McDonald’s has over 41,000 restaurants and sells gazillions of burgers and fries every day. But not every menu item is a hit — in fact, some of the least popular McDonald’s menu items quietly linger behind the superstars. And the strange thing is usually, McDonald’s axes anything that doesn’t bring in the dollars, but somehow, against all odds, these obscure items survived.
According to employees and online chatter, these six things earn their wallflower status more from lived experience than from any official sales sheet.
Hot Tea
If you’ve ever felt useless at your job, imagine how hot tea feels at McDonald’s. Hot tea is by all accounts the least-ordered item on the menu. Its obscurity even made it viral in 2021 when an Ohio McDonald’s manager posted a TikTok admitting he had never sold one in his life — and didn’t even know it was on the menu until a month earlier. “We sold a hot tea the other day. No one knew how to make it,” another employee chimed in. That’s the level of anonymity we’re dealing with here.
Filet-O-Fish
Created in Ohio in 1962 to keep Catholics eating fast food during Lent, the Filet-O-Fish has hung around for more than six decades. Nevertheless, it remains most relevant during Lent, when approximately 25% of its annual sales occur. Outside of Lent and those groups, it doesn’t pack the same punch. Only about 75 million are sold per year — roughly 1.8 million a day — which sounds like a lot until you realize it’s just a fraction of the Big Mac’s numbers.
Fruit & Maple Oatmeal
Rolled out in 2011 as part of McDonald’s “better-for-you” push, this cup of whole-grain oats, diced apples, cranberry-raisin blend, and a scoop of cream and brown sugar clocks in at about 320 calories. Employees on Reddit say they might make one or two a week, tops. It’s not that it’s bad — some customers swear by it — it’s just not why most people roll through the drive-thru. When the rest of the breakfast menu smells like bacon and hash browns, a paper cup of oatmeal doesn’t stand much of a chance.
Hotcakes
They’ve been on McDonald’s breakfast menu for decades, but they’ve never been a big draw. Three pancakes, a pat of butter, and syrup sound fine on paper — until you realize they’re pre-made, reheated, and often described by customers as “rubbery.” They’re not terrible, just forgettable, and in a lineup with Egg McMuffins, McGriddles, and hash browns, they tend to get skipped.
McCafé Hot Chocolate
Still clinging to the McCafé lineup, but rarely anyone’s go-to. It’s steamed milk and chocolate syrup under a swirl of whipped cream, which sounds cozy until you actually drink it and realize it’s more “chocolate milk for adults” than rich cocoa. While taste tests regularly rank it near the bottom, it’s survived menu cuts, but more because it fills a category than because customers demand it.
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Hula Burger
In the 1960s, McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc introduced the Hula Burger, a meatless sandwich made of a grilled pineapple slice with cheese on a bun. It was tested against the Filet-O-Fish to attract customers who avoided meat on Fridays during Lent. The results were disastrous: only six Hula Burgers sold compared with 350 Filet-O-Fish in the test, making it one of the chain’s least popular menu experiments ever.
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