By The New York Times (U.S.) | Created at 2024-10-24 10:01:17 | Updated at 2024-10-24 12:17:27
2 hours ago
U.S.|Is McDonald’s Quarter Pounder Too Big to Fail?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/24/us/ecoli-mcdonalds-hamburgers-quarter-pounders-us-outbreak.html
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After an E. coli outbreak, McDonald’s stopped selling the Quarter Pounder in 12 states. The burger might take a hit for now, but its hold on customers will prevail, experts say.
Oct. 24, 2024, 5:40 a.m. ET
It’s bigger than a regular burger and easier to eat than a Big Mac. It’s venerated in “Pulp Fiction,” a symbol of American gluttony in Morgan Spurlock’s “Supersize Me” and a source of endless hacks on TikTok.
Now, the McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burger is off the menu in 12 states after an E. coli outbreak linked to the raw onions on the sandwich killed one person and hospitalized dozens.
Could the deadly outbreak dampen Americans’ appetite for the Quarter Pounder? Not for long, experts say, because hunger for the iconic burger, which has been on the McDonald’s menu for over 50 years, will prevail in the end. The 4-ounce patty with slivered onions and pickles on a sesame seed bun is one of the chain’s most enduring items.
For now, you won’t find the Quarter Pounder in Colorado, Kansas, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico and Oklahoma. Onions were removed from all menu items at an undisclosed number of locations.
In 1971, Al Bernardin invented the Quarter Pounder while managing a McDonald’s franchise in Fremont, Calif., the Oakland Tribune wrote after he died in 2009. Since then, after generations of marketing, the sandwich has become “iconic,” said William Hallman, a psychologist and a distinguished professor at Rutgers University.
“It’s been the same burger for forever, so it becomes sort of a comfort food for people,” Professor Hallman said.
