The McDonald's Deluxe line was a series of sandwiches introduced in the early to mid 1990s and marketed by

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

with the intent of capturing the adult fast food consumer market, presented as a more sophisticated burger for adult tastes. The sandwiches sold poorly and the entire line was discontinued on August 18, 2000. The Deluxe series was a marketing disaster and is now considered to be one of the most expensive flops in McDonald's history.

History

The line was first introduced in 1991 with the McLean Deluxe; the Arch Deluxe was introduced in May 1996 and the others on September 27, 1996. Except for the McLean Deluxe, all sandwiches were developed by McDonald's executive chef Andrew Selvaggio.

Advertising

McDonald's budgeted at $100–150 million (

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) for the introduction of the line and contracted the

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

-based ad firm of Fallon McElligott to oversee the roll out of the project. The original advertising for these products took the form of children criticizing the new adult oriented sandwiches and

Ronald McDonald Ronald McDonald is a clown character used as the primary mascot of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain. He inhabits the fictional world of McDonaldland, with his friends Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird, an ...

doing more adult themed things, such as going dancing at a nightclub or playing golf. The firm went so far as to commission the

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-based Fahlgren ad firm to create a complete set of music designed specifically for the radio ad campaigns. The new tunes were designed to appeal to an 18- to 34-year-old demographic. Further ads were created by

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. In promotional materials for these products, all employed a similar logo that featured a different color in the background. During this time period, the Crispy Chicken Deluxe and the Fish Filet Deluxe along with the Grilled Chicken Deluxe and the Arch Deluxe were sold only in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, and

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, while the McChicken and Filet-O-Fish continued to be sold in the rest of the world. However, by 1998, the Crispy Chicken Deluxe and Grilled Chicken Deluxe were renamed the "Crispy Chicken Sandwich" and "Chicken McGrill" respectively, while the Fish Filet Deluxe and Arch Deluxe sandwiches were being increasingly discontinued at more locations throughout 1998 and 1999, until the Fish Filet Deluxe and Arch Deluxe were finally taken off the menus on August 18, 2000.

Product variants

All sandwiches were served on a bakery style roll and featured better quality ingredients, such as whole leaf lettuce and sliced tomatoes.

Burgers

* The McLean Deluxe was marketed as a healthy alternative to

regular menu. It was released in the United States in 1991. It had a reduced fat content compared to other McDonald's hamburgers. This was achieved through use of 91% lean beef and the addition of

carrageenan Carrageenans or carrageenins ( ; ) are a family of natural linear sulfation, sulfated polysaccharides. They are extracted from red algae, red edible seaweeds. Carrageenans are widely used in the food industry, for their gelling, thickening, an ...

to the meat. The McLean Deluxe was originally designed as a replacement of the McDLT. Like the McDLT, and despite performing well in taste-tests, it did not sell well and was dropped from the menu in February 1996. * The Arch Deluxe was another product to compete against the

Burger King Burger King Corporation (BK, stylized in all caps) is an American multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacks ...

Whopper The Whopper is the signature hamburger brand of international fast food restaurant chain Burger King, its Australian franchise Hungry Jack's, and BK Whopper Bar kiosks. Introduced in 1957 in response to the large burger size of a local resta ...

sandwich. It had hickory bacon, onions, tomato, ketchup, lettuce,

American cheese American cheese is a type of processed cheese made from Cheddar cheese, cheddar, Colby cheese, Colby, or similar cheeses, in conjunction with sodium citrate, which permits the cheese to be pasteurized without its components separating. It is mi ...

, and a

mustard Mustard may refer to: Food and plants * Mustard (condiment), a paste or sauce made from mustard seeds used as a condiment * Mustard plant, one of several plants, having seeds that are used for the condiment ** Mustard seed, small, round seeds of ...

and mayonnaise based Chef's sauce.

Chicken

* The Grilled Chicken Deluxe sandwich replaced the McGrilled Chicken Classic sandwich and had light mayonnaise, lettuce and tomatoes; additional sauces to replace the mayo were available. Additionally, a Crispy Chicken Deluxe sandwich, which replaced the McChicken, was made available. These sandwiches were targeted to the female and health-conscious markets. The Grilled Chicken Deluxe and Crispy Chicken Deluxe sandwiches were brought back in 2015. This time, they are made on an artisan roll instead of the potato flour bun and replaced the Premium Chicken sandwich line instead of the McChicken.

Fish

* The Fish Filet Deluxe replaced the Filet-O-Fish sandwich and had

tartar sauce Tartar sauce (; often spelled tartare sauce in the UK, Ireland, and Commonwealth countries) is a condiment made of mayonnaise, chopped gherkins or relish, capers, and herbs such as tarragon and dill. Tartar sauce can also be enhanced with ot ...

, American cheese and lettuce. The

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

patty was 50% larger than the original fish fillet used in the Filet-O-Fish. After the Fish Filet Deluxe was dropped, the larger fish patty was used in the current Filet-O-Fish. Despite failing eighteen years prior in North America, McDonald's New Zealand introduced in 2015 a nearly identical sandwich (adding a tomato slice and with two fish filets and a seedless bun instead of the potato flour bun) called the Seaside Fish Burger.

References

{{Burgers McDonald's foods