What’s the Difference Between a McDouble and a Double Cheeseburger? An Investigation
Is McDonald's scamming us?
A recent trip through the McDonald's drive-thru lane brought into question two classic menu items: the McDouble and the Double Cheeseburger. Aren't these just the same burger with different names? We need to get to the bottom of this.
This all came about one night when my wife and I were in the mood for some McDonald's after a kickball game. She had her mind set on a McDouble, but somehow that burger had eluded my McDonald's knowledge. I thought she meant a Double Cheeseburger. So, we ended up ordering both, and after trading bites back and forth, I was left very confused. They tasted identical.
Now, I'm fully aware that the answer to this mystery is only a web search away, but where's the fun in that? Instead, we went back to McDonald's a couple of weeks later and ordered the McDouble and Double Cheeseburger again. This time with the intent to do some scientific research. Let's get started.
A Comparative Analysis of Bovine Patty Distribution and Cheese Stratification in McDonald's Double-Stacked Sandwiches
The first thing to do was take detailed measurements of both burgers. We weighed the fully assembled burgers with bun and toppings, then we weighed the individual beef patties, and measured their thickness and diameter. Lastly, we deconstructed the burgers and carefully identified and tallied the toppings.
Admittedly, I went into this pretty suspicious of McDonald's. I couldn't figure out the why, but I was convinced I was going to uncover some sort of scam. The burgers are just too similar to be entirely different menu items, right? There had to be a scheme. That's not exactly what I found, but I was still surprised.
| McDouble | Double Cheeseburger | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Weight | 142g | 151g |
| Patty Weight | 33g | 29g |
| Patty Thickness | 6.6mm | 6.3mm |
| Patty Diameter | 85.5mm | 90mm |
| Toppings | 2 buns, no sesame seeds
2 beef patties 3 pickle slices Ketchup Mustard Rehydrated onions 1 slice American cheese Salt, pepper |
2 buns, no sesame seeds
2 beef patties 3 pickle slices Ketchup Mustard Rehydrated onions 2 slices American cheese Salt, pepper |
After all the weighing, measuring, and dissecting, everything was within the standard deviation, and I was feeling very vindicated—until we counted the cheese slices. We can confirm with confidence that there is exactly one difference between a McDouble and a Double Cheeseburger.
The McDouble has one slice of cheese.
The Double Cheeseburger has two slices of cheese.
That's it. I didn't expect it to be so simple.
A Tale of Two Slices
Of course, there's one other difference: price. In my neck of the woods, the McDouble costs $2.79 and the Double Cheeseburger costs $3.19. We now have scientific proof that you are paying $0.40 for one slice of American cheese.
After our investigation was over, I finally did a web search for this question, and I learned some new information. McDonald's introduced the McDouble in 2008, and removing one slice of cheese apparently saved the company $0.06 per burger. When you consider that McDonald's is estimated to sell over six million burgers in a single day, six pennies is pretty significant.
Cheese is obviously more expensive these days, but McDonald's is not paying anywhere near $0.40 per slice of American cheese. You're either saving the company money with less cheese or paying more than you should for an extra slice. The only "scam" here is good ol' profit margins.
Anyway, that's more than you probably ever needed to know about the McDouble and the Double Cheeseburger. Now enjoy this McDonald's employee assembling the two burgers side by side.
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