Breakfast might be where the QSR war is happening, but McDonald’s Canada is working on the lunchtime battle too.
The brand has created a new permanent menu item called “The 12,” a chicken and bacon sandwich meant to appeal specifically to lunch-hour customers. The idea is to provide more variety and choice, the brand said in a press release.
McDonald’s has already begun airing ads, in both English and French, for the new item.
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While coffee and breakfast innovations have been important for the brand (which recently debuted two new breakfast wraps), McDonald’s points to research from the NPD Group that suggests lunchtime visits to QSRs increased 7% last year.
While the restaurant has been innovating with products to appeal specifically to Canadians, as well as touting its relationships with local farmers, much of its strategy has been with coffee and to-go items. Late last year, it opened its first standalone McCafé in Toronto and introduced new, more premium to-go items like “authentic French croissants.”
Last fall, the QSR also introduced a new store concept and menu based on customizing orders.
For its part, Canadian staple Tim Hortons has been beefing up its own non-breakfast menu over the past several years, introducing items like chicken snack wraps.
