Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

McDonald's sauce hunters swoop on local restaurants

Big Mac gravy seems a good investment — oh, 2017, you...

McDonald’s pulled off a nationwide marketing stunt on January 26, releasing 10,000 bottles of its Big Mac “secret sauce.” The free 11.4-ounce bottles could only be obtained at few undisclosed restaurant locations and by stating the phrase, “There’s a Big Mac for that.”

The day of the promotion, none of the McDonald’s news websites disclosed any local locations for the giveaway. However, the supposedly secret release of the secret sauce caused lines to form at most area McDonald's, including in Del Mar.

On Bill Handel’s morning radio talk-show on L.A.’s KFI AM 640, food reporter Neal Saavedra said the only SoCal locations he found out about were going to be a McDonald's on the west side of L.A. and the one in Carlsbad at 5990 Avenida Encinas, just off I-5 at Palomar Airport Road.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Mid-morning, at the cash register, a manager at the Carlsbad restaurant first acted like she didn’t know what I was talking about. After saying I knew the secret passwords, she looked away and whispered under her breath, “12:45.”

Unfortunately, I could not return at 12:45. When I came back at 1:20, signs were posted, notifying hopeful sauce-seekers that the restaurant was out of the bottles. In my disappointment, my wife reminded me, “It was on KFI!” forgetting the top-rated 50,000 watt’er talk station has thousands of listeners in San Diego.

The next morning, a check of Amazon and Craigslist (San Diego), showed no bottles for sale. But over on eBay, 414 sellers nationwide were trying to profit off the promotion, including two from San Diego. According to eBay photos, each of the 10,000 U.S. bottles was individually numbered.

Under the “Buy It Now” option on eBay, prices went as high as $1000; but some 20 hours after being listed, there were no takers. On actual bidding auctions, most had numerous bidders in the $50–$100 range, with free shipping. By 8:00 a.m. the next day, 188 bottles had been sold on eBay, all for less than $125.

One of the two local eBay’ers selling their bottles told the Reader that he received 1 of only 14 given away at the Via de la Valle McDonald’s in Del Mar. Their giveaway started at 2:00 p.m., with a line forming around 12:30. He wrote in an email that in the parking lot some people who had been turned away tried to buy bottles from others.

On the day of the release, KFI’s Saavedra’s website, The Fork Report, revealed a secret sauce recipe, reportedly shared by a former executive chef at McDonalds.

McDonald’s sauce has been one of the corporation’s most heavily guarded secrets and doesn’t offer the condiment in little packets. The company did however share it one time, in 2015, in Australia. Someone paid $18,000 for one only 200 bottles released.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Woodpeckers are stocking away acorns, Amorous tarantulas

Stunning sycamores, Mars rising
Next Article

Poway’s schools, faced with money squeeze, fined for voter mailing

$105 million bond required payback of nearly 10 times that amount

McDonald’s pulled off a nationwide marketing stunt on January 26, releasing 10,000 bottles of its Big Mac “secret sauce.” The free 11.4-ounce bottles could only be obtained at few undisclosed restaurant locations and by stating the phrase, “There’s a Big Mac for that.”

The day of the promotion, none of the McDonald’s news websites disclosed any local locations for the giveaway. However, the supposedly secret release of the secret sauce caused lines to form at most area McDonald's, including in Del Mar.

On Bill Handel’s morning radio talk-show on L.A.’s KFI AM 640, food reporter Neal Saavedra said the only SoCal locations he found out about were going to be a McDonald's on the west side of L.A. and the one in Carlsbad at 5990 Avenida Encinas, just off I-5 at Palomar Airport Road.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Mid-morning, at the cash register, a manager at the Carlsbad restaurant first acted like she didn’t know what I was talking about. After saying I knew the secret passwords, she looked away and whispered under her breath, “12:45.”

Unfortunately, I could not return at 12:45. When I came back at 1:20, signs were posted, notifying hopeful sauce-seekers that the restaurant was out of the bottles. In my disappointment, my wife reminded me, “It was on KFI!” forgetting the top-rated 50,000 watt’er talk station has thousands of listeners in San Diego.

The next morning, a check of Amazon and Craigslist (San Diego), showed no bottles for sale. But over on eBay, 414 sellers nationwide were trying to profit off the promotion, including two from San Diego. According to eBay photos, each of the 10,000 U.S. bottles was individually numbered.

Under the “Buy It Now” option on eBay, prices went as high as $1000; but some 20 hours after being listed, there were no takers. On actual bidding auctions, most had numerous bidders in the $50–$100 range, with free shipping. By 8:00 a.m. the next day, 188 bottles had been sold on eBay, all for less than $125.

One of the two local eBay’ers selling their bottles told the Reader that he received 1 of only 14 given away at the Via de la Valle McDonald’s in Del Mar. Their giveaway started at 2:00 p.m., with a line forming around 12:30. He wrote in an email that in the parking lot some people who had been turned away tried to buy bottles from others.

On the day of the release, KFI’s Saavedra’s website, The Fork Report, revealed a secret sauce recipe, reportedly shared by a former executive chef at McDonalds.

McDonald’s sauce has been one of the corporation’s most heavily guarded secrets and doesn’t offer the condiment in little packets. The company did however share it one time, in 2015, in Australia. Someone paid $18,000 for one only 200 bottles released.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Live Five: Sitting On Stacy, Matte Blvck, Think X, Hendrix Celebration, Coriander

Alt-ska, dark electro-pop, tributes, and coastal rock in Solana Beach, Little Italy, Pacific Beach
Next Article

In-n-Out alters iconic symbol to reflect “modern-day California”

Keep Palm and Carry On?
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader