One Of McDonald's Biggest Menu Fails Reportedly Cost More Than $100 Million

The "Arch Deluxe" is a McDonald's burger that stands apart from the company's other menu failures. Some products, like the Hula Burger were quickly quashed in favor of alternative menu items (in this case, the Filet-of-Fish). This led many failed additions to simply quietly recede into the background, largely forgotten and unceremoniously moved on from. However, the marketing is particularly noteworthy when it comes to the Arch Deluxe. Even though, ostensibly, it was a burger that seemed to fit right in on the McDonald's menu, the sandwich was marketed heavily in the leadup to its arrival only to fall flat on its face.

Naturally, any product that fails to catch fire and sell introduces a financial risk. Developing a new menu item isn't a simple process like it might be for a home cook tinkering in the kitchen. Plus, there are supply chain considerations and marketing budgets that also make their way into the total cost of delivering an item to stores. Marketing costs, in particular, are where the Arch Deluxe is noteworthy — with McDonald's spending $100 million on the campaign to launch the failed burger, per Business Insider.

The Arch Deluxe was unveiled with tremendous pageantry. The sandwich hit McDonald's menus in 1996 and was preceded by an onslaught of intense marketing efforts. In fact, the Arch Deluxe was seemingly everywhere in the leadup to its arrival, and the ad campaign took a notably different approach than previous McDonald's efforts. Instead of leaning into the family friendly atmosphere of a McDonald's restaurant, the Arch Deluxe was positioned as a sophisticated choice for the adult eater. No longer was the restaurant experience, and its offerings, bathed in the high energy and saturated colors that stood out to younger audiences.

Instead, the marketing surrounding the Arch Deluxe sought to say that it was for adults who wanted to separate themselves from the uncouth, youth-heavy atmosphere that McDonald's had come to be associated with. Instead of highlighting the "Play Place," Ronald McDonald was seen golfing in one commercial ("Hmm, looks like McDonald's is becoming a little more grown up" the voiceover reads). In another, McDonald's 'head chef' was found gushing over the stone ground mustard and gourmet lettuce leaves. Rather than introducing the burger as an extension of all the traits McDonald's already exuded, the company poured $100 million into a marketing campaign (and as much as $300 million in total) that attempted, and failed, to reimagine the brand as something else entirely.

Another issue that seems to have played a role in the Arch Deluxe's demise was its price tag. Per Business Insider, the average fast food burger cost an average of 74 cents in 1995. Meanwhile, the 1996 Arch Deluxe was released for between $2.09 and $2.49. The result was a burger that cost more than its alternatives while failing to deliver a noticeably improved experience. While marketing misalignment is certainly to blame for plenty of the Arch Deluxe's woes, it wasn't the only problem that the burger faced. 

Roughly a decade later McDonald's began started selling a product in Japan called the Tomato McGrand. It was the same burger as the Arch Deluxe, minus the peppered bacon. Commentary on the ad campaign for this burger noted the "creepy" nature of the model who eventually pulls the burger into view like a magician after moving around through numerous outfit changes. The Tomato McGrand, unsurprisingly, also flopped. Ultimately, the gourmet stylings of the item simply did not mesh with the overarching brand that McDonald's has consistently put out into the market. Cheap, cheerful, and tasty is the brand's calling card — and McDonald's has since embraced this fact. These values now stand centrally within McDonald's overall growth strategy, so much so that in 2025 McDonald's has unveiled their McValue Menu – a move that is in the exact opposite direction from the company's previously more sophisticated efforts.