Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The McRib

Episode Date: January 9, 2021

The musical Brigadoon is about a Scottish village which appears for one day every 100 years. The village can be thought of as a metaphor for things that are fleeting, or why we must take advantage of opportunities when they appear. Brigadoon doesn’t exist in our world, but we do have the next best thing. The Mc Rib. Learn more about the sandwich which only occasionally appears on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The musical Brigadoon is about a Scottish village which appears for one day every hundred years. The village can be thought of as a metaphor for things that are fleeting or why we must take advantage of opportunities when they appear. Brigadoon doesn't exist in our world, but we do have the next best thing, the McRib. Learn more about the sandwich which only occasionally appears on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night.

And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the Thuline podcast from NPR. This episode is sponsored by Scotty Vest. I've been wearing Scotty Vest gear for years now, and I've worn their pants, shirts, and jackets on all seven continents. It's hard to explain just how addicted you become to having so many pocket options once you get used to it. I've used the pockets for everything from hotel key cards to my passport to iPads and even carrying tissue paper in places that might not have any. And don't forget, they have the new Scotty mask, which combines the best of a PM2.5 activated carbon filter face mask with the convenience of a neckgator.

You can get 15% off your next order by going to scotty vest.com and using coupon code Everything Everywhere, all one word, at checkout. Let me start by noting that this episode is not sponsored by McDonald's. didn't get so much as a coupon or a gift certificate for this show, not even some of that orange drink that they provide for children's birthday parties. That being said, the McRib is a fascinating case study featuring economics, marketing, and internet fandom. For those of you who do not live in the United States or in countries that have the McRib, the McRib is a pork sandwich, where the patty looks like a very small rack of ribs. If you're wondering, don't ribs have bones in them? The answer is yes, and I'll have more on that later.

The reason why the McRib is worth the time to do an episode is that the McRib is almost never on the menu at McDonald's. It appears seemingly randomly. Sometimes it's only in certain regions and at certain times. There is no set schedule for when the McRib appears. In December 2020, for the first time in eight years, the McRib had limited nationwide availability in the United States. It has developed a devoted following, and there are even websites that track McRib appearances and people who will travel far out of their way to buy them. The genesis of the McRib sandwich

is directly tied to the development of the chicken McNugget. In the late 1970s, the McNugget was a huge hit, but there wasn't enough chicken available to meet the demand. As a substitute, McDonald's executive chef, Renee Arend, and yes, McDonald's executive chef is in fact

a thing, created the McRib as a way for franchises who couldn't get McNuggets to have a new product. Like the chicken McNugget, the McRib is made of reconnoisse, constituted meat. That means it is pork that's been emulsified and then reshaped in the form which is desired. And that is how you get a patty that looks like a side of ribs with bone sticking out of it, even though there are no bones in the sandwich. The launch of the McRib was rather uneventful.

It was released nationally in 1981 after some regional test marketing in Wisconsin. This is something that McDonald's and other restaurant chains do all the time, and most of the tests never amount to anything. Some failed McDonald's menu experiments include the Hula Burger, which is a hamburger with pineapple, personal pizzas, and even spaghetti. The sandwich was not a resounding success, and it was removed from the menu in 1985. However, that was not the end of the McRib. The McRib came back in limited regional runs starting in 1989. It had a nationwide release in 1994 as a marketing tie-in with the Flintstones movie, and then went back to limited regional releases. In 2005, McDonald said they were going to retire the McRib permanently, and they launched the McRib farewell tour, something which they did no less than three different times.

In November 2010, they did the first nationwide release of the McRib since 1994, and called it Legends of the McRib, which honored several of the McRib superfans. They did a nationwide launch again in 2012, and most recently in December of 2020. All the while, there were periodic appearances of the sandwich, in which, regions around the U.S. as well as in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the UK. Today, the only countries in the world which have the McRib permanently on the menu are Luxembourg and Germany. So all this is great, but the real question I and other people always have is, why does McDonald's do this? They've released data on how the McRib is popular, often boosting sales 5 to 10% in stores that have it. If it's so popular, why don't they sell it all the time?

Why would you take a product which has its own internet fan base and then not sell it? McDonald's has never come out and directly answered the question. The closest they've come is on a frequently asked questions part of their website, where they just say they like to have a variety in their menu. Fair enough, but then why not schedule the release like they do with Shamrock Shakes, which is available every March? Let people know that October or November is McRib month. The releases are far more random and far more long.

localized than any other product they have. There are two major theories as to why McDonald's does this, and they might both have a bit of truth. The first is just marketing. By having something which isn't around all the time, it makes it a special event when it's available. It's the old absence makes the heart grow fonder routine. It wasn't until the McRib was pulled from the menu back in the 80s that the sandwich became popular and developed a cult following. Most fast food doesn't really inspire anyone to get excited. By making the McRib elusive, it can engineer interest

that it otherwise wouldn't be able to do. The Simpsons did a parody of this in one episode where the Krusty Burger Rib Witch was only available for a limited time and in different cities. There was a group that called themselves ribheads, which followed the sandwich around the country. The other theory is simply

economics. The price of pork doesn't allow for McDonald's to make a profit on the McRib. Hence, it will only release it when pork prices are low enough to justify it. In In 2011, an article entitled, A Conspiracy of Hogs, The McRib as Arbitrage, analyzed the appearance of the McRib between 2005 and 2011, and found that its appearance coincided with dips in pork prices. Basically, when pork is cheap, the McRib has a good chance of appearing. It can't stick around for too long because if it did, it would cause pork prices to rise.

Moreover, the McRib is probably either a very low-margin product or a loss leader for McDonald's. It is the only sandwich on the menu in most locations that isn't around, requires a different type of bun, special packaging, and handling. So, for whatever reason, the McRib's presence in our world is only fleeting. Like a comet which only appears briefly in the sky later to return, so too is the McRib. Executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is James McIllah. The associate producer is Thor Thompson. Remember to leave a five-star review to get your review read on the show.

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