McDonald’s Serves Up the 14-Ounce ‘Big Arch,’ Its Biggest Hamburger Ever

At a time when everything seems to be shrinking, McDonald’s is going big with its “most satiating” burger ever. The Big Arch weighs in at a whopping (not Whopper) 14 ounces, nearly twice the size—and calories—of a Big Mac.

Available this week at the fast food chain's locations across Canada, the Big Arch is expected to sweep into the US soon, and will become a part of McDonald’s core menu available in all 42,000 stores worldwide. It will be the first core offering since Chicken McNuggets conquered the world in 1983.

Engineered in a test kitchen at McDonald’s corporate headquarters in Chicago, the Big Arch packs 1,030 calories across two quarter-pound beef patties, three slices of processed white cheese, crispy onions, slivered onions, pickles, lettuce and a new tangy sauce served up in a sesame and poppy seed bun.

“It’s so craveable, even the Hamburglar has set his sights on it!” McDonald’s said in a press release . “The Big Arch was designed as McDonald’s response to guests’ desire for a burger that satisfies the extra hungry.”

On Reddit, Canadian diners quickly started sharing their reviews. “I can only describe it as the love child of a double quarter-pounder and a Big Mac,” said one Calgary-based commenter .

“The element that stands out the most is the Big Arch sauce,” wrote Michael Eats in Toronto. “It’s got an almost citrusy brightness to it that actually does a pretty great job of cutting through the richness of the patties and the cheese. It’s quite tasty, which is a good thing because this is a saucy burger; they put two napkins in my bag and that was just barely enough.”

The Big Arch arrives as McDonald’s battles slumping sales, rising prices and ferocious competition in the $1 trillion quick service restaurant market.

“It’s a street fight,” McDonald’s Chief Financial Officer Ian Borden told analysts in April, according to Restaurant Business Online . “Everybody is fighting for fewer consumers.”

McDonald's sells 2.5 billion hamburgers every year—or 75 burgers every second. But the Big Arch is a risky move after several costly flops, like the Arch Deluxe in 1996, a premium burger aimed at higher-income consumers. Despite a $300 million marketing campaign, then the most expensive in fast food history, the not-so-happy meal bombed with consumers put off by its price point—and perhaps its “Dijonnaise.”

Read more at The Daily Beast.