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McDonald’s UK to launch premium burger line to challenge Five Guys, Shake Shack, etc.

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Lynd7

Member
I tried the Create Your Own here in Aust recently and thought it was good. I'd probably pay the bit extra from now on.
 

Nevasleep

Member
Good idea, I'm willing to try it. A nice burger which you can take-away.
Not a fan of Five Guys burgers in the UK. I'd say Wetherspoons is bigger competition.

But once Shake Shack opens, take all my money!

That patty from the image looks dry though, I guess they won't be cooking the burgers to Medium rare etc >.<
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
"GUYS! OUR PROFITS ARE DOWN!"

"How come, McDonalds CEO?"

"The company is facing growing competition from gourmet burger chains, particularly in the US where Five Guys and Shake Shack were founded."

"Damn the Five Guys! What are we going to do about this sir?"

"The burgers, called the Signature Collection, will include the thickest ever patty sold by McDonald’s."

"...But, sir. Five Guys allows the customer to specify what they want on their burger. Changing the patty size isn't going to change our perception... is it?"

"SHUT UP AND JUST DO IT!"
---

Yeah, this isn't going to change much. They need to either allow the customer to have a ton of options and grill certain things, or don't bother.

xnipx said:
Five guys actually tastes amazing with McDonald's fries. I've done it a few times.

And McDonalds fries aren't thrown in your bag by the bucketload to where it's eating for five than eating for one.
 
From the looks of it, these are going to suffer from the same killer flaw that all premium burgers from McDonalds suffer from...

It's all well and good using nice buns and expensive ketchup and premium toppings, but if you are cooking the burger the same way it's not going to taste that different. A premium burger should be a premium *burger* first. Good meat. Ground/minced that day. Cooked by smashing it on a flat top (like the best burger places do).

You need good burger foundations, and they never get that right when they do these.
 

-MD-

Member
Make medium fries 1$

This is actually when I stopped going to Mcdonalds, they started charging $2.11 for a medium and the little 99 cent paper bag holds about 10 fries.

Potatoes cost next to nothing and they're stingy as fuck with them.

And McDonalds fries aren't thrown in your bag by the bucketload to where it's eating for five than eating for one.

I only went to Five Guys one time a few years ago but I recall everything on the menu being $5. $5 burger, $5 drink and $5 fries. You're certainly paying for that bigger serving.
 

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
They need to get closer to this (not the prices):

http://i.imgur.com/60s3Vqv.jpg

The amount of stuff they offer now is crazy.

$.67 for a Big Mac. *tear*

Damn you, inflation. ;____;

I only went to Five Guys one time a few years ago but I recall everything on the menu being $5. $5 burger, $5 drink and $5 fries. You're certainly paying for that bigger serving.

Burgers, Fries and Drink (all regular) costs about $15. And IMO that price isn't bad for the quality of the burger or fries. I don't go there often given said $15 price and it being "step above McDonalds/chain places" but I don't think they're awful like the internet backlash makes it out.

That said, every time I order the fries I immedately regret it. They put fries in the container and then dump another "container" of fries in the bag as well and that's wayyyy too many fries for me and most people. At this point if I'm feeling like indulging in Five Guys, I'll order two burgers and a drink and never touch the fires. At least then I can finish a burger and a half (and take the half home and reheat later) while not feeling like I'm wasting so many fries.
 

Beefy

Member
Seeing as expanding to more than 50 miles away from their produce/meat source would go against the In N Out principal, I doubt you will ever see them.

Yeah just seen that. They did have a mobile store in London once for 40mins tho.
 
$.67 for a Big Mac. *tear*

Damn you, inflation. ;____;



Burgers, Fries and Drink (all regular) costs about $15. And IMO that price isn't bad for the quality of the burger or fries. I don't go there often given said $15 price and it being "step above McDonalds/chain places" but I don't think they're awful like the internet backlash makes it out.

That said, every time I order the fries I immedately regret it. They put fries in the container and then dump another "container" of fries in the bag as well and that's wayyyy too many fries for me and most people. At this point if I'm feeling like indulging in Five Guys, I'll order two burgers and a drink and never touch the fires. At least then I can finish a burger and a half (and take the half home and reheat later) while not feeling like I'm wasting so many fries.

Five Guys is okay for the price. Shake Shack is about the same price, but totally worth it. In n Out is probably the weakest burger of the three, but not by much, and damn if it doesn't rate really high on the quality to price ratio.

Seriously, if there's a better burger from a chain place than Shake Shack I haven't had it.
 

bobbytkc

ADD New Gen Gamer
I have to say I've been a big fan of create your own taste in Australia.

There is a significant jump in the quality of the burger and ingredients, at least in my experience.



Its generally got pretty decent reviews by diners too.

I gotta say. Those burgers looks great.
 

Beefy

Member
Five Guys is okay for the price. Shake Shack is about the same price, but totally worth it. In n Out is probably the weakest burger of the three, but not by much, and damn if it doesn't rate really high on the quality to price ratio.

Seriously, if there's a better burger from a chain place than Shake Shack I haven't had it.

Shake Shack only has two locations in the UK apparently both in London. USA has far better and more takeaway/fast food places then here.
 

Konka

Banned
GAF Thread on McDonalds.

"They need to cut their prices"

"They need to serve the whole breakfast all day"

"They need to improve their quality of ingredients"

"They need to be faster"

A whole bunch of contradictory bullshit.
 

Kyoufu

Member
GAF Thread on McDonalds.

"They need to cut their prices"

"They need to serve the whole breakfast all day"

"They need to improve their quality of ingredients"

"They need to be faster"

A whole bunch of contradictory bullshit.

It's almost as if different people want different things.
 

watershed

Banned
Isn't this directly against their newest mandate of simplifying the menu and speeding up service? I thought their CEO explicitly said that they want to improve on delivering a smaller, more appealing menu faster.
 

industrian

will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
I have to say I've been a big fan of create your own taste in Australia.

There is a significant jump in the quality of the burger and ingredients, at least in my experience.

A few weeks ago I tried one of these burgers for the first time.

I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was.

That said, McDonalds Australia is noticeably better than McDonalds in other countries.
 

Burai

shitonmychest57
Isn't this directly against their newest mandate of simplifying the menu and speeding up service? I thought their CEO explicitly said that they want to improve on delivering a smaller, more appealing menu faster.

That was for the US, these burgers are for the UK where McDonalds are thriving.

This thread really is a mess of people trying to link McDonalds' US woes to basically every market in the world.
 
I LOL'd at "premium burger" + "UK".
giphy.gif
 

longdi

Banned
Why don't they dump their regular crap and just sell premium and signature burgers. People are willing to pay for quality.
 

philz

Member
Why don't they dump their regular crap and just sell premium and signature burgers. People are willing to pay for quality.

Their current customer base, which we can reasonably agree is considerable in size, is more focused on "value" than outright quality. Guarantee that the trend you identified is keeping MCD's execs up at night. This initiative is clear evidence of that.
 

Spaghetti

Member
i think they're not getting what the problem is. it's an image problem with the chain not necessarily the food.

if i wanted to grab a burger with friends, i'd probably go to a gourmet burger place. better atmosphere, with more restaurant-style service in most cases.

if i was drunk as fuck at 1am, i'd go to a 24 hour mcdonalds for an injection of cheap fast food.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
That was for the US, these burgers are for the UK where McDonalds are thriving.

This thread really is a mess of people trying to link McDonalds' US woes to basically every market in the world.

While the burgers are being released in the UK right now, the article does mention that if they do well there the company would consider bringing them to other markets. Which may work out fine for a market like Austrailia, but not necessarily the US where there's a lot more competition at the higher price points.
 

soco

Member
yeah, i can't see this really taking off, but wish them the best. I can see it selling just when the kids want happy meals and dad doesn't feel like going elsewhere.
 
I feel like I might be the only one on GAF that actually likes McDonad's large and varied menu.

I'd try the new burgers if they were offered in my area. My McDonald's GOAT's though, are:

  • Fillet-o-fish
  • McChicken
  • Wraps
  • Egg McMuffin
  • McGriddle

I never go to them for a regular beef burger.
 

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
It's not about how thick the burger is. I don't get Carl's Jr Thickburgers because they're too beefy and too greasy. You need balance.

Five Guys gets this right, AND the ingredients are superior.
Most of the flavor in beef comes from the fat, and most fast food burgers are too lean to be flavorful.

I remember when McD's cooked their fries in beef tallow. The fries taste like plastic now. If only people knew what they were missing.
 

panty

Member
Ah the haters here. Those look good and I bet they taste good as well.

Nothing beats a MC's cheeseburger tho.
 

Hasney

Member
Christ, my city centre has got at least 5 places with a better quality than Five Guys even and they deliver. This shit isn't going to work.
 

Stasis

Member
There's not much we can get late night around here. We're not big fast food (or just fatty food in general) eaters, but occasionally around midnight when my gf gets home we'll just want some good old greasy burger. Our options are basically McDonalds or driving like 25 minutes away to the 24h Burger King.

We much prefer to eat at home than in the car, so we end up at McDonalds. It's just so disappointing now. I don't know what changed. I'm not even one to care about the prices, I don't eat there enough for it to matter, but it's just nowhere near as good/satisfying as even a late night BK or A&W can be for us. And yes, I know there are tons of better places. I'm just referring to what's feasible at midnight during the week in our neck of the woods.
 

Lach

Member
They did this in Switzerland for about a year now (with some swiss celebrity cook). I don't like them. You can't mix good qualitiy food (which it indeed is) with McDonalds Flavour. It just doesn't work.

But it's still around so I guess they sell....

[edit] They just launched a pulled pork burger
http://www.mcdonalds.ch/de/aktionen/pulled-pork
 

Lkr

Member
we have a premium create your own burger using a touch screen thing here in orlando. it is actually really good, just very expensive(same price as five guys, i'm talking relative mcdonalds expensive). i wanted a big mac today and can you believe it is fucking $7.30 for the large meal
 
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