Mc Donald's is currently working towards offering healthier meals in its 2015 menu. The fastfood chain commences this campaign by serving low calorie breakfast meals available in select stores in the United States, according to Npr.org.
A Kale breakfast meal is a far cry from the message one of its TV ads seemed to have sent out recently. "You can't get juiciness like this from soy or quinoa," it said. "Nor will it ever be kale."
The camera reportedly showed a hamburger in sight after the ad played. David Just, a behavioral economics professor at Cornell University, gave his take on the drastic turnaround Mc Donald's made. He said, "I think it is a bit of an about-face, but I think it's a measured about-face."
"You don't want to offend your main customer, right?" Just added. "They've got to recognize there are a lot of people who really don't see themselves as the mainline McDonald's customer at this point, and don't want that style of food," he said. Just was referring to McDonald's long-time hamburger and fries fanatic customers.
McDonald's new morning meal contains kale and spinach, turkey sausage and egg whites. The fastfood chain's spokeswoman, Lisa McComb, described the kale bowls as "freshly prepared."
The American restaurant giant is testing the market for kale bowls in nine of its Southern California restaurants, according to Npr.org. A kale bowl is priced at $4.
However, the company is not going to bring kale to its stores in Europe anytime soon. According to The Telegraph, a spokesperson for Mc Donald's said, "We are always listening to our customers and looking at ways to evolve our menu to meet their needs. However, we have no current plans to introduce kale to the UK menu."
"At the end of the day, if Kale is at McDonald's, more people are going to be exposed to it and more people are going to try it," the spokesperson added. "And that's a good thing for health."
The company's representative went on to say, "Kale should be a staple of the diet."
McDonald's initiative in adding new food products to its menu promises future productive sales returns, according to market specialists. Bloomberg reported that Kathy Means, a representative from Produce Marketing Association, sees the potential benefits of this move.
Means said, "McDonald's will have a large impact, even if it uses kale as a small ingredient in a smoothie. She added that if Mc Donald's retains kale bowls for good in its menu, then "the ramp-up will be fast and steep."
