More than eight months after McDonald's first announced its plans to introduce a bigger, more satisfying burger, the highly anticipated new menu item is finally making its debut.
The "Big Arch" is now being rolled out in select markets around the globe, including Canada and Portugal. McDonald's first teased the upcoming sandwich during its annual investor meeting in December 2023, responding to customer demand for larger, more filling, and affordable burgers.
"We think we're going to be able to deliver a great tasting large burger at a superior value to what [customers] can get anywhere else," McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski told CNN at the time.
The Big Arch burger, featuring two quarter-pound beef patties, three generous slices of white processed cheese, crispy onions, pickles, lettuce, and a new tangy Big Arch sauce, is designed to satisfy even the biggest appetites. It may even outsize the Big Mac (590 calories), which includes two smaller beef patties typical of McDonald's classic burgers, as opposed to the larger quarter-pound patties found in the Big Arch and Quarter Pounder with Cheese (520 calories).
"This satisfying burger combines the familiar McDonald's flavors our fans know and love with some unique new ingredients, including a tangy new burger sauce created for the Big Arch specifically," said McDonald's Canada Chief Marketing Officer Alyssa Buetikofer in the launch announcement.
Although the Big Arch isn't yet available to customers in the United States, McDonald's previously stated that it plans to gather insights from these test launches before potentially expanding it internationally. Fans should stay tuned for updates on where the Big Arch might be introduced next.
