetarian options or gluten free options does not mean there is no demand. What bizarre thinking.

Consider all the pizza restaurants, also offering bread based products (pizza bases instead of burger buns) - all of the larger groups now offer a gluten free pizza and pasta option.

If McDonalds wanted to, it could come up with a really delicious veggie option. It is not beyond a huge corporation. They could make people aware of them, in the way they advertise the short term burger offerings on billboards and social media. They could run a TV campaign pointing out that misconceptions about McDonalds are unfounded - they have previously made clear they serve quality beef, chicken breast, have lowered salt etc....they could offer vegetarian and gluten free good in children's meals and run a campaign to make that clear to the public. But they don't, when most Italian restaurants have worked hard to make clear gluten free people are now catered for and there are more veggie options.

What about a vegetarian option in the Happy Meal? Why isn't there one?

WombatChocolate I just answered that:

We have two vegetarian burgers on our menu and they are very poor sellers. While they are not selling well it doesn’t make sense to add another vegetarian product or go even more obscure for gluten free or vegan.

From serving on the till and not hearing many people ask for vegetarian options or gluten free options does not mean there is no demand.

I’m not a crew member; I’m a manager. I have access to a lot of insider information and I’m talking from a place of knowledge; you are talking from ignorance.

I think the veggie options are poor sellers because they aren’t very nice(so I’ve been told) and other places offer much better veggie options. McDonalds need to up their game.

Are the veggie options available in the Happy Meal? If so, I apologise, because I haven't spotted that. I would be glad to think that there is something in the specifically children's option available. How odd then that 47% of people wanted a vegetarian option, if there is already a good offering...does make me wonder!

And what do you think about all of the other restaurants now offering gluten free options and vegetarian meals as standard? What is is about McDonalds which means they don't offer a gluten free choice in this day and age - genuinely interested to know why such a large chain can't/doesn't offer it when many other large and small chains and independents do recognise the huge increase in demand for gluten free food - it is one of the biggest growth areas in the restaurant market and one most restaurants have been keen to cash in on, as i'm sure you're aware from visiting other places. I'm just interested in why McDonalds should be different.

And I'm a regular customer in many restaurants and have been for lots of years. New things come into the restaurant market and restaurants adapt to changing tastes and preferences - the whole point of this MN survey is to see what customers think - not to call their views 'ignorance' - but perhaps you are not part of the official survey, but responding on your own behalf, as I'm not so sure McDonalds would be pleased to see the responses made to the questions which LOTS of people have raised about vegetarian and gluten free food - isn't this all meant to be able responding to consumer demand and wanting to hear what they have to say.

So, in case an official McDonald's spokesperson comes along, my questions that I'd love answers to are;

• is there a vegetarian Happy meal option and if not, why not?
• Given the massive increase in people pursuing gluten free diets and other restuarants offering gluten free options, when will mcDonalds be offering gluten free burger buns?

Many thanks.

WombatChocolate I have never claimed to be an official McDonalds spokesperson; I have simply mentioned that I work there.

No, there is no vegetarian happy meal. There are two vegetarian burgers on the main menu, but they are poor sellers, so my point was that while they sell poorly, they are unlikely to add another vegetarian option.

47% of 1000 people is only 470 people. It was a tiny survey, and from such a small sample you simply cannot introduce an entire product from it.

The grilled chicken wrap was a great addition as we already do a grilled wrap on the main menu, so you can simple just place half the amount of chicken in a grilled Happy wrap. It is not as simply with the veggie burger as it is too big for a happy meal and they would have to introduce an entirely new one.

With a vegetarian happy meal not currently on the cards, I think it very unlikely they would introduce gluten free options or even buns.

Vegetarians and Vegans are unlikely to come to McDonalds on their own for a vegetarian or vegan option; they would be more likely to go to a restaurant with more options than the one or two we might provide.

McDonalds does want as many people to come to their restaurants as possible, but they simply will not introduce anything on the menu that they haven’t a demand for. While vegetarianism and veganism may be growing as a whole, there is not a specific demand for McDonalds to introduce such options.

Well thanks for your comments. I think I will wait and see if anyone official comes and answers my questions.
You see, vegetarians and gluten free people are not small niche groups but massive eating-out populations worth millions of £/$. If other restaurants find they don't sell much veggie food, they dont conclude from that there is no demand, but they look to up their game and tap into the market. I am just very interested to know why McDonalds aren't also trying to gain market share of these growing sections of the market - they aren't tiny niche sections, and the fact vegetarians don't eat much at McDonalds should be an opportunity, not a reason to just say 'we don't sell much, so there can't be demand, so we won't try to offer an improved option'. All markets need to look to stay ahead and keep tweaking their offering. I agree that a small survey by MN doesn't reveal enough to change policy, but McD will have carried out many surveys over the years and it's hardly news to anyone that vegetarianism is big business and gluten free available pretty much everywhere now.
Anyway, nothing more to say from me, I will wait to see if someone is able to explain why there still isn't a veggie Happy Meal in 2018 and why there are no gluten free buns when other chains offer gluten free buns or pizza etc. Perhaps then, I will be able to try a new burger or wrap and comment on it.

I love chocolatewombat!

ChocolateWombat totally agree with all your point.

Pizza express and Pizza Hut offer gluten free.

The veggie burger in McDonalds is really not nice, the one the did about 10-15 years ago called the vegetable deluxe, not sure what it's called now, was so much nicer, it was mixed veg burger not like the beans or whatever is in it now. So no wonder there is no demand for it.

In other countries you can get the fish burger in a McDonald's kids meal, not sure about if there is a veggie option but it shows that there is other options available where there is demand. So I think McDonald's really do need a veggie option for kids.

the one the did about 10-15 years ago called the vegetable deluxe, not sure what it's called now, was so much nicer, it was mixed veg burger not like the beans or whatever is in it now. So no wonder there is no demand for it.

The veggie burger we have now is the same veggie burger we had 10-15 years ago with the exact same name you mentioned: the vegetable deluxe.

The veggie deluxe has sandwich sauce and shredded lettuce, while the spicy veggie deluxe has cool mayo, sweet chilli sauce, lettuce and cucumber.

There are no beans in either of our veggie burgers.

We also do a fish finger happy meal, so there are other options than chicken and beef.

It’s fine for you to not like McDonalds or to think there should be a veggie happy meal, but you really should know what you’re talking about so you’re not coming out with things that simply aren’t true.

In case it wasn’t clear by the quote, that last post was to noenergy.

@WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue have you actually tasted the veggie burger?
Do u know what is actually in it?

By beans I should have said chickpeas, that's what it mainly consists of, not actual vegetables.

It most definitely is not the same as before as I used to eat them. There was peas and corn and peppers in it before.

have you actually tasted the veggie burger?
Do u know what is actually in it?

noenergy I’ve worked there a long time; I’ve tasted all the products and I know what’s in them. When a new product is introduced, we have a tasting session so we can try it and accurately describe it to our customers.

In your veggie patty you have: Chickpeas (30%), Breadcrumbs (Rice Flour, Gram Flour, Maize Starch, Salt, Rapeseed Oil, Emulsifier (Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids), Dextrose), Onion (11%), Water, Yellow Split Peas (8%), Potato (7%), Sunflower Oil, Dehydrated Potato, Maize Flour, Maize Starch, Rapeseed Oil, Rice Flour, Potato Starch, Cumin, Sugar, Salt, Coriander Leaf, Garlic Powder, Garlic Puree, Stabiliser (Xanthan Gum), Colour (Paprika Extract).

We did used to do a veggie wrap (all the ingredients of which are now in the spicy veggie deluxe just with a patty in a burger bun instead), but the veggetable deluxe has not changed since it was introduced.

Agree with PP's.
Veggie burgers at McDonalds are not nice at all and by far the worst tasting vegetarian option of all the fast food chains. By a really long shot.
All the vegetarians I know, myself included, just get cheese bites instead. I'm not surprised the demand is very low, it's been around long enough that most veggies have tried it the once and not bothered again!

Good suggestion above about doing it the same way as Burger King with one size patty but putting two in adults and one in a happy meal.
Veggie burger desperately needs redoing and this seems a seamless way of providing a vegetarian happy meal option at the same time.
If McDonald's really is incapable of producing a decent vegetarian option, then at least just make a happy meal available with the existing cheese bites as this is what every vegetarian I know ends up eating there anyway.

There is at least some sort of cheese bite year round now - there didn't used to be a couple of years ago. I imagine they're available all th time now because the demand for them was always so high - I think I've found where your elusive vegetarian demand has been hiding!!!

So, I have just returned from McDonalds where I took
‘WhatToDoAboutWailmerGoneRogue’s advice about asking to have the veggie deluxe made in a wrap;

‘If you would prefer it in a wrap, ask politely if it can be made into a wrap for you and they should happily do it, because we like to go the extra mile for our customers and give them a great experience. ‘

Guess what my ‘great experience’ was? Biting into the wrap and getting a mouthful of chicken! Seriously, not impressed.

Great news today, there is finally a vegan happy meal option! Plus a new wrap available for adults

I wonder how much influence MN had on this

I saw that too! Looks like the adult veggie wrap is only available on Mondays though?? Seriously, what's the point in that?

Really? That sounds odd, I hope that's not the case because they will then phase it out saying there wasn't demand, when it would just be because it was so restricted

Interesting that McDonald’s say that they have done this because of the big demand for veggie options...Almost like one person working in just one branch can’t always know national corporate strategy and market research! 🙄

ALso, it’s not just available on a Monday - you can get the wrap any day, but it’s the wrap of the day on a Monday so reduced to £1.99