Secret Value Meal

cheeseburgerEver since McDonald’s invented the Extra Value Meal™, I was a spirited supporter of the “two cheeseburger meal,” a.k.a. the “Number two.” Suffice to say, I was distraught when it mysteriously disappeared off their menu a little over a year ago. I think they probably lost a small percentage of their market, but those little cheeseburgers couldn’t be profitable anyway. I started eating Big Macs.

Last night I was determined to relive my childhood and eat the “Classic #2,”[1] so I order two cheeseburgers, medium fries, medium coke. The manager who was hovering about swooped in and asked, “Would you like the value meal?” Of course I answered yes, of course I want to save money. I scanned my value options, no two cheeseburgers with a number. I asked the manager what number it was. “Oh, there’s no number, just a button. They deleted the meal but kept the button.”

So all this time I’ve been settling for a Big Mac, my server has been staring at a button that says TWO CHEESEBURGER VALUE MEAL? What other kinds of discontinued products do they buttons for? Can I get a McDLT just by asking for it? How about some New Coke with that?

We’ve all heard of In-N-Out’s “secret menu,” which offers crazy items like “burger wrapped in lettuce,” or a suicide milk shake. But I never pegged McDonald’s as an easter egg kind of company. Or maybe they’re just trying to minimize their losses from us disenfranchised number 2 people. I’m ready for some answers.

  1. The new school number two is a Quarter Pounder with Cheese™, hardly a replacement for a classic. [↩]
June 17, 2005 #
17 comments

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17 Comments

  1. Geof F. Morris
    Posted June 17, 2005 at 1:28 pm | Permalink

    Actually, from looking at how the exterior displays go, I think there’s a button for the fries-and-drink portion of the EVM’s, and that they just input the sandwich order and then hit the magic button for the rest.

  2. babibi
    Posted June 20, 2005 at 6:03 am | Permalink

    I think it’s high time they take that McGriddle shit off the menu and reinstate the McRIBS!! Or did that only make it in Philly?

  3. Joff Redfern
    Posted June 22, 2005 at 3:31 am | Permalink

    Hmm, when exactly did the “Number 2″ go underground? Was it pulled right around the time the Atkins, South Beach Diet, no carb craze hit critical mass?

    The buns on those 2 cheesburgers has to be worth 80g of complex carbohydrates. Eating the Number 2 is like eating a half a loaf of Wonder Bread.

    Listen, if these diets could cause the pizza industry to come out with the low carb pizza and the donut industry to come out with the low carb donut then surely they have enough consumer clout to take down our beloved Number 2.

    Any chance we could do some quick and dirty correlation analysis. Dependent variable of on/off menu, independent variable of South Beach Diet book sales ranking on Amazon perhaps…

    Anyway, it really doesn’t matter because I’m over it and on to the Big Mac.

  4. Mimi
    Posted June 22, 2005 at 7:33 pm | Permalink

    damn I’m glad I read this. I’ve been settling for too long as well!

  5. Tess
    Posted June 28, 2005 at 1:13 pm | Permalink

    Hmmm, the McD’s in Detroit still have that option at number two.
    Ran across your blog from Livejournal, along with all of the weblog madness over there.

  6. Dan Hartung
    Posted July 6, 2005 at 10:29 pm | Permalink

    Of course the franchisees have some independence from corporate policy. There’s no reason they can’t sell you an extra cheeseburger in a meal, since they actually have them, but of course they can’t get an Arch Deluxe ever again.

    The company was really seeing flat sales with too many items, slow service, long lines, and so on, so they aggressively simplified the menu beginning about two years ago — one of the best moves they’ve made in years.

  7. Kara
    Posted July 7, 2005 at 3:52 pm | Permalink

    We “okies” here in Oklahoma still have the #2. Don’t know if it ever went off the menu to begin with. I don’t know that I would eat at McDonalds without my beloved #2 with mayonaise only and 7-8 french fries layed across the cheese. That creation should have a button of its own!

  8. c3ro
    Posted July 11, 2005 at 2:05 pm | Permalink

    it could just be because the midwest is behind the rest of the country on most things but all the mcdonalds here in grand rapids, michigan (about 2 or so hours west and slightly north of detroit) still have the 2 cheeseburger meal as #2, i ordered it a few days ago :)
    the quarter pounder is #3.

  9. ReviewGuru
    Posted July 21, 2005 at 12:06 pm | Permalink

    The #2 value meal is still the 2 cheeseburgers here in St. Louis. We’ve never wandered away from them (yet) and I hope we don’t. I like the Big Mac meal when I’m sitting in the place, but if I’m driving it’s the #2 all the way…

  10. jason
    Posted October 15, 2005 at 5:25 pm | Permalink

    i also enjoyed the number two. it was fulling, and yet you seemed like you were getting more food, because you were opening two ‘burger’ items, rather than one. it was like unwrapping a present. sometimes i would order 2 number 2s, and make one quadruple cheeseburger. with the left over bread i would usually toss to the monkeys or throw them on the roof. that roof had lots of kawwing crows. kaww kaww they said

  11. Frank Johnson
    Posted December 8, 2005 at 1:17 am | Permalink

    Good service

  12. J-P
    Posted December 27, 2005 at 11:22 pm | Permalink

    I work at Macdonald’s and the #2 evm is still here its the shit man!

  13. devid
    Posted January 30, 2006 at 5:46 pm | Permalink

    burger

  14. Ron
    Posted April 13, 2006 at 12:34 pm | Permalink

    What’s McDonalds?

  15. kaylor
    Posted June 5, 2007 at 12:42 am | Permalink

    i work at a mcdonalds just south of Grand Rapids, michigan we still have the 2 cheeseburger meal

  16. Leah Gollihar
    Posted June 26, 2008 at 7:42 pm | Permalink

    iF U EVER GO 2 jamba get a mango a-go-go but,instead of the reg. get light on mangoes 2 scoops of bananas and extra blueberries! post comments (like or no?)

  17. russell hoges
    Posted June 26, 2008 at 7:53 pm | Permalink

    try the snackwrap at mickey d’s crunchy with ranch dressing its da shit, but es cheap, and insert fries into the chiken burrito,how cheap $1 + tax and fries aren’t included,sucks u say screw u biotch! Es da shit and es the only thing u can eat anyway because uur a dirty sluty hobo eat it bitch!

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