McDonald’s Australia adds McGriddles, New Zealand fans left waiting

Fast-food lovers across the ditch will have a new way to line their stomachs in the morning with McDonald’s announcing a popular international item is being added to its permanent breakfast menu in Australia.

McGriddles will be available in Maccas stores across Australia from July 9 after a successful trial in select stores earlier this year.

Amanda Nakad, marketing director of menu and brand for McDonald’s Australia, said Aussies “absolutely obsessed over the sweet and savoury flavours of McGriddles when we trialled it earlier this year”.

“Safe to say, we got the message and gave our iconic breakfast menu a glow up by adding it to the national menu.”

McGriddles sandwich a breakfast filling between pancakes infused with maple syrup. Photo / McDonald's Australia

Described as being akin to a hybrid between a McMuffin and McDonald’s Hotcakes, a McGriddle is a breakfast sandwich made of two warm maple-infused pancakes and a breakfast filling.

The palm-sized pancakes are typically embossed with the McDonald’s M logo. There are three varieties of the sandwich: sausage and cheese, bacon, egg and cheese, and sausage, egg and cheese.

But in news that might leave a bitter taste in the mouths of sweet and savoury breakfast fans, a McDonald’s spokesman told the Herald today that the fast-food company has “no current plans for McGriddles in NZ”.

The McGriddle was briefly available in McDonald’s New Zealand stores in the past, offered as a specialty item in 2013 as part of the Taste of America promotion.

McGriddles were first conceptualised in 1999 by McDonald’s then executive chef Gerald Tomlinson and were designed to meet a growing demand for hot, sweet breakfast items. To counteract the sticky, messy factor that maple syrup-soaked pancakes could pose, the company utilised a technology that crystallises syrup and allows it to be stirred into the batter.

McGriddles were introduced in-store in 2003. The item is currently available on McDonald’s menus in the United States, Canada, Japan, Guatemala, Mexico, Philippines, Singapore and Hong Kong.