Here’s why they (can’t) put a ring on it.
Former McDonald’s corporate chef Mike Haracz has revealed why the famous fast-food chain doesn’t have onion rings on their menu — and the answer might surprise you.
“McDonald’s is the most profitable when it is the most efficient, and that efficiency in scale,” he explained in a new TikTok video, which has clocked in at almost 45,000 views since it was posted this week.
Haracz told The Post that this doesn’t only apply to a side dish like onion rings, but to a lot of other menu items as well.
“For example, if there are too many chicken options, they end up not attracting new customers and reducing the volumes of each available item, making them less profitable as well as less efficient for the restaurant,” he told The Post.
In his viral video, the former manager of culinary innovation for McDonald’s headquarters came up with a hypothetical scenario in which the chain started selling onion rings.
“Think of how many less people would order fries and would order onion rings instead,” Haracz explained.
“Right now, because of how many fries they sell, because of how efficient they are, and most importantly, how over-the-top profitable it is for them, so the markup on their fries … they would be selling a much less efficient, much less profitable item for them,” he continued.
In the rest of the video, he further explained his point.
“If they can sell all of the same thing, if McDonald’s could sell one thing and that’s it, it would be great for them, so they actually, especially more recently, have reduced choice and reduced options,” he said.
The McExpert also reasoned that the chain would probably have to charge customers an extra dollar or more for the onion rings because they are “not as efficient” as making them compared to french fries.
“I don’t foresee that happening anytime soon because McDonald’s wants to sell you their french fries because they make so much money on the french fries, ” Haracz said, adding that if onion rings were indeed added, they would probably end up being a limited-edition menu item.
In the comments section of the post, many TikTok users lamented that they wished the chain would make the culinary delight, despite all of the alleged hardships that come with it.
“I bet a lot of people would order fries and onion rings at the same time,” one user hypothesized.
Another agreed, typing, “I would sometimes pay an extra dollar (or more) for onion rings instead of fries.”
“Onion rings are hit or miss, but I feel onion rings in the nugget batter would be heaven,” someone else wrote.
This is not the first time the former McD’s chef has spilled some behind-the-scenes secrets about the iconic eatery.
In August, Haracz revealed that the worst time to eat at McDonald’s is 10:30 — when they make the switch from serving breakfast to lunch.
“That means the fryers are no longer cooking hash browns, they’re cooking french fries, the grills have a different time and temperature,” said the Golden Arches whistleblower.
“The Universal Holding Cabinet (UHC) that holds a larger volume of the cooked items — [used] to service customers extra quick, so they can just pull things out of the cabinet — all of the breakfast ingredients and items need to be removed and all of the lunch items need to be added.”
Earlier this month, he also shared why the chain’s ketchup doesn’t taste like Heinz after some suspected they might be adding honey to the tomato mixture.
Harcaz said that the additional ingredients in Heinz ketchup could make the condiment “more flavorful” — and that it’s “up to you to decide whether it’s better or not, but the ingredients statements are almost identical, and I guarantee neither of them are putting honey in their ketchup.”