The failed experiment of a fast-food giant: McPizza

In the 1980s, a period when pizza restaurants were in vogue, McDonald's began working rapidly to include pizza on its menu in order to capitalize on this trend. Wanting to develop a pizza that would be ready to serve in a short time, McDonald's met with its management team and added its new product, McPizza, to the menu. This move by the company aimed both to grab a slice of the market share from rapidly growing pizza restaurants and to gain an advantage over its competitors by offering customers more options for dinner service.

McDonald's embraced the pizza idea so much that it even considered redesigning some of its restaurants with Italian architecture. The brand's kitchens were specifically designed to deliver orders to customers as quickly as possible. These kitchens, which were initially optimized for hamburgers and side products, were not suitable for cooking a large-sized product like pizza. There was not enough space in the kitchens for the ovens that would be used to bake the pizzas. To overcome this problem, McDonald's had to reorganize the kitchens of the restaurants that would sell pizza. Furthermore, the windows where customers received their orders while in their cars were too small for pizzas. The company removed these windows one by one and resized them all to fit a pizza. Having started pizza sales, McDonald's was already under a heavy cost burden before it could even make a profit.

Adding McPizza to the menu took quite a long time for McDonald's. Additionally, McPizza required a much longer cooking time compared to other products. The brand, which had established fast service as a marketing strategy, was subjected to intense criticism. McDonald's customers, who were accustomed to fast service, did not prefer McPizza, which was both more expensive and required a longer wait than other products. The company, which could not meet the profit expectations it had for its McPizza venture that it started with enthusiasm, removed the product from its menu shortly after.

News Source: 12punto