WHERE'S THE BEEF?

McDonald’s Serves Up the 14-Ounce ‘Big Arch,’ Its Biggest Hamburger Ever

With sales slumping, prices rising and global competition increasing, McDonald’s bets big on a 14-ounce burger—and a new, tangier special sauce.

At a time when everything seems to be shrinking, McDonald’s is going big with its “most satiating” burger ever. The Big Arch weighs in at a whopping (not Whopper) 14 ounces, nearly twice the size—and calories—of a Big Mac.

Available this week at the fast food chain's locations across Canada, the Big Arch is expected to sweep into the US soon, and will become a part of McDonald’s core menu available in all 42,000 stores worldwide. It will be the first core offering since Chicken McNuggets conquered the world in 1983.

Engineered in a test kitchen at McDonald’s corporate headquarters in Chicago, the Big Arch packs 1,030 calories across two quarter-pound beef patties, three slices of processed white cheese, crispy onions, slivered onions, pickles, lettuce and a new tangy sauce served up in a sesame and poppy seed bun.

“It’s so craveable, even the Hamburglar has set his sights on it!” McDonald’s said in a press release. “The Big Arch was designed as McDonald’s response to guests’ desire for a burger that satisfies the extra hungry.”

On Reddit, Canadian diners quickly started sharing their reviews. “I can only describe it as the love child of a double quarter-pounder and a Big Mac,” said one Calgary-based commenter.

“The element that stands out the most is the Big Arch sauce,” wrote Michael Eats in Toronto. “It’s got an almost citrusy brightness to it that actually does a pretty great job of cutting through the richness of the patties and the cheese. It’s quite tasty, which is a good thing because this is a saucy burger; they put two napkins in my bag and that was just barely enough.”

The Big Arch arrives as McDonald’s battles slumping sales, rising prices and ferocious competition in the $1 trillion quick service restaurant market.

“It’s a street fight,” McDonald’s Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden told analysts in April, according to Restaurant Business Online. “Everybody is fighting for fewer consumers.”

McDonald's sells 2.5 billion hamburgers every year—or 75 burgers every second. But the Big Arch is a risky move after several costly flops, like the Arch Deluxe in 1996, a premium burger aimed at higher-income consumers. Despite a $300 million marketing campaign, then the most expensive in fast food history, the not-so-happy meal bombed with consumers put off by its price point—and perhaps its “Dijonnaise.”

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Ben SherwoodPublisher & CEO

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