Why McDonald's Doesn't Really Have Regional Menu Items, According To A Former Chef

One of the great treats in life is seeing the variety across international McDonald's menus. Japan has its Bai Teriyaki McBurger. Venezuelan and Colombian McDonald's menus feature arepas, and France even has a special edition McBaguette that appears for a limited time every so often. That leads one to wonder why the menus of U.S. locations don't vary much. After all, the U.S. includes huge swaths of land, and the distance between New York and California is far greater than the distance between most European countries. Yet, there aren't any Texas-favorite kolaches on Houston's McDonald's menus or cream pies on Boston's. One former McDonald's corporate chef says it all comes down to logistics and profit.

In a TikTok video, Mike Haracz responded to a commenter who stated that McDonald's should offer more region-specific items in the U.S., with that social media user adding that it's unnecessary for launches to seemingly only happen on a national level. The chef replied that it was a bit of a logistical nightmare for corporate McDonald's to coordinate, explaining, "Every time you do a new regional thing, it disrupts the system." Essentially, regional-specific menu launches are a headache.

Read more: 22 Fast Food Breakfast Menus Ranked From Worst To Best

It's More Than Just Recipe Development

When one region in the U.S. takes on a new menu item, it changes one of McDonald's major selling points — consistency. On the national level, McDonald's provides similar training, equipment, and recipes from location to location so that customers always have as close to a guarantee as possible that the food and experience will remain the same day after day, order after order. New menu items aren't just as simple as shipping off a few extra boxes of frozen goods to certain locations. They can require new equipment, menu boards, advertising, and so on. That means a ton of coordination with food providers, equipment manufacturers, and additional training for impacted McDonald's employees.

Haracz also notes that, perhaps unsurprisingly, another reason McDonald's doesn't do a ton of regional menus is because they simply aren't as profitable as they are on a national level. Even if a regional launch is successful, the company doesn't stand to make as much money as it could have with a nationwide launch. Haracz adds, "McDonald's corporate very much frowns upon regional specialties because it is not as profitable for them. And they want that cash money."

Read the original article on Mashed.