2025 is shaping up to be the year of the chicken at McDonald’s.
During its Q4 earnings call on Feb. 10, McDonald’s revealed more about a couple of upcoming poultry-based products: the return of the Snack Wrap and a “new” chicken strip.
“We’re excited about the significant opportunity we see within our chicken portfolio and see the potential to add another point of chicken market share by the end of 2026,” Chris Kempczinski, McDonald’s president, chairman and CEO, said on the call. “This year, there is incredible energy for the return of Snack Wraps in the U.S., along with a few other markets.”
The original Snack Wrap, which came with grilled or crispy chicken and ranch or honey mustard sauce, has been off McDonald’s menus since 2016.
At the time, news of its discontinuation sent shockwaves through the internet.
Chicken Big Mac, McCrispy and chicken strips
Kempczinski also said the chain is planning to continue rolling out the Chicken Big Mac as a limited-time offering, noting that the over-the-top sandwich helped generate chicken market share growth in both France and the U.S.
He also said that the McCrispy, a fried crispy chicken sandwich featuring crinkle-cut pickles on a roll, is now in over 70 markets and will be available in nearly all markets by the end of the year. Plus, a new chicken strip offering will be launched across the country, though we don’t yet know what what form it will take.
For years, McDonald’s chicken strip offering was the fan-favorite Chicken Selects, but it was discontinued in 2015. The chain introduced Buttermilk Crispy Tenders in 2017, but removed it from menus in 2020.
But the chain is remaining tight-lipped on the timing of these items: Representatives for McDonald’s declined TODAY.com’s request for comment.
And when an analyst asked Kempczinski during the call when customers should expect the chicken strip’s arrival or the Snack Wrap’s relaunch, he didn’t mince words.
“My U.S. team would kill me if I gave any more details about the when and the exact specifics of how we’re going to plan on doing that, but certainly expect that to come online later in the year,” he said.
Social media is to thank for the return of the Snack Wrap
Back on Dec. 5, Joe Erlinger, president of McDonald’s USA, spoke to ABC News about the new McValue menu and confirmed the item’s return, thrilling its extremely passionate group of fans.
“The Snack Wrap will be back in 2025,” Erlinger said. “It has a cult following, I get so many emails into my inbox about this product.”
At the time, Erlinger declined to give a specific drop date “for competitive reasons.”
According to McDonald’s senior marketing director Guillame Huin, we have social media to thank for its return.
“If you ever wonder if your posts here matter, if they have an impact, if we even care, let me tell you something, you and you only with your countless posts and requests and petitions made it happen,” Huin wrote on X. “They were in all our meetings, all our discussions, every single powerpoint to make a case for it. You won, snack wrap fans. Thank you.”
For years, social media has led the charge to bring the Snack Wrap back. A Change.org petition started in 2021 garnered over 17,000 signatures, and multiple posts on X, Reddit, TikTok and beyond longed for the days of the Snack Wrap.
Huin also said that Snack Wraps were “BY FAR, our most requested items of all time.”
As expected, people online wrapped the news around themselves like a warm flour tortilla.
“McDonald’s brin(g)ing the Snack Wrap back. I used to pray for times like this,” posted one X user.
“I might actually cry,” wrote another.
“BESTIES WAKE UP!!!! MCDONALDS JUST ANNOUNCED THAT SNACKWRAPS ARE BACK IN 2025!!!!!!!” a TikTok user wrote while dancing in their car.
Prior to McDonald’s announcement, competitors tried their hand at achieving Snack Wrap-esque virality with the public, all with varying results.
