McDonald's Sweet New Breakfast Menu Item Is Turning Heads
From September 1 until a currently undisclosed endpoint, McDonald's will be offering glazed pull apart donuts as part of their McCafé Bakery lineup. The idea is that the donut will be reduced to a series of smaller blobs of deliciousness, glued together by a sugary sweet glaze. One might interpret this as the chain essentially serving Munchkins but with a tearing gimmick that speaks to the destructive streak in our souls.
A McDonald's press release provides further details, noting the donut will only be available at participating locations and — like the rest of the McCafé Bakery offerings — will be for sale all-day. As there is no mention of "while supplies last," one might be tempted to speculate that the "limited time" it's on offer will extend for as long as McDonald's deems the new donut to be popular. If highly successful, perhaps it will even become a permanent fixture. After all, as the press release notes, this marks the first time the McCafé Bakery has had a limited-time item, so presumably, the menu likes to play for keeps.
Even though the donuts are not yet available, fans have opinions
While there are still a couple of weeks before fans can try the new McDonald's donuts, that isn't keeping people from already offering thoughts online. Some have taken to Twitter (of course) to share their opinions. Twitter user @safeandsilent wrote, "US @McDonalds excited to be launching, for a limited time, ... a donut. Looks OK in picture but in the stores they sit all day and get weepy or they're still cold and clammy from the refrigerator. So not worth the negative nutritional hit." Clearly that person has been burned by an impulse buy donut in the past. Another Twitter user, @TheeBadGuy1, demanded the return of a fan favorite instead, "Forget donuts. @McDonalds bring back the steak, egg and cheese sandwich." Other comments expressed concern over sharing a donut, with some pointing to the ongoing COVID pandemic and others their own personal appetite as the reason this product might not make sense.
Luckily for the chain, at least one McDonald's customer was intrigued by the upcoming treat. User @GigPatta tweeted, "Curse you @McDonalds in tempting me to try this glazed donut you're introducing." We're sure there are other, less vocal, fans of the chain who will at least consider trying the new menu item before passing judgement as well.
McDonald's has served donuts before
The new glazed pull-apart donuts at McDonald's are far from the first donut offered at the fast food chain. In fact, this is the third type of donut McDonald's has added to the menu in as many years. According to USA Today, McDonald's added donut sticks to their menu for a limited time in 2019 after testing them twice the year before. At the time, McDonald's vice president of menu innovation Linda VanGosen said in a statement, "We looked at several donut shapes, tested a variety of doughs and even worked to get the amount of cinnamon sugar just right for the recipe."
McDonald's then tried donuts out in 2020 at Canadian locations (via 604 Now). The fast food chain introduced mini donuts that included five flavors as a permanent menu item. The selection of donuts included a sprinkle donut, an apple fritter, a strawberry jelly donut, a Boston cream donut, and a maple caramel donut.
Is McDonald's still trying to regain breakfast?
The format of the current McCafe Bakery menu was in part created as a response to the pandemic. In July 2020, Restaurant Business reported that despite an improvement in sales as a whole, McDonald's breakfast had an anemic showing due to the increased number of people working at home. Next Star writes that McDonald's devised new all-day bakery items in the context of this slump (via Rochester First).
The McCafé Bakery kicked off with the Blueberry Muffin, Apple fritter, and Cinnamon Roll, which the chain launched in 2020, per the McDonald's donut press release. While that fleet of sweets was not met with universal acclaim (as evidenced by a less-than-stellar review from Fast Food Geek), the home of the Golden Arches hailed the items as an overall success, calling them "instant fan-favorites." Time, and specifically September, will tell whether these pull-apart donuts can achieve similar popularity or even pack the same staying power as a breakfast classic like the Egg McMuffin. But considering how sugary, these glazed treats sound, if they're only around for a limited time, parting will be extra-sweet sorrow.