The partnership between McDonald’s and GialloZafferano, Italy’s most popular food media brand, has been renewed for the sixth consecutive year. This partnership, which has led to sales of 45 million sandwiches, is now returning with a new edition of McChicken Creations: two tasty recipes inspired by the original McChicken, available in all of the over 700 restaurants until 28 October.

The two variants boast high-quality Italian ingredients that enhance the classic 100% Italian, free-range, GMO-free chicken breast supplied by Amadori and the bread produced in Italy by Bimbo. The new recipe for 2024, McChicken Delizioso, combines crispy bacon and Italian artichokes, along with “Grana Padano PDO” artichoke sauce; McChicken Gustoso is also back in a Wrap version with crispy bacon, Italian red cabbage and Pecorino Romano DOP & pepper sauce.

The McChicken Creations reaffirm McDonald’s commitment to the Italian food supply chain year after year: in 2023, the company invested around 415 million euro in the sector. McDonald’s commitment is also reflected in its strong ties with the Protection Consortia, with which – thanks to the valuable support of the Qualivita Foundation – it has been working since 2008. Since then, 21 PDO and PGI ingredients have been introduced into McDonald’s menus, included in more than 45 recipes, with a total of 7,000 tons of raw materials used.

The McChicken Creations were conceived by McDonald’s and GialloZafferano, which created two recipes that showcase Made in Italy excellence.

“We are proud to re-launch such an important project for McDonald’s. For six years, the McChicken Creations initiative has seen us unite with GialloZafferano in the goal of creating recipes that showcase the quality and taste of Made in Italy ingredients,” remarks Giorgia Favaro, CEO of McDonald’s Italy. “This annual initiative not only strengthens our connection with Italy, but also reaffirms our concrete commitment to supporting the agri-food sector. Partly thanks to the collaboration with the Qualivita Foundation, over the past 15 years our support has enabled us to highlight local excellence, bringing PDO and GI-certified Italian products to our customers’ trays.”

“GialloZafferano’s partnership with McDonald’s is a truly successful project to which we are particularly committed,” comments Andrea Santagata, CEO of Mondadori Media. “It perfectly represents some of the key elements that make up our brand’s DNA. These include always offering products that are tasty and accessible to everyone, combining Italian character with innovation, and dialoguing with and entertaining our target audience by developing new communication languages and formats,” Santagata concludes.

The new edition of the McChicken Creations was presented today at a special event at the GialloZafferano headquarters, attended by Giorgia Favaro, CEO of McDonald’s Italy, Andrea Santagata, CEO of Mondadori Media, Nicola Lussana, CEO of Mediamond, Mauro Rosati, General Manager of the Qualivita Foundation, Stefano Berni, General Manager of the Consorzio di Tutela Grana Padano, and Gianni Maoddi, Chairman of the Consorzio di Tutela Pecorino Romano.

The event also involved GialloZafferano’s top food creators, including Sebastian Fitarau, Luisa Orizio – Allacciate il grembiule, Angello Coassin – Cooking with Bello, Gessica Runcio – Le ricette da Gessica, Andriana Kulchytska and Dany Resconi, who collaborated on the project with a series of exclusive content posted on social media.

The outstanding presenters were the two faces of the Le Iene TV show, Veronica Ruggeri and Stefano Corti, who conducted the event with their distinctive style, involving speakers and participants.

All the activities and visibility plan for the McChicken Creations were developed together with Brand On Solutions, Mediamond’s project area, with the coordination of OMD and in partnership with Leo Burnett, on all digital channels of Giallozafferano, from the website to all social media profiles – Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube –, and the app, with the addition of push notifications targeted at McDonald’s drive-to-store and drive-to-app.