Updated March 7, 2026, 4:25 p.m. ET
McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski’s video of a Big Arch burger style take a look at set off an ongoing social media scrum with fast-food brands piling on and some attempting to alter the narrative.
As the March arrival of McDonald’s biggest burger ever neared, the February video of Kempczinski taking a bite of the Big Arch surfaced. “I love this product,” Kempczinski says within the clip forward of attempting the burger. “It is so good. I’m gonna do a tasting right now, but I’m gonna eat this for my lunch, just so you know.”
Business news site Inc. noted in its chronicle of the fallout, “Sharp-tongued viewers first took aim at the single, timed nibble Kempczinski took from the XXL burger during the entire 81-second video.”
Competitors Burger King and Wendy’s pounced, issuing snarky movies of their very own execs fortunately chomping on their burgers.
McDonald’s tried to regain management of the state of affairs with an Instagram submit poking mild enjoyable at Kempczinski’s fumble with its personal Instagram submit saying, “take a bite of our new product,” echoing the CEO’s description of the Big Arch.
The competitors wasn’t able to let the motion die down. Jack within the Box posted a video of its Jack mascot saying, “Small bites? We don’t do that here.”
A&W Canada posted a TikTok of style tester Allen Lulu munching on a Teen Burger saying, “We love this product, which most people call a burger” and inviting Kempczinski to lunch.
Following that, Chris Dull, CEO of Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers, dished up an Instagram video of “eating his burger like he does all the time” and devouring gadgets from the chain’s menu all through the day.
Beyond burgers, fast-food chains dish on hen and biscuits
The on-line food combat escalated past burgers. After Wendy’s introduced on March 5 a brand new contest to rent a Chief Tasting Officer, with a $100,000 wage, Popeyes chimed in on X: “they really do need to hire someone to taste their food to be fair.”
Wendy’s retort: “Flopeyes.” To which, Popeyes provided, “maybe your new chief tasting officer can make a better comeback “
Things had been simply heating up as Church’s Chicken issued this comeback to Popeyes: “And who taste tested your biscuits?? ” Popeyes’ response: “glad we could make you relevant again”
The dialogue moved to the standard of every chain’s biscuits with almost 1,000 feedback.
Another hen participant, Kentucky Fried Chicken, joined the fray on Friday, March 6. In a video posted throughout social media platforms, KFC U.S. President Catherine Tan-Gillespie famous, “I’ve been seeing a lot of CEOs talking about burgers lately … good for them. At KFC, we’ll leave the beef to the boys. No products – just finger lickin’ good chicken.”And with that, Tan-Gillespie took a giant chew of a KFC Chicken Sandwich.
Mike Snider is a nationwide trending information reporter for USA TODAY. You can comply with him on Threads, Bluesky, X and e mail him at mikegsnider & @mikegsnider.bsky.social & @mikesnider & msnider@usatoday.com.
