The moment fans have been waiting for is finally here
Picture this: It’s late afternoon, you’re driving through the golden arches feeling that familiar pang of nostalgia. For nearly a decade, there’s been a McDonald’s-sized hole in our hearts where the beloved Snack Wrap used to live. But those days of disappointment are officially over. On June 3, McDonald’s announced exactly when the Snack Wrap will return to partipating restaurants nationwide: July 10. The announcement sent shockwaves through social media, with longtime fans celebrating like they’d just won the lottery. And, thankfully, it’s not a limited-time offer, either — it’s here for good. After years of begging, petitions, and countless tweets to McDonald’s social media accounts, the fast-food giant finally listened to its most passionate customers.
What made the original Snack Wrap so special
The McDonald’s Snack Wrap — chicken breast, lettuce, cheese and sauce, encased in a soft flour tortilla — made its U.S. debut in 2006. It was revolutionary for its time—a portable, relatively healthy option that satisfied both convenience and taste. At the time, Ralph Alvarez, then president of McDonald’s North America, said the chain created the Snack Wrap to “accommodate the lifestyles of our customers who are always on the go and want a quality product made with premium ingredients.” The wrap quickly gained a devoted following among everyone from busy professionals to college students looking for a quick meal. Following the introduction, over the years, of several different iterations riffing on the original concept, the Snack Wrap was officially discontinued in 2016, although some locations continued to offer it. The decision left millions of customers confused and heartbroken.
The real reason behind the Snack Wrap’s disappearance
While McDonald’s never gave fans a satisfying explanation at the time, the truth behind the Snack Wrap’s removal was surprisingly practical. McDonald’s introduced snack wraps nearly two decades ago but discontinued the item in 2016 because it slowed its kitchens down too much. The wrapping process required extra steps that complicated McDonald’s streamlined operations, especially during busy rush periods. Some franchisees kept snack wraps around until 2020, when McDonald’s slashed its menu during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns to keep service running as smoothly as possible. Snack wraps disappeared along with salads and parfaits. The pandemic provided the perfect excuse to eliminate menu items that were operationally challenging, even if customers loved them. This decision would prove to be one of McDonald’s most regretted menu changes in recent history.
How social media brought the Snack Wrap back from the dead
The power of social media activism has never been more apparent than in the Snack Wrap’s resurrection story. A Change.org petition started in 2021 in its honor garnered over 17,000 signatures, and fans resorted to posting TikToks and making dedicated Instagram accounts devoted to bringing it back. The online campaign was relentless and impossible to ignore. According to McDonald’s senior marketing director Guillame Huin, we have social media to thank for its return. “If you ever wonder if your posts here matter, if they have an impact, if we even care, let me tell you something, you and you only with your countless posts and requests and petitions made it happen,” Huin wrote on X. This acknowledgment shows how customer feedback can literally reshape corporate decisions when it’s loud enough and persistent enough. The dedicated @bring_back_the_wrap Instagram account, which accumulated over a thousand followers, became a symbol of grassroots food activism.
What’s different about the 2025 version
The new Snack Wrap isn’t exactly the same as its predecessor, and the changes might actually make it better. The Snack Wrap, which has been off menus for almost a decade, features one of the chain’s new McCrispy Strips — a chicken strip made with all-white meat — and is topped with shredded lettuce and shredded cheese, wrapped in a flour tortilla. Instead of the older chicken options, McDonald’s is using their new McCrispy Strips, which launched nationwide in May 2025. We’re raising the chicken game to a new level with McCrispy Strips: irresistibly craveable chicken strips made with juicy, 100% white meat, coated with crispy golden-brown breading and bursting with a bold, new black pepper flavor. This go-round, the Snack Wrap comes in two flavors: Spicy, which McDonald’s says “brings the heat with a habanero kick” reminiscent of its Spicy McCrispy sandwich; and Ranch, which “delivers a satisfying burst of cool ranch goodness,” according to the brand, along with hints of garlic and onion. The updated recipes promise to deliver even more flavor than the original.
McDonald’s strategic chicken push comes at the perfect time
The Snack Wrap’s return isn’t happening in a vacuum—it’s part of McDonald’s broader strategy to dominate the chicken market. The menu item is part of McDonald’s broader push beyond beef into chicken. The success of restaurants such as Chick-fil-A, Popeyes, Raising Cane’s and Dave’s Hot Chicken has made chicken a fast-growing restaurant category in recent years. McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski has been vocal about the company’s chicken ambitions. “We’re excited about the significant opportunity we see within our chicken portfolio and see the potential to add another point of chicken market share by the end of 2026,” McDonald’s chairman and CEO Chris Kempczinski said in February. During an investor call in July, CEO Chris Kempczinski said McDonald’s chicken sales are now on par with its beef sales. He noted the burger chain has a “significant opportunity for growth in chicken” and that its category is twice the size of beef globally and growing at a faster rate. The timing couldn’t be better for McDonald’s to reclaim its position in the competitive chicken wars.
