Would You Like Salad Or Fries With That?

“Would you like salad or fries with your meal?” is the new question on the lips of McDonald’s crew across the country from today.

McDonald’s customers will now have the option of choosing salad instead of fries with all combo meals, at no extra cost – a major step in McDonald’s ongoing journey in continuing to offer healthier menu options.

McDonald’s New Zealand Managing Director Patrick Wilson says McDonald’s is adding to its ongoing healthy menu development by making it even easier for customers to enjoy a fresh serve of vegetables.

“McDonald’s is committed to continuing to evolve our menu to offer our customers more healthy choices. In 2004 we broke new ground in the fast food sector by offering salads on our menu and since then we’ve sold over 2 million serves, making us one of New Zealand’s largest salad retailers, which is pretty phenomenal,” he says.

“Last year alone we ordered close to 1.5 million kg of lettuce, which we used in our burgers, wraps and salads, and we expect that figure to increase with this new ‘salad instead of fries’ option. This will no doubt be welcome news for our Kiwi suppliers.

“We’re committed to offering our customers healthy food options, even if that means an increase to our costs at times. These choices are something more and more of our customers are asking for, so we’re delivering on that,” says Mr Wilson.

McDonald’s lettuce supplier Jayant Master from Master & Sons of Bombay says the ‘salad instead of fries’ option means an opportunity for growth for his business, and for other Kiwi growers.

The replacement salad option is a garden salad containing fresh lettuce, cucumber, red onion and tomato.