McDonald’s is no stranger to failed gambits—remember the McDLT? Or the Arch Deluxe? (For whatever reason, McD’s has never had success with tomato slices.) But will Mighty Wings join their ranks? As investors worry over dismal fourth quarter earnings (little changed from last year), McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson readily admits the menu had become overextended, slowing the delivery of food. “We’ve lost some of our customer relevance,” he added in a conference call.
Plus those wings just aren’t selling: According to Bloomberg, the problem has to do with the size of the chickens. McDonald’s chickens are apparently big and their mighty wings are resulting in extra costs. And you know what else costs? Commercials for wings starring NFL players. Still, I do wonder if customers also don’t want to deal with the bones.
At the moment, about 10 million pounds’ worth of wings remain unsold. (Maybe they can bury them in that New Mexico landfill alongside those E.T. Atari cartridges.)