The Discontinued Italian-Inspired McDonald's Menu Item That Was A Disaster

Despite being a titan of the fast food industry, McDonald's still entices new customers to visit the Golden Arches by introducing new menu items. Previous additions like the beloved Egg McMuffin proved highly successful. Yet, in the 1980s, McDonald's hadn't begun to truly compete with the various dinner options folks were choosing instead of a Big Mac. The big idea for getting into the supper game was to latch on to the success of the growing pizza industry. However, it turned into an epic disaster that rivals the infamous fellow '80s blunder known as New Coke.

McDonald's pizza is one of those discontinued chain restaurant meals we're probably never getting back ... and for good reason. It's not that the pie tasted horrible, although some folks have recalled that it was lackluster at best. Instead, McD's take on this Italian fare simply took too much time and effort to produce. Consider that McDonald's rose to dominance because it could provide customers with meals in very short order. Its attempt to produce pizza and cater to folks looking for dinner options gummed up those carefully calibrated works.

The problems with McDonald's pizzas were multi-faceted. After the company spent nearly a decade creating an oven that could bake pizza in less than six minutes, its size still meant that many franchise kitchens needed remodeling to accommodate one. For instance, once modestly-sized drive-thru windows had to be enlarged so employees could pass pizza to hungry customers. Despite the advertised cook time of just six minutes, restaurants became bottlenecked with pies that took 10 minutes to make during rushes.

The new menu item also drew the ire of pizza chains. What was once a cordial competition for market share between companies offering completely different products escalated quickly. Pizza Hut in particular took jabs at the Golden Arches whenever the opportunity presented itself and urged customers to choose a better-quality option

McDonald's pizza sales met with some success early on, but with all the headaches the menu item created, it was ultimately discontinued by the early 1990s. Some Canadian establishments continued to serve it into the 2000s and beyond, but it appears that no one is serving genuine McDonald's pizza today. Don't be too disappointed if you never got to try it, though. After all, do you visit a salad place when you want an exquisite steak? Burgers and fries are McDonald's claim to fame, and although it put in a valiant effort trying to expand its menu, to many McDonald's was always destined to make subpar pizza.