While summer vacation is a treasured time for many to visit new places and forge wonderful memories, not everyone is feeling the mood this year.
Surging flight costs and canceled flights have made air travel more difficult this year, not to mention record high fuel costs (although, thankfully, those are starting to drop, providing relief for many a stressed-out commuter).
Luckily, if you can't travel to your favorite summer travel destinations, whatever the reason, you can enjoy the foods of summer no matter where you are. There's always joy to be found in a slice of chilled watermelon, a perfectly grilled cheeseburger or hot dog, or the all-important summer popsicle.
Fast food brands see an opportunity in this season, naturally, and are tweaking their menus to appeal to people's tastes as the temperatures continue to climb.
McDonald's (MCD) is the latest major name to drum up something extra to appeal to people's palates, at least in one key market. But rather than just add a single item, the classic chain has decided to offer an entire new menu based on one of the most beloved summer vacation spots in the world: Hawaii.
McDonald's
What's On McDonald's Menu For Summer?
Whether you've never visited Hawaii or it's a regular destination in your travels, McDonald's new menu offers a lot of things you may recognize.
Called "Hawaiian Burgers," the collection has a total of eight new items to choose from (and only three of them are actually burgers).
The first is called Cheese Loco Moco, which is a classic Hawaiian sandwich consisting of white rice, a beef patty, a fried egg, and a brown gravy that often contains caramelized onions.
McDonald's take trades the rice for buns and the fried egg for an egg patty, adds in a slice of cheddar cheese, and swaps out the brown gravy for what it calls "a special Hawaiian barbeque sauce."
The second, Garlic Shrimp, features a fried shrimp patty and a spicy sauce, topped with lettuce and mayo and served on buns topped with grated cheese.
And the third in the lineup pairs a beef patty with a fried potato patty, Hawaiian barbeque sauce, and a jalapeno mayo sauce, sandwiching it all between the same cheesy bun.
McDonald's also has four new Hawaii-themed drinks to pair with these summery sandwiches. The Mac Fizz offers options like mango flesh, passion fruit, and pineapple juice mixed into a carbonated beverage, while the Mac Float versions add a soft ice cream to the mix.
For dessert, McDonald's has prepared a special McFlurry with a mixed berry sauce with three kinds of berry pulp: strawberry, blueberry, and cranberry. It's also got fluffy sponge cake in the mix, which it calls "pancake style."
This Hawaiian lineup launches at McDonald's Japan locations starting July 27 and is, naturally, only available for a limited time.
McDonald's Big Summer Strategy
While it's typical for fast food chains to unleash new seasonal items, McDonald's has gone above and beyond with the Hawaiian menu to create something bigger for its international market.
In the meanwhile, American McDonald's doesn't have a single item that sings summer on its menu. While disappointing, this can be attributed to the company's success in the Japanese market, which executive vice president and chief operating officer Kevin Ozan addressed in the Q3 earnings call in 2021.
"Japan maintained momentum in Q3 with comps, up 13% achieving an impressive six consecutive years of quarterly comp sales growth, despite restaurants operating with government restrictions," he said.
This impressive new menu is most certainly a push to drive that growth even higher.
