Mac n' Cheetos

Mac n' Cheetos are a deep-fried macaroni and cheese product based on the Frito-Lay snack Cheetos. Mac n' Cheetos were introduced in late June 2016 and sold at Burger King in limited supplies. The original product contained five pieces and was served with a side of ranch dressing. Today, Mac n' Cheetos are available frozen at grocery stores around the United States.

Many publications have pointed out that Mac n' Cheetos is part of a larger trend of blending fast foods with well-known snack foods, as well as reflecting the current state of fast food alliances.

Product description

Mac n' Cheetos are fried macaroni and cheese bites shaped and coated to resemble Cheetos brand cheese curls. The fried shell of a curl is crunchy, and is flavored and colored like Cheetos. Burger King president Alex Macedo described the food item as a "triple threat", because it combines Burger King, Cheetos, and macaroni and cheese.

Mac n' Cheetos is a portmanteau of mac n' cheese and Cheetos.

Currently, there are two known varieties of Mac n' Cheetos: "Creamy Cheddar", and "Flamin' Hot".

History

Fried macaroni and cheese had existed prior to the introduction of Mac n' Cheetos. The Cheesecake Factory and Wayback Burgers have sold similar products in the past.

Other fast food restaurants like Taco Bell have previously employed a similar strategy. In 2012, Taco Bell, which is owned by Yum! Brands, introduced the Doritos Locos Taco, whose taco shell is composed of the Doritos chip. Offshoots followed as Cool Ranch, Nacho Cheese, and Fiery Doritos. Consumerist's Laura Northrup compared them to 7-Eleven's Doritos Loaded and Hostess Brands's deep-fried Twinkies sold at participating Walmart locations.

In 2015, Burger King entered into a partnership with PepsiCo's Frito-Lay, which also owns the

Reception

Fox News described them as "bright orange" with a "pretty unusual" shape. The Chicago Tribune's Joseph Hernandez called the color of the menu item "neon-orange". Consequence of Sound's Ben Kaye remarked that they were "new cat poop-shaped fried mac and Cheeto cheese curls". Consumerist's Ashlee Kieler perceived its color as "glowing, orange-ish". The Verge's Dami Lee commented that they were "coagulated orange clumps of processed cheese". Bloomberg News's Leslie Patton said it was "portable macaroni-and-cheese bites are similar to mozzarella sticks". Food & Wine's Mike Pomranz said "Like a car crash, this bizarre mashup is just too intense to ignore."

The Raw Story's Brad Reed saw it as "radioactive-orange" and "Trump-colored", but remarked "do look marginally more appetizing than the terrifying bright-red Whopper Burger King released earlier this year". Vice's Alex Swerdloff noted the product as "a chode-like mass" and resembling "the lovechild of E.T.’s finger and a bloated corpse that was given a spray tan". ''Yahoo! Style'''s Claire Lower called them "orange nuggets". The Denver Post's Megan McArdle reported it "bearing the same resemblance to real food as a plastic Lego tree does to a stately elm". The Guardian's Joshua David Stein said the Cheetos crust was "bright orange". The Capital Times's Rob Thomas said they were "five stubby cylinders that look like mozzarella sticks, dusted heavily with orange Cheeto dust".

Business Insider performed a

Price

Mac n' Cheetos contains five pieces and was originally priced in Burger King at about $2.50 In New York City, the total cost including New York state sales tax is $3.26. USA Today's Ted Berg was critical of the price choice, as he thought it would be 99¢ at Taco Bell.

When the food item was brought back in October 2016 at Sheetz, it was priced at $2.99. Sheetz offers it available for pickup via the Sheetz Apps menu. However, it costs $3.49 in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

In May 2017, the Mac n' Cheetos was priced $2.69 at Burger King.

Advertising

Burger King called its product a "dangerously cheesy re-imagination". In May 2017, a press release described them as "cheesiest, most amplified version of mac n’ cheese imaginable."

In June 2016, a commercial featuring Chester Cheetah unboxing the Mac n' Cheetos debuted.

In May 2017, David Miami created a music video starring The Burger King and Chester Cheetah dancing to the Mark Morrison R&B song "Return of the Mack", remade as "Return of the Mac n' Cheetos".

See also

• Burger King products
• Double Down (sandwich)
• McRib
• Mozzarella sticks

External links