McDonald’s has almost constantly evolved its value offers over the past two years. | Photo courtesy of McDonald’s.
McDonald’s is not remotely finished with its value push.
The fast-food giant is planning to create a menu of items priced at $3 or less in April, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company is also planning new breakfast meals priced at $4.
Restaurant Business was able to confirm the details in the report.
The $3 or less menu will replace the buy-one, add-one-for-$1 menu and will include items such as a 4-piece Chicken McNuggets along with a sausage biscuit.
The $4 breakfast meal, meanwhile, will feature a McMuffin, hash brown and coffee. That deal is designed to lure traffic to the restaurants in the mornings, a daypart that has struggled in particular as consumers have cut back on restaurant dining.
In so doing, McDonald’s is effectively upgrading its value efforts. The company internally is calling the latest effort “McValue 2.0.” But it is the fourth major value change in the last 21 months.
The company started its value push in the summer of 2024 after multiple quarters of weak traffic brought on by consumers frustrated by menu price inflation. That began with a $5 meal deal that year. Early in 2025 the company created the “McValue” menu, a consolidated approach to its offers that included the $5 and the buy-one, get-one offer along with digital and local deals.
The company then added a Daily Double Meal Deal last year featuring its Daily Double burger, four-piece nuggets, drink and fries for $6 or $7. McDonald’s then convinced franchisees to lower prices on combo meals and brought back the Extra Value Meals moniker.
McDonald’s last month touted all these efforts for leading to improved market share among lower-income consumers in December and had higher scores in consumer surveys on value and affordability.
“As I’ve said before, and I will say again, McDonald’s is not going to get beat on value and affordability,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski told analysts last month. “It’s in our DNA and we will remain agile to respond as appropriate to a dynamic competitive landscape.”
McDonald’s is hardly the only restaurant chain working on value right now. Three in 10 restaurant visits are on a deal, according to data from Circana. Both McDonald’s and Wendy’s introduced new value menus in January, for instance, and several chains are pushing value deals right now.
The $3 price point also appears to be a new focal point for value deals. Taco Bell’s value menu features 10 items priced at that level or less, for instance.
McDonald’s does have a history of effectiveness with value menus with a single price point. The Dollar Menu helped carry the chain through the Great Recession. But inflation made that untenable for the chain’s franchisees and ultimately forced the company to move away from it.
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