McDonald's, Wendy's And The Battle For The Most Meme-able Sandwich: Drive-Thru Diary

CALIFORNIA — This month, the battle at the drive thru is between two fantastical sandwiches, and McDonald's and Wendy's hope it'll all be broadcast on social media.

The first is a sandwich a quarter century in the making: Wendy's announced on Wednesday that it's creating a real-life version of the Krabby Patty, the signature sandwich slung by SpongeBob Squarepants in the long-running Nickelodeon cartoon. Wendy's Krabby Patty includes a quarter-pound burger, two slices of American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion and "a top-secret Krabby Kollab sauce" on a toasted bun. The collaboration also includes a pineapple-flavored frosty.

Not to be outdone, the next day McDonald's revealed that a "dupe" sandwich served last weekend by a Los Angeles popup known for its high-end takes on fast food favorites was not an imitation at all. The sandwich — two chicken patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, on a sesame seed bun — was a McDonald's creation and will be available nationwide as the Chicken Big Mac.

The pair of competing sandwiches both speak of the companies' recognition that consumers increasingly want their meals to be interactive experiences, where the transaction between diner and fast-food chain doesn't end at the register. Both play to meme culture and represent a hope by McDonald's and Wendy's to strike social media gold.

Wendy's Krabby Patty launch coincides with the 25th anniversary of "SpongeBob Squarepants," a show whose appeal to millennials and Gen Z has persisted long past their childhoods.

As memes have become a second language to young people over the last decade, SpongeBob offered a unique dialect. Screenshots of his wide-eyed, hands-on-hips countenance serve as a perfect way to mock daily annoyances. And a motion-blurred image of his boss — Mr. Krabs, who owns the restaurant where Krabby Patties are served — offers a template to convey disorientation and confusion.

The memes showcase the importance of nostalgia in internet culture. And as Wendy's new sandwich marks the first time the Krabby Patty has appeared in real-life, nationwide form, the chain hopes the ensuing online attention will boost its clout among internet natives.

In the meantime, McDonald's has been busy manufacturing a meme-able sandwich from scratch.

After the Chicken Big Mac appeared on menus internationally, it popped up in the U.S. at Chain, the LA pop-up dining experience known for creating elevated "dupes" — or knockoffs in TikTok speak — that play on nostalgia for corporate-owned eats.

But there was a twist: Unlike Chain's Instagrammable remixes of everything from Taco Bell's Crunchwrap Supreme to Outback Steakhouse's Bloomin' Onion — the one-day-only "McDonnell's" chicken sandwich was actually something that will be available nationwide at McDonald's.

For help, McDonald's enlisted Kai Cenat, with his 6.6 million YouTube followers, to create content surrounding the question: Is the Chicken Big Mac a Big Mac?

Cenat "will welcome his famous friends to try the Chicken Big Mac on his livestream and share their unfiltered reactions. Follow along on McDonald’s social channels all month long to find out when Kai and his friends will be going live and giving their opinions on if a Chicken Big Mac’s a Big Mac," McDonald's wrote in a release.

That question is a play on another well-treaded meme that ponders whether a hot dog is a sandwich. May the best meme sandwich win!

The Krabby Patty will be available on Oct. 7-8 at an immersive Wendy's drive-thru experience in Panorama City and launches nationwide Oct. 8.

The Chicken Big Mac launched Oct. 10 at McDonald's locations across the country.

Drive-Thru Diary is a journey of all that's delicious, noteworthy and downright weird in the world of fast food, quick bites and the culinary field at large. Got an idea? I'd love to hear from you: chris.lindahl@patch.com.

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