2023-09-09 00:55:08
Has “Big Tasty” become “Little Tasty”? At McDonald’s, big eaters often swear by the 280 and the Big Tasty, two burgers known to be very filling and high in calories. But in recent days, Internet users have been calling out the fast-food brand on X (formerly Twitter) for allegedly reducing the size of its “Big Tasty” sandwich without reducing its selling price, according to them. A practice that could be compared to “shrinkflation”, a process which consists of reducing the volume of a product without changing the packaging or the price.
“Mcdo has reduced the size of the burgers!!!! “, protests a user on X. “It allows us to reduce the size of the sandwich without changing the price! And especially without communicating (in a way) clear and visible”, denounces a user while a client evokes the possibility of “stopping mcdo”.
Monday I went to McDonald’s, I got my usual Big Tasty, it’s not a “new recipe” they reduced it to size in Big Mac????? I’m going to stop McDonald’s.
— Spring (dm limit) (@law___sama) September 6, 2023
An internal document from the restaurant chain, which Le Parisien was able to consult, confirms a change in the format of the Big Tasty since August 29 in most of its restaurants (some which market the 280 will not be affected until October) . The bread is notably much less generous… We are far from the famous mastoc burger which usually satisfies the greediest. As proof, while the old Big Tasty had 868 calories per portion, the new one officially only has… 663. A notable change therefore, but hardly perceptible on the McDonald’s website, where we can read “New format without further details. This lack of communication with customers about these changes leaves some of them bitter.
The group also seems to have anticipated the dissatisfaction of its customers: “If your teams and customers are wondering, point out that these new formats retain the iconic taste of Big Tasty by allowing us to satisfy all appetites with a version two even larger and more gourmet meats, and a meat version for more moderate appetites”, specifies the internal document intended for employees which we have read.
The reduction in the size of the traditional Big Tasty is in fact concomitant with the launch of a new Big Tasty format offering “two meats”. A more expensive version and also more copious this time (927 calories) than the old formula.
The evolution of the recipe, “not comparable with the old one”, believes McDonald’s
For its part, the McDonald’s brand accepts its new formats and believes that the comparison between the old and the new Big Tasty is no longer necessarily relevant: “We have in no way reduced the portions of our recipes at the permanent or temporary card of our restaurants. We have evolved the Big Tasty recipe with a new bread and the possibility of choosing an option with one or two meats. The evolution of this recipe, not comparable with the old one, profoundly changes the perception of the product, now higher and more customizable. In its two-meat version, it is more generous than the previous recipe”, defends the group.
Not sure that this argument is enough to convince regulars of this burger, because its price, in the single-meat version, less filling than the old formula, is far from having decreased everywhere. In several restaurants, its price has in fact remained the same (often between 5.70 and 7 euros per burger alone depending on the restaurant), although much smaller. “With a single meat, it is offered, on average, at a price more accessible to the consumer,” says McDonald’s. In the internal note that we consulted, the brand invites restaurants to change their prices “for the sake of consistency with the adjustments to the generosity of the products”.
A recommendation which has not yet been followed everywhere. “Each operator is free to choose its pricing policy which depends on a set of factors such as the type of restaurant (city center, outskirts, size), the catchment area, the field of competition or even the costs of service providers which they rely on for the proper functioning of their restaurant”, McDonald’s management recently explained to us to explain the price differences from one point of sale to another.
Shrinkflation ?
This reduction in the format of the Big Tasty comes in the context of “shrinkflation”, a practice which consists of masking the increase in product prices by reducing the quantities in similar packaging with an identical selling price, and which is denounced by consumers , NGOs and even by certain industrialists. It is legal provided that the mention of the weight of the food is modified, but remains misleading for consumers.
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Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire also challenged the industrialists followers of these practices, which he equates to “scams”. “We will make it mandatory to display changes in weight or content in similar packaging, to stop misleading consumers,” he wrote at the end of August.
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