In 1996, McDonald's introduced the Arch Deluxe, which never caught on. It was intended to appeal to "urban sophisticates" - outside of its target demographic. To reach this group, McDonald's spent $100 million, which makes it one of the most expensive product flops in history.
Turns out, McDonald's was just too early today, burger chains like Five Guys and Shake Shack are wildly popular upstarts, hawking slightly more expensive fast-food burgers to the modern equivalent of "urban sophisticates."
