It’s nearly impossible to think of fast food without thinking of McDonald’s. With a staggering 38,000 locations in over one hundred countries, McDonald’s holds the crown for the most popular fast food restaurant in the world. Although once a humble burger and fry joint, McDonald’s has since greatly expanded their menu which now includes combo meals, a value menu, a breakfast menu, a dessert menu, and even a café that rival Starbucks!
McDonald’s invests millions of dollars a year in an attempt to make their ordering process as simple as possible, but with so many different options to choose from, ordering from McDonald’s can cause anxiety for even the biggest extroverts. In this post we’ll take a closer look at McDonald’s including a typical store layout, ordering options, menu options, and an example conversation that you can use when you order from McDonald’s. After all, knowledge is power and it can be a significant help to combat ordering anxiety.
If this step by step guide to ordering from McDonald’s is missing anything or still leaves you with questions, please don’t hesitate to use our contact form. If you have a question, the answer might help someone else too! These guides are created in an attempt to help as many people as possible and I can use your help to keep helping!
What’s on the McDonald’s Menu?
One of the best ways to help reduce ordering anxiety is to have a solid idea of what the store offers before it’s time to place your order. Understanding your options, knowing what you want to get, and even approximating the cost of your meal can help move almost all of the decisions out of the restaurant and into a place you can feel comfortable. The less surprises we encounter while ordering from McDonald’s the better!
In this section, I’ll outline the McDonald’s menu for a typical store in the New England area. Although the menu is franchised and yours should be similar, you should make sure to check your local McDonald’s menu in case they have regional differences. You can access McDonald’s full menu with the button below:
Looking at the McDonald’s, you’ll notice they offer a lot of different items. Breaking the menu down into categories can make the menu a little less intimidating.
Burgers: First and foremost McDonald’s is a burger restaurant. They have a wide variety of burgers that vary in toppings, size, and even burger quality. They’re all beef patties and typically include some combination of lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, and various sauces. McDonald’s is best known for the “Big Mac” which which is a double cheese burger with lettuce, pickles, onions, special sauce, and a third bun in the middle. Other popular burger options at McDonald’s include the Quarter Pounder with Cheese, the McDouble, and the classic cheeseburger.
Chicken and Fish Sandwiches: McDonald’s also offers a variety of non-burger sandwiches including their chicken sandwiches and fish sandwish. Their major chicken options include the McChicken, the Crispy Chicken Sandwich, and the Spicy Chicken Sandwich. These sandwiches are made with breaded or grilled chicken patties, lettuce, tomatoes, and various sauces. They also typically offer some special type of chicken sandwich that usually comes with a unique sauce or toppings. If you prefer fish, their fish option is called the Filet-O-Fish and comes with cheese and tartar sauce.
Fries: Unlike a lot of other fast food restaurants, McDonald’s doesn’t offer sides other than their french fries. They feel their fries are so perfect there’s no reason to offer onion rings or other less quality items. You can order a side of fries by itself or get them included with a combo meal. Fries come in four different sizes; kids, small, medium, or large which are shown below.
Breakfast: McDonald’s serves a range of breakfast items including breakfast sandwiches, wraps, egg plates, pancakes, and oatmeal. The most famous McDonald’s breakfast sandwich is the Egg McMuffin, which is made with a toasted English muffin, a fried egg, cheese, and a choice of bacon, ham, or sausage. You can even get a breakfast sandwhich between two pancakes called a McGriddle!
Beverages/Dessert: McDonald’s used to focus their beverage offerings on the typical options of sodas, teas, and an occasional milkshake. In recent years, McDonald’s has reinvented these offerings in the form of the McCafe. The McCafe is a complete coffee bar that offers macchiatos, acppucinos, lattes, and every other major coffee drink that the major coffee houses serve. You can get most of these hot, iced, and they even offer a variety of flavor options. The restaurant also offers a range of healthier beverage options such as bottled water, apple juice, and low-fat milk. For dessert, they have baked goods including muffins, cinnamon rolls, and apple pies or something colder like their sundaes and ice cream cones.
Chicken Nuggets: McNuggets are a McDonald’s staple of breaded white meat chicken formed into a dippable nugget. These can be ordered in varying amounts from 4 all the way up to 40! You can even get a meal option if you prefer nuggets to sandwiches.
Happy Meals: Although technically a modification of the above categories, I feel that the happy meal deserves it’s own spot on this list. This option is the go-to for kids and includes nuggets or a hamburger as a main, a kids fry, a small milk, and apple slices all in the happiest box you’ll ever see.
One thing to keep in mind while you’re figure out your order is whether you want individual items or a combo meal. This is the part that can get slightly confusing and McDonald’s doesn’t make it abundantly clear on their menu website that was linked above.
McDonald’s Double Quarter Pounder Meal
Pretty much every sandwich McDonald’s offers can be made into a combo. For a typical dinner combo you’ll get the sandwich, fries, and a drink for a slight discount compared to ordering each piece separate. These combos are offered in two sizes; medium or large. Neither option changes the size of the sandwich you get, but it does change the size of both the fries and the drink. You will notice, however, that these combos cannot be made any smaller than medium. If you’re not looking for a medium, ordering the sandwich, a small fry, and a small drink is typically LESS expensive than a medium combo. That said, it does make ordering it slightly more difficult and the small cost increase might be worth saving you the hassle.
As mentioned above, most sandwiches can be made into combos. However, there are two combos that are slightly different than the typical sandwich/fry/drink line up worth mentioning.
2 Cheeseburgers, Fry, Drink
10 McNuggets, Fry, Drink
What to do inside McDonald’s
McDonald’s are all over the world and the stores can vary quite bit in their layout. Thankfully, the basic premise is the similar enough that we can help explain how they’re typically set up to give you an idea of what to expect.
The photo above is a mini McDonald’s like ones you’d find at an airport. Although smaller, it gives a great view of everything and shows us exactly what we’re looking for.
The first thing you might notice is those two white touch screens. These are the saviors of social anxiety sufferers everywhere. These are self checkout ordering tablets and reduce the social interaction required to order down to almost nothing! If you’re lucky enough to have a McDonald’s near you that has these self checkouts, we highly recommend using them (at least while you work up to ordering at the counter!). If you’ve ever placed an order on a cell phone or browsed McDonald’s menu online, these touch screens should be very familiar.
These following sections are outlines of the McDonald's ordering process. A more detailed example script/mad lib is further below.
How to order at a McDonald’s self checkout
If you’re wondering how to use a McDonald’s self checkout, it’s easier than you might think. When one becomes available (they’re typically double sided) head over to it and touch the screen. You’ll see a side bar of major menu categories and choosing one will make the options in the middle change accordingly. Add whatever food, combos, etc. you may want and feel free to customize them as much you please since no ones there to judge! Once you’re done, click checkout, and pay via credit card. Take your receipt. The receipt is important because it has your order number on it.
With receipt in hand, step off to the side and listen for your order number to be called from the pickup counter. Sometimes there will be a screen that displays the current number they’re ready to hand out. Once called, head over to the counter below the pickup sign and the worker will either hand it to you or leave it on the counter for you. They may repeat back all, or some of your order to confirm you’re grabbing the correct bag.
Grab your food, say thanks, and enjoy! An introvert’s dream!
How to order at the McDonald’s counter
If your McDonald’s doesn’t have the self ordering area or if you’re paying in cash (or just want the experience), we’ll have to use the counter. Since McDonald’s doesn’t have a live ordering selection like a Subway or a Chipotle, the ordering process is actually easier. Although you can customize most things on the menu, a majority of orders will be simple with slight modifications here or there.
I’ll include a full script/mad-lib for how to Order from McDonald’s below, but I wanted to use this section to give a brief outline of the process and handle the actual conversations later.
Referring to our mini McDonald’s image above, you can see the counter in the back below the menu. They’ll all look slightly different, but the counter to order will always be located below the menu. Once you find the menu, if you’re still not exactly sure what you want feel free to take as long as you like looking at your options. There’s no time limit for viewing the menu and as long as you’re standing a little bit away from the counter no one should bother you. If they ask if you’re all set, just say “One minute please” and continue browsing. Once you know what you want to order step into the line and wait for the cashier to acknowledge you.
The cashier will usually start off the interaction with something along the lines of “What can I get you today?”. It’s not like Subway or Chipotle that have an organized sequence to their ordering, but for ordering at McDonald’s there are a couple of tips that will help avoid confusion. There’s an order to my orders that I try and maintain.
The first thing I like to say is the size of the combo meal I’m order. For example, if you say “…a large BLT quarter pounder meal with cheese”, the employee will know what size to enter and you won’t have to clarify. If you only say “a quarter pounder meal with cheese”, they’ll then ask what size and it’ll add to the interaction.
The second part of my order is any modifications I’m making to the sandwich itself. “…a large BLT quarter pounder meal with cheese and no pickles.” This helps ensure that the employee has the opportunity to click the “modify” button on their screen right away and they don’t have to work backwards.
Lastly, I tell them the drink I’d like with my order. “…a large quarter pounder meal with cheese and no pickles with a coke.” Only after I complete the entirety of the meal will I ask for anything else (dessert, additional food, etc.). If you’re ordering something small, feel free to add it to the end. If it’s another meal or multiple meals, give the employee time to put it into the system and then ask for the additional item.
“…a large BLT quarter pounder meal with cheese, no pickles, with a coke and an apple turnovers please.”
If you order in an organized manner that reflects how the employee enters it into their system it’ll help keep everything smooth.
The Script
Below is a script that you can use as an example to help you when ordering from McDonald’s with anxiety. I try and write out the scripts as a sort of mad lib with interchangeable parts bolded and an explanation of what the content is directly following it in parenthesis. If you need to write down your own script ahead of time on your phone feel free to read it while ordering. I’ve been on both ends of that exchange and more likely than not, the employee will just think you’re ordering for someone else and won’t give it a second thought!
McDonald’s: Hi! What can I get for you today? You: Hi, can I please get a large (size) double quarter pounder with cheese meal (meal name) with no onionsor ketchup (modification) and a sprite (drink)? McDonald’s: Yup. That’s a large double quarter pounder with cheese with no onions or ketchup? And you said Sprite right? You: Yes please!
Wait for the employee to finish putting it into the system.
McDonald’s: Anything else? You: Can I please also get a medium (size) quarter pounder with cheese meal (meal name) with onionson this one but noketchup (modification) and a coke (drink)? McDonald’s: Sure, what else? You: Just two apple turnovers and that’s it thanks.
The employee will then repeat the order and tell you the total. You can either insert/tap/swipe your card, or give them cash if that’s how you’re paying. Most McDonald’s have the payment card reader on the counter in front of the monitor and don’t take your card anymore.
Once you finish paying, the cashier will hand you a receipt. Make sure to take it because like the self service order above, this receipt has our order number. Step out of the line and wait for them to call your number.
Grab your meal from the pickup window, pat yourself on the back, and enjoy your delicious McDonald’s meal. You did it!
