McDonald’s, continuing a run of aggressive, year-end marketing, said on Wednesday that it plans to start selling a trio of new bakery items by the end of this month, including an apple fritter, new blueberry muffin and a cinnamon roll.
The McCafe Bakery lineup will be available all day. It’s the first addition of baked goods to the company’s core menu in eight years. The items will be available beginning Oct. 28.
The apple fritter is made with cinnamon and apples and is fried and drizzled with a glaze icing. The company’s new blueberry muffin recipe features a streusel topping. And the cinnamon roll features cream cheese icing.
The items will be featured alongside the chain’s cookies and pies. “McDonald’s has been famous for our savory breakfast menu for almost 50 years,” Linda Van Gosen, vice president of brand and menu strategy for McDonald’s USA, said in a statement. “We’re continuing our breakfast innovation by adding tasty sweet options with our new McCafe Bakery lineup.”
For McDonald’s, the new bakery items represent a continued push into new menu news after the chain spent much of the pandemic keeping items to a minimum in a bid to improve speed—it still hasn’t returned All Day Breakfast to its menu, which along with other menu cuts has been credited for improving the chain’s drive-thru times.
But it also represent the chain’s renewed push into breakfast items. The company’s breakfast daypart has suffered during the pandemic, after McDonald’s appeared to be getting some footing early this year. McDonald’s is facing intense competition for what appears to be a smaller market from rival Wendy’s, not to mention existing rivals such as Burger King, Dunkin’ and Starbucks.
The addition of the McCafe Bakery menu follows McDonald’s Travis Scott Meal promotion and now its J Balvin Meal promotion, sandwiching the offer of Spicy Chicken McNuggets.
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