Whatever Happened To McDonald's Pizza?

There's a long list of discontinued McDonald's items, many of which will never again see the light of day. While some of them are dearly missed, other items seemed destined for failure. (Remember how McDonald's hot dogs were never going to last?) Whether it was due to lack of public interest or poor decision making on the part of the company, not every item has been a major hit.

One such example is the long forgotten McDonald's pizza, known colloquially as the McPizza. Initially introduced during the '80s, the pizza was tested in locations across the country with some variations throughout the years. Still, the trend never caught on (reportedly it took forever to make, at too high a price point) and in the late '90s, most McDonald's locations decided to discontinue the pizza for good.

Still, there are some fans of the McPizza who hold out hope. Despite the product never really getting off the ground, some still clamor for the return of the McPizza. And — in a way — they might get their wish, but with some slight changes. In 2023, McDonald's announced the return of a pizza product that was more in line with a pizza roll than a traditional pizza pie. While it launched only at locations in Italy, perhaps this time, this pizza will actually stick around.

McDonald's foray into pizza products began in the late 1970s, specifically in Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin. These pizzas were rather small and meant to be for an individual rather than an entire table. It wasn't until 1989 that McDonald's started testing out a more traditional 14-inch shareable pizza, specifically in Owensboro, Kentucky, and Evansville, Indiana.

The late '80s and early '90s saw the peak of McDonald's pizza testing. The product spread to roughly 40% of the chain's locations, including international outposts. The variation found in the U.K. at the time featured an 8-inch pizza sliced into four quarters. Customers could order this pizza in several flavors, including cheese, pepperoni and cheese, and the veggie-and-pepperoni-packed deluxe.

Despite the pizza rolling out in so many locations, the product ultimately proved not to be as popular as McDonald's had hoped. Some speculate that the push for a pizza product was meant to combat competition in fast food from other pizza chains, but McDonald's failed to break into the pizza pie market. Today, the McPizza can still be found at one location: the largest McDonald's right by Disney World in Orlando, Florida, with the well-deserved nickname, Epic McD. (Even the successful McDonald's spinoff CosMc's has got nothing on Epic McD.) It spans 19,000 square feet, features a gigantic Ronald McDonald statue, and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week — so you can get your McPizza on any time you like.