McDonald’s menu update: What to know about the 2025 McValue meal platform

There were two big themes when it came to fast food in 2024: bankruptcies and pricing backlash.

Big-name chains like BurgerFi filed for bankruptcy this year, joining fast-casual chains like Red Lobster, Tijuana Flats, Buca di Beppo, and TGI Fridays. At the same time, diners grew increasingly frustrated by the high prices at value chains like McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Wendy’s.

To appease those frustrated customers, fast food chains began offering low-cost value meals over the summer in an effort to tempt these inflation-wary customers back to their stores. In May, McDonald’s announced it would launch a $5 value meal the following month, which included a four-piece nugget, a McChicken or McDouble, small fries, and a small drink. 

The $5 value meal was a resounding success, so much so that McDonald’s decided to keep the $5 meal going even after the summer. The extension of the $5 value meal is even credited with saving McDonald’s’ third quarter, a quarter in which the company was dealing with the fallout of an E. Coli outbreak in some of its stores.

But many wondered what would become of the $5 value meal after the end of the year. Now we know.

The 2025 McValue meal

In news that is sure to delight cost-conscious McDonald’s fans, the company has decided to keep offering a $5 value meal for at least the first half of 2025, McDonald’s announced on Friday. Earlier this week, CNBC reported that it still needed to be approved by franchise owners, and that it was likely to pass.

So what does the McValue meal contain? It’s the same as the $5 meal deal: a four-piece nugget, a McChicken or McDouble, small fries, and a small drink. 

However, there is a major change. McDonald’s will offer a $1 add-on to the value meal. Customers can add an extra McDouble, McChicken, 6-piece McNuggets, or small fry onto the meal for the extra buck.

This is McDonald’s luring people in with the $5 base price and hoping they will be tempted to spend 20% more at the register to increase the size of the meal (and McDonald’s margins).

McDonald’s stock is down for the year.

From inflation-wary customers to the E. Coli outbreak, it’s been a rough year for McDonald’s—and the company’s stock (NYSE: MCD). The share price of MCD has fallen nearly 2.5% since the beginning of 2024—a reflection of the challenges the company has faced (for its latest quarter, McDonald’s says same-store sales fell 1.5% globally).

However, since this summer, when McDonald’s first launched the $5 value meal, shares have been mainly on an upswing, excluding an E. Coli-induced dip. In the past six months, MCD shares have climbed 8.76%, according to Yahoo Finance data.

McDonald’s is clearly hoping the expansion of the $5 value meal can help that climb continue in 2025.

This story has been updated with more details from McDonald’s and a link to its announcement.