McDonald’s Is Bringing Back a 30-Year-Old Menu Item. And Is Building a 35-Foot-Long One to Promote It.
The fried apple pie last appeared on menus in 1992. It returns June 23 for America’s 250th birthday, complete with a giant roadside monument.
McDonald’s fried apple pie was once as American as, well, apple pie. Then it vanished for 30 years. Now it’s roaring back. The chain announced it will return the deep-fried original to most US restaurants for a limited time starting June 23, timed to the country’s 250th birthday, Fox News reports.
The iconic fried pie debuted in 1968 alongside the Big Mac before McDonald’s swapped it for a baked version in 1992, back when everyone suddenly freaked out about fat and cholesterol. The original never fully disappeared, though. It’s still on menus in Hawaii, the UK, Mexico and Australia.
To promote the comeback, McDonald’s is installing a 35-foot-long fried apple pie sculpture on Route 66 in Joliet, Illinois, near its Chicago headquarters. The move taps into the same nostalgia-marketing playbook fueling brand comebacks across the industry, betting that a familiar taste and a giant roadside monument are more than a pie in the sky.
McDonald’s fried apple pie was once as American as, well, apple pie. Then it vanished for 30 years. Now it’s roaring back. The chain announced it will return the deep-fried original to most US restaurants for a limited time starting June 23, timed to the country’s 250th birthday, Fox News reports.
The iconic fried pie debuted in 1968 alongside the Big Mac before McDonald’s swapped it for a baked version in 1992, back when everyone suddenly freaked out about fat and cholesterol. The original never fully disappeared, though. It’s still on menus in Hawaii, the UK, Mexico and Australia.
To promote the comeback, McDonald’s is installing a 35-foot-long fried apple pie sculpture on Route 66 in Joliet, Illinois, near its Chicago headquarters. The move taps into the same nostalgia-marketing playbook fueling brand comebacks across the industry, betting that a familiar taste and a giant roadside monument are more than a pie in the sky.
