McDonald’s UK and Ireland has just announced a partnership with Mumsnet, the UK’s biggest parenting network, to develop a new item for the Happy Meal.
In a thread on the site in 2017, parents said they would like to see greater choice on the Happy Meal menu, including the potential for a non-fried option. A new brief was put to the restaurant company’s food development team and Mumsnet is following the process ahead of a new menu item potentially launching nationwide in the summer.
Emily Somers, Vice President Food and Marketing at McDonald’s UK and Ireland, said, “We are constantly looking for ways to enhance our menu from introducing new items to evolving the recipes of our iconic favourites.
'We’ve taken big steps to improve our Happy Meal in recent years and reducing saturated fat, salt and sugar content across our menu remains a priority. This is why we’re excited to work with Mumsnet to offer even greater choice for parents and their families.”
Carrie Longton, co-founder of Mumsnet, said, “'Mumsnet users tend to be pretty focused on providing healthy food and snacks for their children, so the opportunity to help McDonald's develop a new Happy Meal option was too good to pass up.'
Mumsnetters went behind the scenes at McDonald’s development kitchen to see the team of chefs work on potential menu items for the Happy Meal including grilled chicken and vegetarian options.
Duncan Cruttenden, Director of Food Development at McDonald’s UK and Ireland, said, “We were delighted to host the Mumsnet team and work to the clear brief from parents. We want our menu options to represent what parents are looking for and what better way to do that than with parents beside us in the development kitchen.
'We are working hard to turn the many options created in the development kitchen into a successful new product for the Happy Meal, which we hope to launch later this year.”