Fast-food secret menus used to be an in-the-know thing for super fans.
Knowing what a burger ordered "Animal Style" at In-N-Out came with marked you as someone devoted to the chain, who knew some (maybe all) of its secrets.
Now, social media has made secret menus less exclusive. That's something chains like Starbucks (SBUX) -) have embraced. The coffee giant has added some customer-created secret menu items to its permanent menu and it has offered people a nearly endless ability to customize their orders.
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That leads to new creations that could go viral as secret menu item perhaps eventually join the real menus.
McDonald's (MCD) -) has had a mixed relationship with its secret menu. In July 2022 it released a "Menu Hacks" menu, but customers still had to assemble them on their own. Still, the promotion did set official recipes for four popular sandwich-based menu hacks:
- Surf + Turf (a sandwich with both the Filet-O-Fish and Cheeseburger patties),
- Hash Brown McMuffin (an Egg McMuffin with the chain's hashbrown in between the egg and sausage)
- Crunchy Double (chicken nuggets over a burger).
- Land, Air & Sea (a McChicken, a Big Mac, and a Filet-O-Fish stacked on top of each other.
Now, a fan of the brand, TikTok influencer "The Food Guy" Tommy Winkler, has shared how to order another unique McDonald's sandwich. The problem is that you have a limited window each day to make it happen.
Image source: Shutterstock
How to order a McBrunch Burger
McDonald's dropped its All-Day Breakfast offering during the covid pandemic, and since franchisees never liked having to offer it, it's not likely to come back. That means there's a limited window during which breakfast items and lunch items are offered at the same time.
If you get to a McDonald's at 10:30 a.m., when the switch at most locations is made, all the ingredients needed for a McBrunch Burger should be available. Winkler actually suggests arriving "around" 10:35, but in any case there's no guarantee that the chain will have everything you need available.
A McBrunch Burger, as its name implies, mixes breakfast and lunch items. Served on a sesame seed bun, Winkler has the recipe as two cheeseburger patties, bacon, eggs, and a hash brown.
The social-media influencer shared his experience ordering the McBrunch Burger in a recent video. He ordered, was told to wait, and then was asked if he minded having egg whites instead of the chain's traditional eggs (of which it had run out).
McDonald's made the item for the TikTok influencer. The chain's actual policy is not to assemble secret-menu items. The chain has told TheStreet that customers can order and combine items however they want, but the store's employees aren't supposed to combine menu items in the ways required for the McBrunch Burger, the Surf + Turf or any other secret-menu favorites.
Digital orders help McDonald's secret menu grow
As Starbucks has shown, secret-menu items evolve when customers have the ability to customize orders via apps and other forms of digital orders.
McDonald's limits the customizations it offers (you can't add a second protein, for example), but the chain's app does allow for some orders that might be tough to make to a human order taker while keeping a straight face.
McDonald's has been working to grow its digital business. Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden discussed the effort during the chain's second-quarter-earnings call.
"In our top six markets, digital sales represent nearly 40% of systemwide sales and our loyalty members remain highly engaged with over 52 million 90-day active members across our top six markets," he said.
The company plans to build on that.
"As our relationships with these customers continue to grow, we will unlock additional customer needs and explore investments for continued digital innovation at a scale that only McDonald's can achieve," he added.
