Quarter Pounder

The Quarter Pounder is a hamburger sold by international fast food chain McDonald's.

Product description

The burger comprises a beef patty weighing 4 oz. (113.4 g.) before cooking and 3 oz. prepared, pickled cucumber, raw onion, ketchup, and mustard. The more common variant, the Quarter Pounder with cheese, adds two slices of American cheese.

In most markets unfamiliar with imperial measurements, the Quarter Pounder is known as the Hamburger Royale or McRoyal, or variants thereof, including "Royale with Cheese", as famously explained in the film Pulp Fiction (although one should note that in France the official name of the Quarter Pounder with Cheese is Royal Cheese). In some countries that have adopted metrication, such as Canada and Australia, the burger retains the Quarter Pounder name. Quarteirão com Queijo is used in metric Brazil, Cuarto de Libra con Queso in Perú, Quarter Pounder is used in Finland and QP Cheese in Sweden. And in some Middle-Eastern countries such as United Arab Emirates, McDonald's provides both a Quarter Pounder and a McRoyale burger on its menu, the McRoyale having slightly different ingredients.

Variants

• The Double Quarter Pounder, known as the Boss in New Zealand (227g from patties total), adds another four ounce patty and slice of cheese.
• Bacon Quarter Pounder - ketchup, mustard, cheddar cheese, cracked black pepper and cheese sauce and 3 pieces of streaky bacon (rashers)
  Available in the UK.
• McFeast - Quarter pound patty, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, onion.
  Available in Australia, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, and Sweden. Discontinued in Australia, but has since made a return in early 2008. Discontinued in New Zealand and replaced by the MegaFeast, now also discontinued.
• McRoyal - Sesame seed bun, "royal sauce" (mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard), lettuce, four pickle slices, two tomato slices, 3-4 purple onion rings, cheese can be added upon request and 140g beef patty grilled over charcoal. The Double McRoyal comes with 3 tomato slices and two 140g beef patty (280g total).
  Available in Israel, Italy, Serbia and Czech Republic. Previously available in Greece, now replaced with original Quarter Pounder.
• Hamburger Royal TS - sesame seed bun, mayonnaise sauce (which consists 60% of yoghurt), onions, iceberg lettuce, one tomato slice, one slice of cheese. Sold in Germany, Austria and Luxembourg.
• Hamburger Royal Bacon - sesame seed bun, ketchup, mustard, pickles, onions, baco and cheese. Sold in Germany as a variant of the the original Hamburger Royal Käse (Quarter Pounder with cheese), which is no longer well promoted there.

Limited time offer variants:

• The Cheddar Melt - cheddar cheese, caramelized onions fried in teriyaki sauce and served on a whole wheat bun or rye bread bun.
• The McJordan Special - BBQ sauce, bacon and 2 onion rings on it. The McJordan was introduced during the Michael Jordan marketing campaigns for McDonald's in the early 90s.
• Quarter Pounder Deluxe with cheese, ketchup, mustard, grilled onion, 3 strips of bacon, black-pepper sauce, the meat-patty and a higher-quality cheese.
• Mexican Quarter Pounder - Salsa, sour cream and chive sauce (the same as the chicken premier), lettuce, tomato and cheese. Sold in the UK.

Discontinued variants:

• QLT (Quarter pounder, Lettuce, and Tomato) was McDonald's first of several attempts at producing a larger burger with lettuce and tomato on it (with a larger price tag to match). It was not successful and was pulled after a few months.
• Quarter Pounder Plus was a second attempt (after the QLT) to add lettuce and tomato to a Quarter Pounder. Despite significant promotion, complete with a jingle of its own for television ads, it too was not successful and was withdrawn after a few months.
• Beef Platter - A ¼ lb (227 g) Beef patty served with lettuce and tomato on the HotCakes tray, a low-carb option.

History

The Quarter Pounder was introduced in Fremont, California, USA in 1971-1972 and became part of the national American menu in 1973. It is sold with or without two slices of processed cheese, but the Quarter Pounder with Cheese (QPC) is the more popular item.

In early 2007 the meat in the United Kingdom changed to "Euro Meat", a new style patty which has a smaller diameter but larger height. The new patty is more like a "home-made" burger than the older ones.

In November 2008, McDonald's Japan (which did not ordinarily offer the Quarter Pounder) converted two Tokyo restaurants into "Quarter Pounder" branded restaurants which only sold Quarter Pounder meals. These promotional branches closed on 27 November 2008 coinciding with the re-introduction of the Quarter Pounder at regular McDonald's branches throughout the Kantō (Tokyo) region from 28 November. The Quarter Pounder was launched at one McDonald's restaurant in the Kansai (Osaka) region on 23 December 2008. It was later reported that 15,000 customers had visited the restaurant on the first day, generating a record 10.02 million yen in sales for a single restaurant in one day. It was however also revealed that McDonald's had hired 1,000 "extras" to queue up on the first day. McDonald's Japan explained that the hirees were used for "product monitoring purposes".

Environmental Impact

In recent years the impact beef production has on the environment has become publicized. A quick look at the production costs of each quarter pounder sold show that for each quarter pounder produced 100 gallons of water, 1.2 pounds of grain and a cup of gasoline are used, greenhouse-gas emissions equivalent to those produced by a six mile drive in an average car are emitted, and 1.25 pounds of topsoil is lost.

Other quarter-pound hamburgers

Although they are most commonly associated with McDonald's, many other hamburger outlets sell or have sold quarter-pound hamburgers. "Quarter Pounder" is a trademark in the United States, but outlets in some other countries have been able to use similar names for their own products, such as the British Wimpy chain's "Quarterpounder."

See also

• McDonald's products
• Big N' Tasty

References

• A McDonald's timeline