McDonald’s on Thursday reported surprisingly strong sales in the latest quarter — and its chief executive cited the purple milkshake released in honor of furry mascot Grimace’s 52nd birthday.
“This quarter, if I’m being honest, the theme was Grimace,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said on the company’s conference call following the earnings report, according to CNBC.
The earnings report was released a month after the golden arches honored Grimace’s birthday with a limited-edition purple milkshake that was only available in the US.
McDonald’s also offered the Grimace Birthday Meal, which included the shake and the choice of a Big Mac, 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, or fries, though the offer ended on July 6, according to a McDonald’s tweet.
The photo-friendly purple drink — which was made with ice cream and blueberry and strawberry syrups — went viral on social media and was likely fueled by customers’ nostalgia for the rotund character.
As a result, McDonald’s — which has 13,513 restaurants in the US and over 38,000 abroad — recorded a revenue of $6.5 billion in the latest quarter, edging out Wall Street’s expectation of $6.27 billion.
The net sales marked a 14% increase from last year.
McDonald’s scored $2.31 billion in income — a sharp increase from the $1.8 billion reported in Q1.
McDonald’s share price jumped nearly 2%, to $297.50, Thursday morning.
On TikTok, Austin Frazier is attributed with starting the trend when he posted a clip of himself tasting the shake.
The video then cut to Frazier lying on the floor with the milkshake spilled around his head and mouth.
Since it was posted on June 13, the TikTok has garnered over 3.6 million views and caused a slew of other social media users to share clips faking their death after tasting the Grimace shake.
McDonald’s even acknowledged the trend, sharing a post of Grimace to social media captioned: “mee pretending i don’t see the grimace shake trendd.”
The Chicago-headquartered restaurant chain even changed the biography on its Instagram and Twitter pages to: “grimace is a close personal friend of mine.”
“‘Grimace’s Birthday’ quickly became one of our most socially engaging campaigns of all time,” the company said in its earnings report.
McDonaldland — the franchise’s fictional world inhabited by Ronald McDonald and his friends — welcomed Grimace on June 12, 1971, as “Evil Grimace,” a monster with four arms used to steal milkshakes.
But after he frightened children, McDonald’s phased out Grimace, along with other McDonaldland characters, in 2003.
The franchise later recast the purple blob as a warmer version of his old self, this time with two arms, and revived the beloved fuzzball in 2022.