An angry McDonald's customer took to Reddit to voice his dissatisfaction with the chain's new offering of “large” fries.
On Thursday, u/CrewCamel shared a photo showing a Big Mac container and what appears to be McDonald's patented small french fry paper bag. “This is what a 'large french fry' looks like at my McDonald's in 2024,” the post read. “I ordered a $14 Big Mac menu in the SF Bay Area and this is what I got.”
Many users have suggested that the restaurant mixed up the order, but they didn't seem to notice that the package said “Large Fries” in big red letters. “The fact that it says there might mean that people are complaining that they ordered large fries and got these and then got the wrong size,” u/AsherFischell said. “Yeah. That's exactly why it's there,” u/DoublyTheWhale agreed.
“It could just be 'Yeah, that's all you're going to get, deal with it,'” another user suggested. “Wow,” marveled u/TomBombadil6. “It's that small here in Canada.”
For those who think the modified size is unique to California, think again. “I had this at the McDonald's at O'Hare airport,” one commenter explained. “I couldn't believe how big it was.”
The exact reason for the revised packaging remains unclear, but it could be part of the company's push toward compostable packaging. McDonald's did not immediately respond to a request for comment Men's Magazine clarification is being sought about the new bags and the areas they are used in. It was not immediately clear whether the amount of fire inside had changed, as customers claimed.
The change has apparently been in effect for a while now, but it's only recently caught the attention of consumers. A Reddit thread from two years ago claimed that “McDonald's is reducing the size of its fries,” and showed an image of a package stamped “Medium Fries” as evidence.
A thread posted on r/shrinkflation six months ago seems to provide some context for this change. “They changed the fry containers from red cardboard containers to paper fry bags like the ones they make for their small fries. The large is only slightly larger than the small… much less fries spill out of an underfilled large box.” [box]. Claim it’s for sustainability. It saves shipping weight and apparently reduces the size of large and medium fry by 30-40%.”