McDonald’s just can’t handle the wrap game. Back in 2006, the franchise restaurant tried something a little different. They introduced “snack sized” wraps as, what they called in internal memos, a “Subway buster” to compete with the sandwich chain. Frankly we’d expect a more creative title out of the people who brought us chocolate covered fries, the Modern China Burger, and whatever this is, but we got the point. The wraps were meant to appeal to a more health conscious group of millennials. Kids who wanted something fast, healthy, and small.
Unfortunately for McD’s they forgot that they’re not really associated with tortillas, or health, or even reasonable portion sizes. Changing people’s minds about all three at once was a struggle. In response to low sales, they spent two years upping their healthy wrap game and, in 2013, they released the premium wraps. HOT TAKE: When you spend two years developing a wrap, you clearly don’t have strong tortilla game.
The wraps still flopped. They took too long to make and were bogging down kitchens. On average, it took 20 seconds to steam a tortilla, which apparently feels like a ridiculously long time for Ronald & Co. After a seven-quarter slump in the U.S., McDonald’s released the all day breakfast menu — a shift that required more versatility out of their kitchens, but fans lost their goddamn minds over. Because of this shift, fat needed to be trimmed and wraps had to go.
If you were a fan, fear not — You can still drunkenly stuff McNuggets in a tortilla any time you like.
