If the Big Mac doesn’t satiate your hunger, the Big Arch just might.
McDonald’s launched its new burger in summer 2024 at all of its 205 Portugal restaurants. It includes two beef patties “perfectly layered with melting cheese, crispy toppings, and a tangy McDonald’s sauce,” Chris Kempczinski, chairman and CEO of McDonald’s, said during an earnings call that year. The Big Arch burger (a limited-time offering) just launched in the U.S. this week.
The burger—and Kempczinski—are also making headlines because the CEO posted a taste-test video of himself eating the massive Big Arch for lunch.
What was a seemingly mundane and playful video and a look into what the CEO does in his free time became a massive internet meme, with social media users mocking Kempczinski and claiming he doesn’t look like he’s actually enjoying it. People said it felt inauthentic because he referred to the burger as a “product.” Other fast-food chain executives, including Burger King’s Tom Curtis, joined in on poking fun at Kempczinski’s video.
About the Big Arch burger
The Big Arch is a whopping 1,020 calories, according to the menu listing. Adult women typically require just 1,600 to 2,400 calories per day, according to the 2020–25 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, while adult men require about 2,200 to 3,000 calories. That means the burger could take up more than two-thirds of one’s daily caloric intake—and that’s before adding fries and a drink to wash it down.
“Our team of chefs from around the world have created a more satiating burger to meet customer demand and to deliver on our ongoing commitment to menu innovation,” a McDonald’s spokesperson said in a statement to Fortune in 2024.
McDonald’s piloted the new menu item across three international markets in 2024, and started testing it in Portugal, Canada, and Germany later that year. Kempczinski had hinted about a bigger burger hitting McDonald’s stores back in a December 2023 interview with CNN.
“In the U.S., in a number of markets, around the world, having a larger burger is an opportunity,” Kempczinski told CNN. “We’re working on that. That is something that you should expect in the future.”
Is bigger really better?
The goal in launching the Big Arch is to “address unmet customer needs with a more satiating burger that will provide great value for money,” Kempczinski said during the 2024 earnings call. The Big Arch undoubtedly does that since it contains 36% more calories than the Double Big Mac and has more calories than anything else on the McDonald’s menu.
In terms of providing “great value for money,” that’s somewhat hard to tell, considering McDonald’s franchises set their own prices, which can vary by restaurant and market. Reports indicate the price can range from $6.89 to $10.19 for just the burger, and a combo meal with fries and soda will likely range from $11.09 to $14.29.
Looking beyond the calories, the Big Arch also contains 65 grams of fat, which is about 96% of the recommended daily fat intake for adults, Melissa Boufounos, sports nutritionist and owner of MB Performance Nutrition in Canada, told Fortune.
“As a sports nutritionist, I’m big on people eating an optimal amount of protein. With two beef patties, the Big Arch provides a whopping [53] grams of protein,” Boufounos said. “But that doesn’t mean I recommend rushing out to order one. There’s truly no need for a menu item to serve up [1,020] calories.”
Even more so than the calories, the fat content of the menu item is “worrisome” to Boufounos.
“Eating too much highly processed and fatty animal-based protein can contribute to high cholesterol, heart disease, and other chronic health conditions,” she said. “Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., with someone suffering from a heart attack every 40 seconds. To me, this burger is a step in the wrong direction.”
However, Kempczinski insists it’s a “quintessential McDonald’s burger with a twist on our iconic familiar flavors.”
A version of this story was originally published on Fortune.com on July 30, 2024.
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