Only One in Five Millennials Have Tried a Big Mac? Really?

McDonald’s(NEW YORK) — The Big Mac apparently isn’t big with millennials.

According to The Wall Street Journal, a top McDonald’s franchisee wrote a memo to fellow operators in July, saying the Big Mac, “has gotten less relevant.” In fact, only one in five millennials have even tried the fast-food chain’s signature burger.

McDonald’s overall burger sales have plummeted in recent years, while a 2015 study showed fast-food consumers favor quality of products over low cost and speed.

Burger chains that favor fresh ingredients like Five Guys, Smashburger and Shake Shack are expanding faster than McDonald’s, especially among millennials. The number of millennials who visited Smashburger more than once a month grew by 11 percent between the end of 2013 and the second quarter of this year, while the number of millennials who visited McDonald’s only grew by 6.5 percent.

Larry Light, former marketing chief for McDonald’s, has watched the company cut corners in a quest for speed and thinks they should simply concentrate on improving their burgers, noting, “Every time they go outside of their space, they fail.”

McDonald’s USA president Mike Andres said, “Fresh beef in and of itself is not necessarily the big idea. The big idea is that we want to be able to give you your hamburger hot off the grill.”

Look for McDonald’s to roll out two new Big Macs next year: the Grand Mac, which is larger, and a smaller one called the Mac Jr.

Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.

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