McRib (Update: It's Back!)
The McRib is returning to menus this holiday season – but don’t get used to it.
McDonald’s announced Wednesday that its famed boneless pork patty sandwich will be available again starting December 3. But, as always, it will only be for a limited time.
And the same goes for another fan-favorite fast food item, Taco Bell’s Nacho Fries, which similarly hasn’t secured a permanent spot on the menu despite its popularity.
Instead, limited offerings like the McRib or the Nacho Fries disappear and reappear with no seeming pattern. Experts say that’s by design.
Beyond boosting profits, highly anticipated seasonal products like the McRib create excitement among fans and an opportunity for companies to play around with promotions.
On the other hand, a strategically timed rollout could also serve
to generate positive news about the brand after
bouts of bad press.
“This is the playbook for a lot of (quick service restaurants). Bringing back old favorites like the McRib is one of the tools that they use to drive interest and demand,” said Michael Della Penna, chief strategy officer at marketing and measurement platform InMarket. “It gets people excited about visiting. It gets people nostalgic when they remember the product and want to try it again.”
Basic supply-and-demand economics will tell you that a good chunk of the McRib’s popularity comes from its scarcity.
“Scarcity adds tension and excitement and anticipation,” said Stephen Zagor, an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia Business School specializing in restaurants and food enterprises. He says that if McDonald’s offered the McRib as a permanent menu item, “it would be like if Christmas was every day, and we would get bored with it.”
Nearly 30% of quick-service restaurant customers consider the availability of special promotions or deals when deciding between restaurants, according to
research by PYMNTS.com, a financial services company.
Starbucks, for instance, saw average foot traffic for all locations increase by 26% a few days after the arrival of their limited-edition holiday drinks in 2022, according to location analytics company
GroundTruth.
David Henkes, a senior principal at food industry research and consulting firm Technomic, said that building customer anticipation for the slim window of time that an item is available is much more profitable than keeping it on the menu permanently and seeing weak sales over the whole year.
“If it was something that was on the menu year-round, I think it would be one of those products that would probably be toward the lower end of McDonald’s menu items,” he said..................