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McDonald’s Australia testing upscale "Gourmet Breakfast" in Queensland

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X

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
http://burgerbusiness.com/mcdonalds-tests-gourmet-breakfast/

Already testing all-day breakfast, McDonald’s Australia operation—which developed the Create Your Taste platform, McCafé and other ideas now in the U.S.—is testing an upscale “Gourmet Breakfast” menu in at least one market, BurgerBusiness.com has learned.

All-day breakfast, launched July 2 in the Illawarra region south of Sydney and since spread to the Gold Coast region on the east coast, is more limited than the U.S. trial. Just six items from the regular breakfast menu—Bacon & Egg McMuffin, Sausage & Egg McMuffin, Sausage McMuffin, Hash Brown, Hotcakes and English Muffin (with honey, Vegemite or strawberry jam)—are being offered 24 hours a day. The U.S. test, which launched in April, includes nine breakfast items.

Gourmet Breakfast, testing in Annerley, a Brisbane suburb in Queensland, is a completely new morning menu, anchored by a “Café Breakfast” platter of toasted sourdough bread, bacon, two chipolata sausage (a small pork sausage) links, scrambled eggs, wilted spinach, grilled tomatoes, a hash brown patty and tomato relish.

Also on the menu are Belgian waffles with yogurt and fruit; a corn fritter platter with avocado, grilled tomatoes, crumbled feta cheese, tomato relish and spinach; a Bacon and Egg Roll (bacon, egg, spinach and tomato relish on a toasted brioche-style bun); and an Avocado Smash platter with toasted sourdough, mashed avocado, crumbled feta, spinach and sliced tomato.

Point-of-purchase merchandising says diners can customize Gourmet Breakfast items “at the kiosk,” presumably the same kiosk used for building Create Your Taste burgers.

McDonald’s Australia has long been interested in elevating perception of the brand through higher-end menu items. This has included an “M Selections” menu, tested in 2011, that included an Angus the Great and Grand Chicken burgers plus a NYC Benedict Bagel at breakfast, plus the Chicken Schnitzel & Citrus Mayo, Chicken Schnitzel & BBQ rolls and Angus & Egg Brekkie breakfast burger last year. Last December, McDonald’s opened The Corner, a healthy-foods café, in Sydney. Recent additions the The Corner’s menu have been a Mash & Lamb Winter Protein Box and a Lemon Lime & Bitters beverage.
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Z0WytTH.jpg
 
GHG

GHG

Gold Member
Mcdonalds seem to be confused.

Do they not understand that gourmet Mcdonalds is like an oxymoron?
 
S

SRG01

Member
If they wanted to promote gourmet items, they should simply spin-off a gourmet brand.

McDonalds and Gourmet do not belong together.
 
way more

way more

Member
Ugh, why improve the food? Literally nobody is asking them to do that. Just make it faster and with greater detail.
 
K

kirby_fox

Banned
The more things they come up with the more I'm fairly certain the strategy is "throw stuff at them, see if more people will come because of it. Whatever we do, do not copy the competition even though what Burger King is doing is really raking in profits."
 
S

SolicitorPirate

Member
Saw ads for this about a week back. Its not impossible, McCafe for instance was a successful mini rebranding, but I have a difficult time seeing this working in Australia. There are just too many good gourmet burger places here.

This would probably have better legs in the Asian markets where gourmet burgers aren't really popular or well established yet.
 
A

akira28

Member
Maybe McDonalds AU can pull off gourmet (hah). But McDonalds USA was built on anti-gourmet principles and foundation and looking at every mcdonalds I've ever seen, gourmet is fucking impossible. (No offense to the people who work there.)
 
cheezcake

cheezcake

Member
akira28 said:
Maybe McDonalds AU can pull off gourmet (hah). But McDonalds USA was built on anti-gourmet principles and foundation and looking at every mcdonalds I've ever seen, gourmet is fucking impossible. (No offense to the people who work there.)
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Yeh the perception is very different in Australia compared to the US, Maccas (AU Mcdonalds) actually has a pretty positive reputation for good food and the previous high end items they introduced have all done pretty well.
 
S

SolicitorPirate

Member
cheezcake said:
Yeh the perception is very different in Australia compared to the US, Maccas (AU Mcdonalds) actually has a pretty positive reputation for good food and the previous high end items they introduced have all done pretty well.
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Wait. It does? I must hang out with snobs cause I don't know anyone who considers Maccas good food.
 
A

AxeMan

Member
cheezcake said:
Yeh the perception is very different in Australia compared to the US, Maccas (AU Mcdonalds) actually has a pretty positive reputation for good food and the previous high end items they introduced have all done pretty well.
Click to expand...

lol - that's not true
 
S

SolicitorPirate

Member
cheezcake said:
"good" food was a bad way to put it, I meant it more comparatively to the US where McD's is probably the bottom of the barrel. Whereas here it's in line with most other food joints.
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But its not in line with other food joints. Its still seen as cheap, shitty fast food. Sure, people don't gag at the thought of eating at maccas, but no one really considers it equivalent to a proper burger joint either.
 
R

Rootbeer

Banned
maybe they can pull this off in Australia but no way in hell they could get it to work in the USA. The pay and benefits for them here is so low the the employees simply don't give a shit and it would come out looking like everything else they make
 
zeopower6

zeopower6

Member
Australia started the whole McCafe thing and it was insanely well received when it came out here years after.

These look ok, but I wonder how they are in reality :/
 
K

Komo

Banned
cheezcake said:
Yeh the perception is very different in Australia compared to the US, Maccas (AU Mcdonalds) actually has a pretty positive reputation for good food and the previous high end items they introduced have all done pretty well.
Click to expand...

Er. I've heard plenty of people call McDonald's' food 'awful' and 'shitty' here. I quite like it myself, but it's very far from gourmet.

I don't know how this is going to be received by other Australians on GAF (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!), but here in Australia, we don't really have any 'mid-tier' fast food chains such as Carl's Jr, Wendy's, In-N-Out, etc. So I guess it makes sense for McDonalds to try and dabble in that market while they can
 
D

Dommo

Member
zeopower6 said:
Australia started the whole McCafe thing and it was insanely well received when it came out here years after.
Click to expand...

Yeah from my understanding of US Maccas here on GAF, Aussie Maccas isn't anywhere near in the rut it is over there. Like, McDonalds is still a powerhouse here. No, it's not the best food, but it's still the best "shit, cheap, greasy" food you can eat late night. There are other options, but once you hit Grill'd and Schnitz, you're in a different price range.

In fact I'd go as far to say McDonalds has never been better in Aus. Their gourmet burgers are pretty good. And they've got the confidence and money to break out and take risks like this, regardless of whether it'll pay off or not.
 
Y

Yabberwocky

Member
I'm curious to see how this will go, along with Create A Burger in the long term. I've only been once since Create a Burger opened, and like all depressing late night stop-offs at Maccas, it was an I'm-incredibly-tired-and-hungry, just-feed-me-quick-cheap-food moment. It seemed like too much of hassle. If you want something a bit more gourmet, I'm not sure why consumers would look to Maccas, outside of accessibility due the sheer number of restaurants.

Also, if I go to Maccas for breakfast, I'm going to eat a goddamn Bacon and Egg McMuffin and a beautiful, greasy hash brown. I will also regret it later when the taste of grease and death sets in. That's half the fun.

...the one thing I will say for Maccas is that I've never gotten food poisoning there. You go, Maccas. Lookin' at you, Subway. Eat fresh, psst.
 
C

CyclopsRock

Member
I kinda wanna say "you've still got the same idiots in the kitchen, whatever the ingredients are!" but in reality most breakfast stuff isn't hard to cook at all, it's more about the ingredients. So yeah, if they can improve the ingredients I don't see why the food won't be better as a result. I'm generally cynical about the idea of "gourmet" anything for breakfast (and I'm talking about traditional anglosphere breakfasts here).
 
M

Maximo

Member
Dommo said:
Yeah from my understanding of US Maccas here on GAF, Aussie Maccas isn't anywhere near in the rut it is over there. Like, McDonalds is still a powerhouse here. No, it's not the best food, but it's still the best "shit, cheap, greasy" food you can eat late night. There are other options, but once you hit Grill'd and Schnitz, you're in a different price range.

In fact I'd go as far to say McDonalds has never been better in Aus. Their gourmet burgers are pretty good. And they've got the confidence and money to break out and take risks like this, regardless of whether it'll pay off or not.
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Second this.
Australia doesn't exactly have a great *Night Life* when it comes to food so Mcdonalds is basically our only option, nor do we have the vast options America does when it comes to fast food chains.
 
A

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Dommo said:
Yeah from my understanding of US Maccas here on GAF, Aussie Maccas isn't anywhere near in the rut it is over there. Like, McDonalds is still a powerhouse here. No, it's not the best food, but it's still the best "shit, cheap, greasy" food you can eat late night. There are other options, but once you hit Grill'd and Schnitz, you're in a different price range.
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Fuck no mate.

Hungry Jack Stunners.

KFC streetwise.

I would eat those over Maccas for my shit fast food fix.
 
P

Phat Michael

Banned
Would more people be happy if they kept the exact same menu and just use better quality ingredients? It seems to be what people want but that would incur a price hike.
 
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