Thursday, May 15, 2008

McDonald's goes south for new sandwich

Millions of Americans capitalized on McDonald's latest marketing campaign , as the the fast food king unveiled the two latest additions to its sandwhich lineup-the southern style chicken biscuit  and the southern style chicken sandwich, which  were both free with the purchase of a medium drink on May 15.

One of the first things youl'l notice about the southern sandwich is the absence of the classic McDonald's trademark- the sesame seed bun. Instead, they opted for the golden bun,with fried chicken fillet and two pickles on top. The resulting product has a starting resemblence to Chick-Fil-A's classic chicken sandwich, which has golden buns, chicken fillet and two pickles on the bottom.

Did someone say "Mc-Fil-A."? Check out the side-by-side comparision.  McDonald's cleary has no shame  in replicating  in  a competitor's top product.

 A quick overview of the nutrition facts on each item suggests that the Golden Arches are shedding the healthier image they tried to attain through the expansion of their salad selection and the addition of apple slices to the kids menu.

 While other companies such as KFC and Dunkin Donuts are reducing their trans-saturated fats, McDonald's is reverting back to their high-fat recipes that eventually garnered criticism everywhere from Hollywood (See "Super size me") to New York City's board of health, which banned transfats from all menus by July,2008.

 Following McDonald's virtually exact replication, don't be surprised if Chick Fil-A, a much smaller franchise, pursues a lawsuit for copyright infringment. Chick Fil-A, primarily based in the southeast, has only 1,300 stores in 37 states, compared to McDonalds' world-wide empire of 30,000 stores in 119 countries.

In other words, John  Q. Junkfood is much more likely to encounter  a McDonalds during his daily commute.It will be interesting too see how many loyal Chick-Fil-A fans opt for  Ronald's latest creation.Blogger Zach Behrens, a loyal fan of the original at Chick-Fil-A, will sacrifice the extra mileage on his car .

Don't be surpised to see a fast food fight in court within the next few months.

By Matt O'Hern at 04:25 PM | Comments (0)

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