McDonald's has not been a major food innovator in recent years.
Instead, the fast-food giant has used marketing stunts like offering its Big Mac Sauce as a dipping sauce and offering adult Happy Meals with collectible toys based on its McDonaldland characters.
You could argue that the company's biggest food innovation arrived in June 2023 when it introduced the Grimace Shake. That purple product became a viral sensation arguably for its colorful nature more than its taste.
Customers created striking social-media posts using the shake, which made it incredibly popular and a successful attention-getter for McDonald's (MCD) .
Related: Burger King's menu brings back an upscale Whopper
McDonald's has also leaned on its celebrity meals and its "As Featured In" promotions. Those are efforts through which the chain can draw media attention and engage with customers without adding any new items.
The lack of menu innovation wasn't an accident. While Burger King and Wendy's were rolling out new burgers and ever-wackier Whoppers, McDonald's was working on its back end. Building out its digital infrastructure and getting customers to use its app have been a major focus for the chain.
Those efforts have been paying off, with the company's digital user base growing to more than 150 million customers who have been active in the last 90 days. With its digital and loyalty investments paying off, the company has returned to bringing its fans a limited-time offer, and many of them will be pleased.
McDonald's brings back a fan-favorite
Wendy's offers a spicy version of its chicken nuggets year-round. Burger King has brought various takes on spicy chicken nuggets on and off its menu in recent years. McDonald's added a hot version of its classic Chicken McNuggets for limited periods in both 2022 and 2023.
Now MCD appears to be bringing Spicy Chicken McNuggets back to menus nationwide.
"McDonald's is bringing Spicy McNuggets back for a limited time, and I was drawn to them like Batman to the Bat-Signal!" the Snackolator Instagram page posted. "These are rolling out to participating markets this week, and mine hooked me up by having them this weekend."
The chain's take on a spicy chicken nugget isn't all that spicy, but it has just enough kick, according to the popular social-media influencer.
"If you've never had Spicy McNuggets from @mcdonalds, you're missing out. The level of spice is not that big — it's got a small kick — but that little change to me makes them so much better than the OG McNuggets," Snackolator added.
The promotion is nationwide, but in past years not every location took part. In 2023, only about half of all McDonald's outlets offered the Spicy Chicken McNuggets.
McDonald's leans on its app
Before visiting a McDonald's location, customers can check on the availability of the Spicy Chicken McNuggets via the chain's app. The chain has been leaning heavily into its app-based loyalty program globally, according to Chief Executive Chris Kempczinski's remarks during the company's fourth-quarter-earnings call.
"We've expanded loyalty to 50 markets around the world and reached over $20 billion in annual loyalty systemwide sales in 2023," he said.
The chain has also been testing a new program called Ready On Arrival, which gets needed information to employees faster. These tests have resulted in reduced wait times for customers who pick up curbside or via drive-through.
"Ready on Arrival benefits the crew by giving the right information to the right person in the restaurant to deliver food faster and hotter. As a result, we've reduced complexity and stress in restaurants," the executive said.
That test is part of a broader effort to apply globally the lessons the chain learns in one market.
"By removing layers between our people and the restaurants and implementing a One McDonald's Way approach, collaborating across the organization is much more intuitive and teams bring the full breadth of McDonald's resources, skills and experiences to the forefront when making decisions," Kempczinski added.
