How McDonald's Is Stepping Up Its Burger Game In 2025

McDonald's burgers have had mixed reviews over the years to say the least. In fact, Reddit users ranked it as the worst burgers of any fast food chain out of 14 businesses. In 2025, however, the company plans to change that with its "Best Burger Initiative," which includes 50 small changes.

A few tweaks of note are improving the toasting of its buns, adding white onions to patties on the grill, and dousing more of its signature sauce on Big Macs. These small changes are a sign that McDonald's isn't trying to reinvent its products entirely so much as look for new, minor opportunities to improve them. Considering that McDonald's sells 6.5 million burgers every day, such changes are more feasible for every location to follow rather than something as drastic as changing up beef suppliers or installing new cooking equipment. 

CEO Chris Kempczinski also told The Wall Street Journal that he wants to accelerate the rate at which the company rolls out new signature burgers, further diversifying its menu while maintaining the modifications that may improve customer satisfaction. But, McDonald's new 2025 improvements aren't just limited to its burgers. 

While the Best Burger Initiative is by far its biggest change, McDonald's plans to roll out plenty of other improvements to win back customers. Most notably, the company's international division leader, Jill McDonald, is now the chain's first restaurant experience officer, taking a look at operations from the perspective of a boots-on-the-ground manager.

Plenty of folks swear that McDonald's fountain drinks taste better than any other chain, thanks to it chilling both the syrup and water before it even touches a cup, but its lemonade has always lacked demand. The chain decided to make a big upgrade and now makes it with only lemon juice, pulp, and cane sugar, simplifying the recipe to improve its taste. Much like its Best Burger Initiative, this small change shows the company is looking to improve its existing menu in little ways, possibly in an attempt to avoid the menu items that failed so spectacularly in the past.

Another aspect of McDonald's glow up is customers getting more bang for their buck. In November 2024, McDonald's announced it was bringing a new type of value to its restaurants, the McValue menu. Starting in January 2025, customers at any McDonald's location can pay an extra dollar to add another menu item of equal or lesser value to the one they purchase at full price. Between this and local and in-app exclusive deals, customer value is a key element of McDonald's 2025 glow-up.