McDonalds Hula Burger.

Thursday, October 22, 2009   0 Comments

I was always curious why McDonald's never followed pursuit with the gourmet hamburgers that restaurants have. There's the guacamole burger, mushroom burgers, BBQ burgers and Hawaiian burgers with pineapple. Then I discovered the McDonald's Hula Burger, but its not what your thinking.

In the 1960's Ray Kroc introduced the 'Hula Burger' to McDonalds as a substitute for American Catholics that would not eat meat on Friday. In the 60's sales would tank every Friday in geographic markets with large Catholic populations. Ray Kroc's solution was a slice of grilled pineapple with cheese on a bun. Nasty right? But this was designed to go up against the Fillet-o-Fish, which was created by a Catholic McDonald's Franchisee.

By looking at the McDonald's Menu board today, you'll still see the Fillet-o-Fish but its not mistake you won't find the Hula Burger. Now a days less Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays, but many McDonald's will still discount the Fillet-o-Fish during Lent to increase sales.

If Micky'Ds were to offer the Hula Burger today with a hamburger patty they might have a hit on their hands. But forget the burger and I'd expect to see the hula burger go the way of the doodoo again.

Labels: americana, Food, Religion, United States