McDonald's Gambles on Krispy Kreme Deal: Breakfast Bliss or Brand Bust?

1. McDonald's Gambles on Krispy Kreme Deal: Breakfast Bliss or Brand Bust?

2. Grimace Shake Sensation: McDonald's Viral Hit Overshadows Lackluster Menu!

3. Spicy McNuggets Return: McDonald's Fans Flock as Fiery Favorite Resurfaces!

4. Bagel Breakfasts are Back: McDonald's Revives Beloved Sandwiches Nationwide!

5. California Fast-Food Fallout: $20 Minimum Wage Spurs Job Cuts and Closures!

6. Chick-fil-A's Antibiotic U-Turn: Quality Concerns as Chain Reverses Decade-Long Policy!

Episode Transcript

(00:03):
Calarrogus Shark Media, Welcome back tothe Weekly Mac, your source for all
things McDonald's and more. In anew food partnership that could potentially expand both
brands but also risks weakening them,McDonald's customers will soon be able to enjoy
Crispy Creme donuts alongside their morning mcafe. Three varieties of Krispy Creme donuts Original

(00:29):
Glazed, Chocolate Iced with Sprinkles,and Chocolate iced cream filled will be available
at McDonald's restaurants starting later this year. The news caused Krispy Creme shares to
surge more than thirty nine percent onTuesday, while McDonald's shares remain flat.
This is not the first time competitorshave collaborated, as Wendy's recently introduced Cinnabon

(00:49):
to its breakfast menu. While someresearch indicates that brand partnerships can open up
opportunities for new customers, brand expansionsand innovation, retail experts also suggest that
such partnerships can be risky and potentiallyweaken the respective brand names. Truest analysts
pointed out that Crispy Cream's donut deliverymodel will need to find a way to
effectively serve rural McDonald's locations that aremore than twenty miles outside of an urban

(01:14):
center. The addition of crispy Creamdonuts to McDonald's customer's breakfast orders started as
a test at one hundred and sixtyrestaurants in Kentucky. The donuts will be
rolled out in phases starting later thisyear, and will be available nationwide at
participating restaurants by the end of twentytwenty six. In recent years, McDonald's

(01:36):
has not been a significant innovator inthe food industry. Instead, the fast
food giant has relied on marketing gimmicks, such as offering its Big Mac sauce
as a dipping sauce and introducing adultHappy meals with collectible toys based on its
McDonald Land characters. It could beargued that the company's most significant food innovation

(01:56):
came in June twenty twenty three withthe introduction of the Grimmish Shake. The
purple product became a viral sensation,arguably more for its colorful appearance than its
taste. Customers created striking social mediaposts featuring the shake, which contributed to
its immense popularity and success as anattention grabber for McDonald's. McDonald's has also

(02:17):
focused on celebrity meals and its asfeatured in promotions, which allowed the chain
to generate media attention and engage withcustomers without introducing new menu items. The
lack of menu innovation was deliberate.While Burger King and Wendy's were introducing new
burgers and increasingly outrageous whoppers, McDonald'swas focusing on its back end operations.

(02:39):
The company has been investing heavily inbuilding its digital infrastructure and encouraging customers to
use its app. These efforts havebeen paying off, with the company's digital
user base growing to more than onehundred and fifty million customers who have been
active in the last ninety days.With its digital and loyalty investments yielding results,
the company has return to offering limitedtime promotions, which many fans will

(03:02):
appreciate. Wendy's offers a spicy versionof its chicken nuggets year round, while
Burger King has introduced various spicy chickennugget options on and off its menu in
recent years. McDonald's has offered ahot version of its classic chicken McNuggets for
limited periods in both twenty twenty twoand twenty twenty three. Now it appears

(03:23):
that McDonald's is bringing back spicy chickenMcNuggets to men use nationwide. The snack
of later Instagram page posted McDonald's isbringing spicy McNuggets back for a limited time,
and I was drawn to them likebatman to the bat signal. These
are rolling out to participating markets thisweek, and mine hooked me up by
having them this weekend. The promotionis nationwide, but as in previous years,

(03:47):
not every location will participate. Intwenty twenty three, only about half
of all McDonald's outlets offered the spicychicken McNuggets. Breakfast bagels are making a
comeback at McDonald's menus's nationwide this weekafter being discontinued during the pandemic. The
toasted sandwiches are a welcome return formany customers. Bagels are a big deal

(04:09):
in the Northeast, and we've gotsome loyal followings here in the South as
well, said Troy Romero, chiefadministrative officer for mclaff, which operates forty
five McDonald's franchises across South Louisiana.The bagels come in three varieties, bacon,
egg, and cheese, sausage eggand cheese, and steak egg and
cheese. The steak egg and cheesebagel, priced at six pot nineteen,

(04:33):
features a steak paddy egg, meltedAmerican cheese, grilled onions, and a
special sauce. According to Romero,it's a completely different option, he said,
certainly for breakfast. Prices for thebreakfast bagels may vary depending on the
location. Some fast food restaurants inCalifornia are starting to lay off workers in

(04:55):
anticipation of a new twenty dollars minimumwage loss set to go into effect in
April, which could significantly impact theirbottom lines. Several eateries, especially pizza
chains, have begun cutting jobs inan effort to get ahead of the potential
financial consequences, as reported by TheWall Street Journal, Michael Oyada, a
twenty nine year old Pizza Hut driverin Ontario, California, told the newspaper

(05:18):
that he received a notice from PizzaHut franchisee Southern California Pizza in December informing
him that his last day of workwould be in February. Pizza Hut was
my career for nearly a decade andwith little to no notice it was taken
away, said Ojeda. Last year, several Pizza Hut franchises in California filed
notices to comply with the Worker Adjustmentand Retraining Notification Act, stating that they

(05:43):
were discontinuing their delivery services. Manyof the affected positions were delivery driver jobs.
In December, Southern California Pizza Companyannounced layoffs of approximately eight hundred and
forty one drivers throughout the state.The layoffs will affect Pizza Hut locations in
Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Ventura counties. A Pizza Hut

(06:03):
spokesperson told Fox Business. Where selectCalifornia franchises have elected to make changes to
their staffing approach, access to deliveryservice will continue to be available via Pizza
Huts mobile app, website, andphone ordering, and the customer ordering experience
will remain consistent. More in amoment, Chick fil A announced Monday that

(06:31):
it will begin using antibiotics in itspoultry starting in the spring of twenty twenty
four to maintain supply of the highquality chicken you expect from us. Chick
fil A will shift from no antibioticsever NAE to no antibiotics important to human
medicine. Starting in the spring oftwenty twenty four, the fast food giant
stated the Georgia based restaurant chain,which claims to use only US chickens free

(06:56):
of steroids and added hormones, joinedcompetitors like Mcdonaldldson Subway in eliminating antibiotics altogether
in twenty fourteen. A decade later, Chick fil A assures customers that the
reversal on antibiotics will not result ina decrease in quality. With more than
three thousand stores and over thirty fivethousand employees, Chick fil A began as
a family business in nineteen forty sixand established itself as a billion dollar brand

(07:23):
in two thousand and six. Accordingto the company's website. The company's first
New York City location opened in twentyfifteen in Manhattan's Garment District. The five
thousand square foot restaurant is the company'slargest operation in the country. In its
statement on Monday, Chick fil Aexplained NAE means no antibiotics of any kind

(07:43):
were used in raising the animal,while NAIHM restricts the use of antibiotics essential
to human medicine while allowing for theuse of animal antibiotics only if the animal
and those around it were to becomesick. And that's it for today's episode.
Week KLi Mack is a Calorougus Shark. Media Production executive producers Mark Francis

(08:05):
and John McDermott. Portions of thispodcast may have been created with the assistance
of AI. No robots were harmed.