Over the years, Mickey Dee's has experimented with lots of items in an effort to broaden their business beyond fries and burgers. Egg McMuffin has been a huge success. The McLean DeLuxe, Onion Nuggets and Fried Roast Beef Sandwich were flops. The McRib sandwich was officially discontinued, but is periodically revived for a limited-time appearance. (I'm lovin it.)
Probably the most famous McDonald's failure was pizza.
Although it was popularly called McPizza (like McRib and McNuggets) McDonald's just called it pizza.
There were several versions test-marketed in various parts of the US and Canada starting in the late 1970s.
One variation was like an apple pie. There was also a personal-size pizza, and a family sized pizza that was brought out by an employee and placed on a raised rack on the table.
Although traditional pizza makers were scared by the Golden Arched threat, McDonald's never became a pizza power. It was just too difficult, too time-consuming, and too expensive to produce acceptable pizzas in a fast food facility. Most people who wanted pizza went to a pizza place, not to McDonald's.
Mickey's stores had invested big bucks in special ovens and even extra-wide drive-thru windows, but experimentation, variation, reconstruction and expensive marketing just could not make it work. My the late 1990s, McPizza was gone. (If anyone knows the actual year, please let me know.)
I tasted a Mickey Pizza once, on the Garden State Parkway. It was better than many "real" pizzas I'd had, not the worst, and certainly not the best. It was as good as what comes out of a Pizza Hut robotic oven.
I ordered it at the drive-thru window and then parked my car. About 10 minutes later, it was brought to my car. Strangely, Dunkin Donuts is able to produce their version of a Pizza Hut personal pizza in less than two minutes. Maybe Mickey Dee's gave up too soon.
Outside the US, McDonald's offers the vegetarian Pizza McPuff in India, Dubai and maybe other countries.
6 comments:
Delicious 1990s pizza that addicts still crave for to this day. Why did it die? No, it wasn't bland - in fact it had a spicy sauce...and that was it's downfall.
McPizza used a special oven and special dough and special sauce - it was a marvel. Everything was scientifically tested to bring the hottest, spiciest and freshest tasting pizza you could imagine. Americans (and particularly Canadians) were not prepared for this spicy pizza, which sometimes took 20 minutes to make. It was fucking delicious, hot and spicy and greatly missed by those few that had the chance to eat it.
"McPizza? No thanks, it's too spicy for my Canadian sensibility. Why don't we go drink a litre of mayonnaise instead?"
I believe McPizza was phased out in 1997.
McDonalds Pizza was the bomb. I know this is about two years too late to comment on but seriously, "too spicy for my Canadian sensibility?" You MUST be American because no Canadian would say something that idiotic. I am Canadian and I can safely say that I've never ran into anybody who did not like McDonalds pizza. The reason that McPizza failed was because of the number of established pizza places, especially in my town of only 92,000. We've got no less than 30 pizza restaurants alone, two of which offer unbeatable prices. In fact, many of my friends were ticked when McDonalds got rid of it's pizza. My family and I went to McDonalds practically every Thursday for pizza. I miss that stuff.
McDonald's bought Donato's Pizza in May 1999. (Then sold it back to the founders in December 2003.)
I got no idea what pizza you were eating from McDonalds. The one here used freaken KETCHUP for the sauce.
McPizza used a special oven and special dough and special sauce - it was a marvel. Everything was scientifically tested to bring the hottest, spiciest and freshest tasting pizza you could imagine. Americans (and particularly Canadians) were not prepared for this spicy pizza, which sometimes took 20 minutes to make. It was fucking delicious, hot and spicy and greatly missed by those few that had the chance to eat it.
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