If you’ve recently fallen back in love with McDonald’s due to a rogue tweet directed towards America’s president, here’s some more good news for you: The restaurant — which has remained steadfast in its decision to continue using frozen patties as other fast food giants have moved to less-mockable ingredients — is finally getting with the times. And the chain is rolling out fresh beef patties to hundreds of its stores.
Consumerist reports that, so far, the fresh patties have been tested in only a handful of stores — 14 in Dallas, 75 in Oklahoma — but that they’re doing so well that McDonald’s is sending them to more than 300 stores in the Texas area, beginning what could be a national rollout for the home of the Big Mac and The Shamrock Shake. And now that McDonald’s has also vowed to fix their ice cream machines, it looks like the chain is poised for something great.
From Consumerist:
“We view this latest expansion of never-frozen beef for quarter-pound beef patties as another signal as to the direction McDonald’s US is likely to head — more test markets/restaurants are likely to introduce never-frozen beef in coming months,” Instinet Analyst Mark Kalinowski wrote in a note to clients.
Don’t expect the change to be immediate — McDonald’s will have to figure out how it will supply the beef to franchisees as well as deal with any new food safety issues — but you shouldn’t be surprised if you see fresh beef patties at a store near you soon. As one franchisee noted, “customers perceive unfrozen to be better for you. Perception is everything.”
