Hai travelers,
Why does the McDonald's menu in the US feel so basic compared to places abroad? I keep seeing unique items like shrimp burgers in Asia, McSpicy options, and even some cool vegetarian choices in Europe. Anyone know why we don’t get more variety here? Is it just a demand thing, or is there more to it?
Thank You.

Welcome to Fodor's.

I suspect they sell what they know their customers will buy. For instance, many McDonald's in Muslim countries don't sell pork, they use turkey bacon and sausage on their breakfast sandwiches, etc. Local tastes and customs differ.

McDonald's in some parts of Europe have really nice coffee shops. If they had those here, I might actually visit one, but the US public isn't used to going to Mickey D's for fancy coffee, and there's a lot of competion out there with places like Starbuck's.

PS - I seemed to remember the Maccas in Australia selling burgers topped with an egg, which is an Aussie thing, so I just googled their menu. I don't see the burger I was looking for, but they do indeed have a huge menu.

https://mcdonalds.com.au/menu

I remember eating a McDonald's hamburger in Europe and it didn't taste good at all. Maybe cattle in Europe are fed a different blend of feed.

PrairieHiker - grass fed vs corn fed maybe? We had some issues with grass fed beef when we lived overseas. My carnivore spouse just doesn't like it. Again, local tastes.

I think it's called "supply and demand"

Would you believe there is a website called mcriblocator.com ?

We were just in Honolulu and none of the McDonalds we checked had the haupia or taro pies. But they do have local breakfast platters including Spam or Portuguese sausage and rice with egg, and their apple pies are the fried ones. I think the McTeri burger is seasonal, we couldn't find that either when we looked on the app.

Most variation at US McDonald's (which labels some of their items as McCafe) is seasonal. Right now it's Dulce de Leche Frappe and there is a pumpkin and "creme" pie.

I don't think the UK has McGriddles.The Change.org petition didn't get very far.

https://www.change.org/p/introduce-t...menu-in-the-uk

Hawaii seems to be one of the few places in the U.S. with unique McDonald’s items, like Spam breakfast platters and fried apple pies. Most of the U.S. just gets seasonal things like the pumpkin pie and Dulce de Leche Frappe.
Thank You

A lot of McDonald's in New Zealand have a McCafe where you can buy decent coffee and cake, muffins etc. Aimed at us older people, although I very rarely go there. Do occasionally if we are travelling. When we are in the US we go to Starbucks a lot just so we can get an acceptable cup of tea.

It isn't that McDs doesn't introduce new items to the mainland American audience. It is just that they are identified with a particular product and that is what people expect and will buy. If they were to bring back the McRb again, it would sell.

Example: Earlier this year - February - McD partnered with a Japanese anime series "JUJUTSU KAISEN” (produced by Studio Pierrot) to launch the new Special Grade Garlic Sauce for their McNuggets. They even "changed the name" of the restaurants to WcDonald's and had some anime produced advertising WcDonald's. It did not last very long. I won't call it a flop but here in NYC very few people ordered the new sauce and the anime was basically ignored. I am sure other parts of the U.S. did the same because WcDonald's quickly disappeared and was pretty much forgotten.