Macca’s vs Mickey D’s: The Ultimate Cross-Continental Big Mac Showdown

McDonald’s is perhaps the most iconic fast food chain in the world, and the Big Mac is perhaps the most iconic fast food menu item:

“Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame-seed bun.”

This mighty burger’s humble origins go back to Uniontown, Pennsylvania, 1967. The owner of the local McDonald’s, Jim Delligatti, catered to a rush of steel mill workers every day. A mere single patty cheeseburger wasn’t enough to satisfy the working man’s hunger, so he cooked up the idea of creating a burger with two patties instead of one. He slapped on a slice of cheese, onions, lettuce and dollop of special sauce and voila! A burger that could satisfy!

The franchise picked up the creation a year later, and toyed with a couple name ideas including the Aristocrat and the Blue Ribbon Burger. Esther Glickstien Rose, a 21 year old secretary, suggested the name Big Mac. The name stuck, but initially, nobody believed that a mere secretary came up with the name! After heavy dispute, she was finally given official credit for naming the Big Mac in 1985.

The Big Mac boomed in popularity, and now an estimated 900 million Big Macs are consumed worldwide each year!

Click HERE , HERE, and HERE for more history!

You can score a Big Mac at McDonald’s across the world, but is it actually the same? I’ve called up my dad to help out with Australia vs USA cross continental showdowns comparing Taco Bell, Domino’s Pizza, KFC, and McDonald’s breakfast sandwiches. How would the Big Mac hold up? Let’s find out!

Australia: The Macca’s Big Mac

The Experience:

I opened my phone to see text from Jeremy exclaiming: “50 CENT BIG MACS!”

Turns out that June 18th, 2021 marked the 50 year anniversary of McDonald’s in Australia, and each franchise was celebrating with 50 cent Big Macs. Big Macs usually go for $6.60 AUD… holy frugal!!!

Jeremy ordered on the app and walked in the front door with a brown paper bag 10 minutes later.

The Big Mac:

I haven’t had a Big Mac in over a decade, and after taking a bite, I remembered why.

Three layers of bread held two flimsy, flavorless patties, one slice of cheese, two pieces of lettuce, a touch of special sauce, and random chunks of chopped unions. There wasn’t much taste apart from salt and grease. There wasn’t even a pickle! Or least I didn’t see one…

All in all, it was pretty gross. And that’s me being nice.

USA: The Mickey D’s Big Mac

The Experience:

There were 9 cars and trucks in the drive through line, so we went inside. No masks required.  We waited six minutes for the lady in front of us to get her $27 order right.  She had a heavy accent, and the cashier had a hard time understanding her. To make matters worse, the lady kept changing her order.  The cashier was clearly new to the job, and twice she had to call the manager over to reset the cash register.  We gave our order.  Stood over against the wall with five other folk who were waiting for their orders.

There were big screens for touch ordering, but no one was using them.  The screens can’t be read if you wear polarized lenses.

The cashier called out or order, #281, in 7 minutes.  It cost $4.69, $6.27 AUS.  Tax was an additional 44 cents.

There was seating for 36 people, but the indoor dining option wasn’t available due to a severe labor shortage.

The Big Mac:

The Mickey D’s Big Mac looked good.  It hasn’t changed in 60 years, and I can still recall the jingle we’d hear on TV, at the dawn of the fast food era:

“Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce pickles onions on a sesame seed bun.”

Bev liked it.  Enough to come back for more after her first bite.  Lew didn’t.  Bev thought the blend of sauce, pickles, and lettuce gave it a good flavor.  Meat didn’t have much flavor, but put together, it was “tasty.”  She said it was somewhat “addictive.”  She said it was fun while you ate it, but you regretted it after.  The woman’s eternal lament?

Lew couldn’t get past the dry, tough beef.  Cheese was tasteless.  Sauce was sweet, good, but why pay that much for ketchup and mayo mixed?

Bottom line: 15 minutes later, 80% of it is still sitting there, uneaten.

There is a big labor shortage in post-pandemic U.S., and Mickey D’s makes no secret that it’s hiring.  We picked up a few brochures in hopes of luring Katie back to Staunton.

The Side by Side

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And the winner is…..

The USA!!!!

While the Macca’s Big Mac proudly guarantees that it’s patties are made with 100% Aussie beef, the Mickey D’s Big Mac was superior in overall flavor due to more sauce and solid pickle slices.

However, neither were what we’d call “good.” The Big Mac may be famous, but I can’t say I’m too sure why.

Hope you enjoyed this McDonald’s Australia vs USA cross-continental showdown! Ideas for the next showdown? Drop them in the comments! Spots we haven’t tried yet: (The one’s that are nearby that we haven’t done yet are Subway, Hungry Jacks (like Burger King), Pizza Hut, Guzman y Gomez (like Chipotle), and Starbucks)