McDonald's Tries Again With Szechuan Sauce, Hoping To Assuage Angry Fans - Forbes

FEB 22, 2018 @ 03:54 PM 3,813 2 Free Issues of Forbes

McDonald's Tries Again With Szechuan Sauce, Hoping To Assuage Angry Fans

Micheline Maynard , CONTRIBUTOR

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

McDonald's promises there will be enough Szechuan sauce for everybody this time.(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

In another era, McDonald's would be trying to forget what happened the last time it offered Szechuan sauce for its McNuggets. But in the social media age, the kerfuffle has become a marketing opportunity.

On Monday, 20 million packets of Szechuan sauce will be available at outlets across the U.S. And that's not all.

The saga of Szechuan sauce is now the subject of an "investigative podcast" called The Sauce, meant to be a takeoff on Serial, the phenomenally popular public radio production. In the three-part series, produced with Studio@Gizmodo and Onion Labs, McDonald's tells a version of what happened in October when it made a super-limited batch of Szechuan sauce.

Namely, people actually got into fights over the sauce, which was available only at a few McDonald's stores, despite the company's promise on posters and in promotions that it would be available at more.

Here's what McDonald's said about the situation.

"Last October, we truly meant well when we brought back a super-limited batch of Szechuan Sauce, but it quickly became apparent we did not make enough to meet the expectations of our fans. We did not anticipate the overnight crowds, the cross-state travel and the amazing curiosity, passion and energy fans showed."

It went on, "Our super-limited batch, though well-intentioned, clearly wasn’t near enough to meet that demand. We disappointed fans and we are sorry. To fully make amends, we felt it was important to not only bring back much more sauce this time, but to also admit our mistakes, answer questions and give fans access to the story behind the story."

The Szechuan sauce uproar has its roots in 1998, when the spicy condiment was introduced briefly as a tie-in to the Disney animated movie Mulan.

On April Fools Day 2017, the sauce was mentioned in the animated series Rick and Morty. It was supposed to be a joke, but the mention sent customers clamoring for the "Mulan Szechuan Teriyaki Dipping Sauce."

McDonald's promised that it would be available as a special promotion on Oct. 1. To its surprise, fans lined up hours in advance, and the tiny amount available far outstripped demand, creating a number of unhappy customers.

Since then, there have been continuous rumors that the sauce would be returning. McDonald's says it has been working to produce "much, much more of the sauce."

On Monday, it says, a packet of sauce will be available to anyone making a purchase, although it's meant to be paired with chicken tenders.

Each franchise has been sent hundreds of packets, according to Debbie Wright, the McDonald's franchise holder for the Dayton, Ohio, area.

You can even get the sauce delivered to your house, if you have access to McDelivery or an Uber Eats that delivers McDonald's, she said.

What does the sauce look like? Well, it's sort of brown, like the sauce that is served on a lot of what passes for Szechuan dishes across the country.

But the sauce itself is beside the point. McDonald's is more interested in making amends —and creating buzz once more.

Micheline Maynard watches trends in the food world. Follow on Twitter @culinarywoman and on Instagram @michelinemaynard.