A McGangBang is just about as terrifying as it sounds — only perhaps not for the reasons you might assume.
During a Reddit AMA session over the weekend, a person identifying themselves as a McDonald’s manager said workers at the burger chain maintain a “secret menu” — one that insures heartburns for everyone. The revelation came from a user named “orchidhibiscus,” saying “just like with any of our sandwiches, you can add, remove or change ingredients by special request.”
The user, who claims to manage a restaurant in Glasgow, Scotland, said that the menu isn’t official, but is a “random persons guide to burgers you could potentially ‘hack’ at McDonald’s.”
Of course, Burger King makes its customizable menu central to its brand identity with its “Have it Your Way” slogan. The McDonald’s unauthorized menu more closely resembles Chipotle’s, where employees are told they can make dishes not on the menu. Beloved West Coast chain In-N-Out also has a “secret” menu, which is proudly displayed on their website, meaning it’s not really a secret.
The story quickly ballooned into a viral sensation with everyone from local television stations picking it up to New York Daily News, Us Weekly and the Daily Mail. A search on Topsy shows that the words “McDonald’s secret menu” turned up 4,000 tweets within the past week.
McDonald’s chatty Twitter account hasn’t acknowledged the existence of the secret menu. A company spokesperson told Digiday that an official secret menu doesn’t exist, but acknowledges that “customers are really creative” when it comes to customizing their menu. Indeed!
The not-so-secret menu is a caloric cacophony of meats, cheese and carbs. Since the discovery, people have been tweeting pictures of their hacked sandwiches, so let’s see if what they look like:
The Land, Sea and Air Burger is a combination of a fish, a hamburger and a patty, which costs around $6.
McDonald’s Land, Sea, and Air Burger is a thing. Big Mac + Filet o’ Fish + McChicken You can actually order this. pic.twitter.com/F0b1CbcIbM
— I am the King of TXT (@DSP_txt) June 16, 2015
Then there’s the McGangBang, a McChicken squeezed inside a McDouble, for a budget-conscious price of $2.
Forgot to post the pic for the Mcgangbang pic.twitter.com/5Hqm3adXMk
— Chief_Delgado (@Yander_logic) July 21, 2015
The Mc10:35 is exclusive since it’s only available for a limited time during the day (guess when!) when the restaurant is changing from breakfast to lunch. It’s a double cheeseburger, with a sausage egg McMuffin and a bacon egg McMuffin.
#Mc1035 #EggMcMuffin #DoubleCheeseburger #secretmenu #McDonalds pic.twitter.com/rZOeLtGQLD
— David Allen (@David__Allen) May 22, 2015
Lastly, the MonsterMac is a Big Mac with six patties on it instead of two.
@TheLadBible #MonsterMac pic.twitter.com/JFc6QvIePE
— Glenn Gould (@GeeGould) July 17, 2015
More in Marketing
Why brands are running to Strava
Starbucks announced a nationwide partnership with fitness app Strava, asking participants to walk 22 minutes a day for at least 10 days.
Tariffs forced Temu to slash its U.S. ad spend on nearly every platform
The Chinese e-commerce giant traded upper-funnel reach for high-intent shoppers — and still grew its user base.
Why DSW and other brands are pivoting back to ‘old’ marketing tactics
Amid AI and digital saturation, DSW is shifting ad spend to real-life activations and traditional media to deepen customer connections.