Friday, June 13, 2014

Make the McRib permanent

*Originally published on 3/17/2008





Every year, McDonald's announces that the McRib is back. Upon hearing this, everyone goes nuts. "Awesome, the McRib's back!" "Those things are delicious!" and the like. Now I've never had one myself, but it has built up something of a fandom. The question remains, why can't we get it all year round?
I understand using that when you first introduce an item. It gives the buyer a sense of urgency. It also gives the chain an easy out. If the product is not well received, you can let it phase out of existence with little fuss. With something like the McRib though, you'd be better off just making it a regular item. Think of how much more money you'll make if people were able to get that sandwich all year round rather then having to go through "Boy, I am really jonesing for a McRib, but it's not available yet"

McDonald's isn't the only one who does this. Pizza chains are infamous for doing this. A few months back, Domino's introduced the new Brooklyn style pizza. It was quite tasty. Oh sure, once in a while it would jack with your stomach and do a number on your digestive tract but that was a rarity and that didn't affect the flavor sensation you experienced when eating it.

Pizza Hut had their P'zones. Again, delicious but now its gone, no longer able to be enjoyed by anyone. A low cost meal of good quality. People got to have their cake and eat it too. P'zones were just as filling as a pizza without the bulk. OK, they weighed a pound, but the boxes were much smaller. It had the density thing working for it. Plus those boxes actually fit in trash cans! Talk about convenience! You didn't have to try to smash or crumble the box to get it to fit and you didn't have the corners almost ripping the sides of the trash bag when you took it out of the can.

You know what I really miss though, the big foot pizza. You remember that? It was the square pizza that Pizza Hut had 10 years ago or so that was like 3 square feet. That was awesome, they need to bring that back. I have no doubt it was a pain in the ass to cook and probably deliver but it was so much pizza. Being a 24 year old guy who lives with 2 other college age guys, we can go through a lot of pizza. That product would be perfect. It would be a much lighter burden on our wallets then having to order 2 pizzas with a side dish. Pizza chains should know by now that we are the bread and butter of that industry. Having a product like the Big Foot pizza, one that caters to our needs so perfectly, be a regular menu item would rake in huge bucks; I assure you.

I think the "limited time only" should be used initially, again to test the waters. Besides that, it would behoove the big chains to keep the well received items around. It just makes good business sense.

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