McDonald’s Discontinued Its Salad Offerings in America

If you scroll through the McDonald’s menu, you’ll see everything we associate with the Golden Arches: burgers, fries, nuggets, Happy Meals, chicken sandwiches, and multiple McFlurry options. Customers can even purchase a packet of apple slices à la carte if they wish. But one thing you won’t see anywhere on the menu is a salad of any kind. At a time when consumers are arguably more conscious than ever before about making healthy choices, why doesn’t McDonald’s offer salads? 

McDonald’s USA president Joe Erlinger spoke to this at the WSJ Global Food Forum in Chicago on Wednesday, at a panel titled “The Business of Fast Food.” Speaking with The Wall Street Journal’s Kate Linebaugh, Erlinger covered topics ranging from business operations to consumer spending anxieties, highlighting the fact that, no matter the consumer, the vast majority of Americans engage with the McDonald’s brand on some level.

“Almost 90% of the U.S. population has McDonald’s one time a year,” Erlinger said, later clarifying that this percentage eats McDonald’s food “at least” once per year. “Because we serve 90% of the U.S. population, we really need to stay true to who we are and view our business as an opportunity to drive greater frequency and serve more needs of customers, not necessarily figure out how to serve that last 10 percent or so.”

Erlinger noted that to serve this sprawling customer base, McDonald’s has “made significant investments in the quality of our food.” This includes the 2023 revamp of its classic burgers, removing unnecessary preservatives from certain menu items, and using cage-free, fresh-cracked eggs on its breakfast sandwiches. 

“What about salads?” Linebaugh asked. “Why not bring back salads?”

“You know, our founder famously said in 1970, ‘I don’t know what people are going to be eating in the year 2000, but we’re going to serve more of it than anybody else,” Erlinger responded. “And so if people really want salads from McDonald’s, we will gladly relaunch salads. But what our experience has proven is, that’s not what the consumer is looking for from McDonald’s.”

At certain times, salad has certainly been a fixture on the U.S. menu. In 2000, McDonald’s debuted (and heavily promoted) a menu of McSalad Shakers, three varieties of green salad served in tall cups. The idea was that customers would add the desired amount of dressing to the cup and shake it all up to toss. Perhaps the cup format made the salads feel less substantial than a full meal because these were eventually discontinued and replaced by a line of large-format Premium salads in 2003, featuring generous amounts of grilled chicken, mix-ins, and Newman’s Own dressing. Salads were discontinued during the COVID-19 pandemic as McDonald’s streamlined its menu to speed up service and contend with a disrupted supply chain. 

Currently, there simply isn’t a significant demand for salads among McDonald’s U.S. consumers. “One thing ​that won’t be returning ​to U.S. restaurants nationally is salads. The demand just isn’t there,” Erlinger said. “They’re looking for great french fries, they’re looking for a $5 meal deal, they’re looking for a hot, fresh sandwich, and so that’s what we’re going to continue to provide them.”

To Erlinger’s point about catering to consumers’ desires, many of McDonald’s international menus continue to offer salads tailored to local tastes. McDonald’s Japan, for example, serves a basic side salad, while McDonald’s France offers two entree salads and a rotating seasonal selection. Here in the U.S., however, if you want to eat your greens, you’ll have to head to one of McDonald’s competitors, including Chick-fil-A, Wendy’s, or Subway.