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21 Aug, 2019
By, Wikipedia

Big Mac

The Big Mac is a hamburger sold by the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's. It was introduced in the Greater Pittsburgh area in 1967 and across the United States in 1968. It is one of the company's flagship products and signature dishes. The Big Mac contains two beef patties, cheese, shredded lettuce, pickles, minced onions, and a Thousand Island-type dressing advertised as "special sauce", on a three-slice sesame-seed bun.

History

The Big Mac was created by Jim Delligatti, who stated later he did not invent the Big Mac but merely copied the double deck hamburger marketed by the Big Boy hamburger chain since the 1940s. Mr. Delligatti operated several McDonald's restaurants in the Pittsburgh area. It was created in the kitchen of Delligatti's first McDonald's franchise, located on McKnight Road in suburban Ross Township.

The Big Mac debuted at the McDonald's owned by Delligatti in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, on April 22, 1967, selling for US$0.45 (equivalent to $4.11 in 2023).

It was designed to compete with Big Boy Restaurants' Big Boy hamburger. Eat'n Park was the Pittsburgh area's Big Boy franchisee at the time. The Big Mac proved popular and it was added to the menu of all U.S. McDonald's restaurants in 1968.

The Big Mac had two previous names, both of which failed in the marketplace: the Aristocrat and the Blue Ribbon Burger. The third name, Big Mac, was created by Esther Glickstein Rose, a 21-year-old advertising secretary who worked at McDonald's corporate headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois.

Product

The Big Mac is made with two 1.6 oz (45 g) beef patties, a "special sauce" (similar to Thousand Island dressing), shredded iceberg lettuce, one processed American cheese slice, two slices of dill pickle, and minced onions, served on a three slice sesame seed bun. On October 1, 2018, McDonald's announced that it would remove all artificial preservatives, flavors, and coloring from the Big Mac.

The Big Mac is known worldwide and is often used as a symbol of American capitalism and decadence. The Economist has used it as a reference point for comparing the cost of living in different countries – the Big Mac Index – as it is so widely available and is comparable across markets. This index is sometimes referred to as Burgernomics.

Sauce

Big Mac Sauce is delivered to McDonald's restaurants in sealed canisters designed by Sealright, from which it is meant to be directly dispensed using a calibrated "sauce gun" that dispenses a specified amount of the sauce for each pull of the trigger.

In 2012, McDonald's executive chef Dan Coudreaut released a YouTube video revealing the recipe of the sauce. It consists of store-bought mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish and yellow mustard whisked together with vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika.

In 2018, McDonald's revamped the sauce by removing potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate, and calcium disodium EDTA.

The sauce is occasionally available for purchase on its own for a limited time. The first time was in 2015. A 25 ml (0.85 U.S. fl oz) tube was available for purchase but only in restaurants in Australia. It was available again in 2020. A 50 ml (1.7 U.S. fl oz) pot was available for purchase but only in restaurants in the UK and Ireland. In 2023 and early 2024 it was available in Hungary.

Packaging

The Big Mac, along with many other McDonald's products, was first served in a collapsible cardboard container that was changed to a "clamshell" style, polystyrene foam container in the late 1970s. Polystyrene foam containers were phased out beginning in 1990, due to environmental concerns.

Advertising

"Two all-beef patties" jingle

Big Mac button worn by Canadian crew members during the 1975 campaign

In 1974 McDonald's commissioned an advertising jingle which popularized the list of ingredients of the Big Mac: "Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun."

In 2008, McDonald's restaurants in Malaysia revived the slogan. The revival included the original prize of a free Big Mac if the customer was able to recite the slogan in under four seconds. It was released in May, along with the promotional Mega Mac, which had four beef patties instead of two.

McDonaldland character

McDonald's began a television advertising campaign appealing to children in 1971 featuring a fantasy world populated by Ronald McDonald and various mascots promoting McDonald's products. Some characters were also modeled in McDonald's store playground equipment. The Big Mac was represented by Officer Big Mac, a Keystone Cops-style policeman with a giant Big Mac sandwich for a head. The characters were revised after a 1973 plagiarism lawsuit brought by television puppeteers Sid and Marty Krofft because of similarities to their H.R. Pufnstuf characters. A modified Officer Big Mac continued in the commercials until 1985.

Hip-hop product placement

In 2005, McDonald's began offering product placement rewards to hip hop artists who namechecked the Big Mac in their music, giving US$5 to the artist for every time a song mentioning the hamburger was played on the radio.

EU trademark revocation

McDonald's sued the Irish fast-food chain Supermac's for trademark infringement and claimed the name would confuse consumers in European markets. On 11 January 2019, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) ruled in Supermac's favor in what has been called a "David vs. Goliath" victory. McDonald's submitted a copy of the Wikipedia article about the Big Mac as part of its evidence, but the court found the Wikipedia page was not acceptable as "independent evidence".

In 2023, the EUIPO Board of Appeal annulled the decision after McDonald's filed 700 pages of additional evidence, despite objections.

Supermac's responded by bringing the case to the European Court of Justice, which finally ruled in 2024 that McDonald's had not proven use of the Big Mac trademark when it came to poultry products or operating restaurants. The ruling does not affect the trademark with respect to the BigMac burger product.

US sales

In 2007, Danya Proud, a McDonald's spokeswoman, said that in the United States alone, 560 million Big Macs are sold each year. This would mean that approximately 17 Big Macs are sold every second.

Variants

The Mega Mac or Double Big Mac: four 1.6 oz (45 g) beef patties and an extra slice of cheese. Available in Australia, Canada, China, Egypt, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan (during promotional periods only), Turkey, Singapore, Pakistan, South Korea, Thailand, and United Kingdom. It was introduced to the United States in early 2020, but was discontinued shortly after McDonald's streamlined menus during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sandwich returned to the US market in January 2024. The Double Big Mac is the biggest regular hamburger the chain produces and it has 680 calories.
Big Big Mac: a Quarter Pounder–like product sold in Europe (Finland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, and Italy). Has been sold periodically in Sweden, there called "Grand Big Mac".
The Denali Mac: made with two quarter pound patties. Named after Denali in Alaska, and sold only in that state.
In India, where consuming beef is illegal in most states, the Big Mac is known as the Maharaja Mac and was originally made with lamb instead of beef; however, along with the company's other items, it is now made from chicken.
The Chicken Big Mac is a Big Mac with two breaded chicken patties sold in US, UK, Canada, Pakistan, Egypt, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and other countries as a limited-availability or promotional burger.
The Giga Big Mac, is sold in Japan. It is a larger version of the Big Mac with three times the meat of a regular one.
Little Mac or Mac Jr. is a reduction of the standard Big Mac which uses a two-piece bun and contains only one beef patty. It has been available as a limited-time promotion in the U.S. since 2017.
Grand Mac uses larger patties, at 1⁄3 pound (0.15 kg) combined. It became available in the U.S. beginning in 2017 and was first made available overseas in the UK, Ireland, and Australia as the "Grand Big Mac" in 2018 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original Big Mac. This and the Mac Jr. were collectively known as the "Big Mac range" in the UK.
Big Mac BLT is a standard Big Mac burger with the addition of bacon and tomato. Released in Australia and New Zealand as a promotional item in late 2017.
Big Mac Bacon was introduced in selected markets in 2018, as a limited-time option. It is essentially a Big Mac with added bacon. In 2019, this was extended in the UK to the Grand Big Mac and the Mac Jr.

A Mega Mac burger with a large Coke and fries in Malaysia
A Chicken Maharaja Mac in India
A Grand Big Mac (left) and Mac Jr. (right) alongside a regular Big Mac (center), released for a limited time in the UK as part of the 50th anniversary of the burger

Museum

On August 22, 2007, McDonald's opened the Big Mac Museum in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania to celebrate the Big Mac's 40th anniversary. The museum features the world's largest Big Mac statue (measuring 14 feet high and 12 feet wide) and has hundreds of historical artifacts and exhibits that celebrate the Big Mac.

Some Uniontown residents were unhappy with the selected location.

Nutritional values per geographical location

The Big Mac is a geographically localized product. In the United States, the Big Mac has 550 kcal (2,300 kJ), 29 grams of fat and 25 grams of protein. In Australia, the burger is slightly smaller with 493 kcal (2,060 kJ) and 26.9 grams of fat, but similar amounts of protein with 25.2 grams, while the Japanese burger tops out the scales at 557 kcal and 30.5 grams of fat. Several McDonald's subsidiaries adapt the standard features of the Big Mac (from the US) to regional requirements.

**Comparisons of the Big Mac standard nutritional values in different countries – Sodium values converted to their salt equivalents, rounded and in bold**
Country	Energy kcal	Carbohydrates g	Protein g	Fat (total) g	Dietary fiber g	Salt equivalent mg	Serving size (weight) g	Reference
Argentina	485	40	24	26	3.3	2005		.ar
Australia	564	41.8	26.9	31.3		2550	233	.au Archived December 11, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
Austria	495	40	27	25	3	2300	219	.at
Belgium	495	40	27	25		2300		.be Archived September 13, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
Bosnia and Herzegovina	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.ba (Halted operations.)
Brazil	491	40	26	26	3.8	2033		.br
Canada	520	45	23	28	3	2413	209	.ca
Chile	562	49	27	30	4	1009	213	[1]
China	520	46	26	26				.cn
Croatia	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.hr Archived June 21, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
Czech Republic	510	41	27	26		2200		.cz
Denmark	510	41	27	26.1	3	2200		.info
Egypt	522	52	28.235	30	2		234	.eg
Finland	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.fi
France	508	42	27	26	3.1	2300	221	.info
Germany	510	41	27	26	3	2200	221	.de
Greece	495	40	27	25	3	2300	221	.gr
Hong Kong	497	43.1	26.4	24.2		2003		.hk
Hungary	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.info
Ireland	490	41	28	24	4	2100		.ie
Italy	510	42	27	26	3	2200		.it
Japan	557	45.2	25.5	30.5		2800		.jp
Lithuania	509	42	27	26	3.1	2300	219	.lt
Malaysia	484	46	26	23		1825	209	.my
Mexico	486	45	22	26	3	2228		.mx
Netherlands	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.info
New Zealand	494	36.8	26.4	25.9		2415	202	.nz
Norway	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.no
Poland	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.info
Portugal	509	42	27	26	3.2	2300	219	.pt
Romania	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.info
Russia	495	40	27	25	3	2300		.info
Serbia	493	40	27	25	3	2300		.rs
Singapore	522	43	28	26	3	970		.sg
South Africa	496	39	24.3	26.4	3.2	2433		.za
South Korea	510		26			2533	213	.kr
Sweden	505	42	26	26	3	2300	219	.se
Switzerland	510	41	27	26	3	2200		.info
Taiwan	530	45	27	26				.tw
Turkey	480	43	28	22		2100		.tr
Ukraine	509	42	27	26		2300		.ua
United Kingdom	508	43	26	25	3.6	2300		.uk
United States	540	47	25	28	3	2426	215	.us