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McFlops: Times When McDonald's Food Items Didn't Do Well

Writer's picture: Luigi Sonic17Luigi Sonic17
Apr 17, 20234 min read

Updated: Jun 10, 2023

Many people today order a lot of fast food. McDonald's is one of the many places where you can order it. You can get a Big Mac, Filet-O-Fish, Chicken McNuggets, a Happy Meal, or whatever else is on the menu. But with every successful food corporation, there are some downsides. Today, we are going to focus on some McDonald's food items that failed to succeed.


The Hula Burger

A Hula Burger. From the McDonald's Wiki.


The Hula Burger was a meatless alternative to regular burgers sold in the 1960s. It contained cheese and grilled pineapple, sandwiched between two buns. The Hula Burger was created due to American Catholics who "often abstained from eating meat on Fridays," according to Be Amazed. It was discontinued "early on, as it became quickly evident that its alternative, the Filet-O-Fish, was getting much better traction," according to the McDonald's Wiki. However, it was rebranded for a short time as the Gold 'n' Grill in Australia during the 1980s.


The McSalad Shaker

McSalad Shakers. From the McDonald's Wiki.


Nowadays, many fast food restaurants are offering healthy alternatives to their usual menu, like Chick Fil' A, The Cheesecake Factory, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Subway, to name a few. But back in 2000, McDonald's daringly released McSalad Shakers, a healthy salad inside of a plastic cup. The "Shakers" part of the name refers to your ability to "add the dressing ... cover and shake the domed cup" to spread the dressing around the entire salad, according to WatchMojo. They McFlopped because "people generally don't go to McDonald's when they have a hankering for salad," and the Shakers had poor ingredients.


The McAfrika








Two versions of the McAfrika. From the McDonald's Wiki.


To promote the 2002 Winter Olympics, McDonald's released the McAfrika, a hamburger where instead of fluffy buns, it was made of pita bread. It doesn't sound all that bad, until you realize that 2002 was also the "year a devastating famine struck six countries in Southern Africa," reported Be Amazed. What's worse is that the burger wasn't even available in Africa! Despite backlash, McDonald's didn't stop selling the burger until September of that year, and re-released it in 2008, "again to heavy criticism," says WatchMojo.


McSpaghetti

A box of McSpaghetti. From the U.S. Sun.


"Nothing sells quite like a country's most cherished ... dish as poorly prepared by an American fast food chain," mocked WatchMojo. McDonald's once tried selling McSpaghetti to Italian and American markets, and it failed. WatchMojo notes that "It took too long to prepare, lacked flavor, and simply couldn't satisfy" customers. In the words of professional eater Furious Pete, "It almost tastes like spaghetti in ketchup." Strangely, however, McSpaghetti was a smash hit in the Philippines, where it is still sold to this day.


McPizza

The McPizza. From the McDonald's Wiki.


If you thought that McDonald's selling spaghetti was bad enough, wait until you see the McPizza. In the late 1980s, jealous that fast food joints like Pizza Hut were dominating the dinnertime menu, McDonald's "decided that it too wanted a slice of the pizza pie market," says Be Amazed. However, the pizzas took 10 minutes to cook, which was a longer wait time compared to just ordering a burger. Pizza Hut starting feeling the heat from the competition, and starting having "Buy one, get one free" sales, and even called McPizzas as "McFrozen!" By the year 2000, McPizza was discontinued, but as of the year 2022, only one location in Orlando, Florida still serves McPizza.


McHotDogs

A McHotDog. From the McDonald's Wiki.


Hot dogs and McDonald's have a bad history between each other, to say the least. In fact, McDonald's founder Ray Kroc banned the sale of McDonald's hot dogs "because there's no way to know what's inside of them," according to WatchMojo. However, following his death in 1984, McDonald's decided to go against his wishes, and began selling McHotDogs in the US, the UK, and Japan, "but time and time again, they just fail to catch on."


Fish McBites

Fish McBites. From CNBC.


Debuting in 2013, McDonald's tried to recreate the success of Chicken McNuggets, but with fish. It's almost as if they created a hybrid of their McNuggets and the Filet-O-Fish. They were sold "in 3 portion sizes; snack, regular, and shareable, and were served with tartar sauce for dipping" according to WatchMojo. However, fast food that contains fish "often has limited appeal," so Fish McBites were removed from the menu on the same year they were released.


However, some may consider Fish McBites to be a rebranding of Fish McDippers, another McDonald's product sold in the early 2000s in countries outside of the United States.


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