McDonald's McCrescent

Most people have never eaten a McDonald’s McCrescent. That includes me. The sandwich only existed in Rockford, Illinois, for about three months in 1983, and it never expanded anywhere else. It was a food ideas, as others would demonstrate, but it sat on McDonald’s lunch menu instead of breakfast, and that turned out to be a big mistake.By the early 1980s, McDonald’s was already a company running constant small experiments. Some worked out. A chicken product first spotted testing in the Midwest in the mid 1970s eventually became Chicken McNuggets and turned into one of the biggest hits in company history. Others disappeared almost as soon as they arrived. The McCrescent belongs to the second group, but its short life offers an unusually clear look at how a single decision, made somewhere far from the test kitchen, can sink an otherwise reasonable idea.Support the Retroist on PatreonThe sandwich arrived just as croissants were becoming a real fast food trend. Sara Lee had introduced its…