Early Debut for McDonald's Angus Burger

Crain's Chicago Business reports that McDonald's (MCD) is planning to introduce the Angus, its first new hamburger product in eight years, much earlier than expected.

The one-third-pound burger will debut in August, according to Crain's, which got the news from franchisees. It will be made from a better grade of ground beef from McDonald's other burgers, and constitutes the chain's response to other chains' introductions of bigger burgers. It will sell for $3.99.

McDonald's has been testing the Angus for two years in California, New York, and Ohio. "The challenge," according to Crain's, "was making the large burger tasty enough using McDonald's current cooking equipment."

Forcing franchisees to buy superior flame-broiling equipment would have been the best solution. But with McDonald's already saddling franchisees with costs associated with the chain's coffee-drinks initiative, forcing them to buy yet more equipment probably wouldn't have gone over well.

In fact, the capital-intensive high-end coffee effort had convinced many analysts that Angus wouldn't come until at least next year.