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McDonald's US owners: Give us 'premium' chicken sandwich, drop dollar drinks

July 10, 2019

"A chicken sandwich at McDonald's should be our top priority." That was the word from the board of a group of independent U.S. McDonald's franchisees. The National Owners Association board sent a letter to other operators calling for the creation of a "premium" chicken sandwich to maintain the chain's viability against its up-and-coming competitor, Chick-fil-A. 

"JFK called for a man on the moon, our call should be a category leading chicken sandwich. We don't have to reinvent the wheel. We didn't invent the drive thru, we perfected it. Chick Fil A invented the chicken sandwich, but we can do one better," the letter said, according to CNBC. 

The board of an independent group of U.S. McDonald's franchisees said that the company needs a chicken sandwich to compete with Chick-fil-A. Though McDonald's currently sells its popular Chicken McNuggets and the McChicken sandwich, it does not offer a better chicken sandwich. Of course, McDonald's is far bigger than Chick-fil-A, which has just over 2,000 units, to McDonald's 14,000. But the board still pushed for something like the smaller brand's offerings. 

The email also states that the board for the group is also pushing for an end to the "dollar drinks" the chain offers, saying that few markets are able to support it, according to a CNBC reprint of the NOA letter. QSRweb had not received any response from McDonald's for comment at the time of this writing.