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McDonald's brings back Szechuan sauce to ‘fully make amends'

McDonald's acknowledged Wednesday morning that it botched last fall's release of a cult favorite menu item and vowed to get it right this time, starting Feb. 26.

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"Last October, we truly meant well when we brought back a super-limited batch of Szechuan Sauce, but it quickly became apparent we did not make enough to meet the expectations of our fans," McDonald's said in a Thursday news release. "We did not anticipate the overnight crowds, the cross-state travel and the amazing curiosity, passion and energy fans showed."

“Our super-limited batch, though well-intentioned, clearly wasn’t near enough to meet that demand. We disappointed fans and we are sorry. To fully make amends, we felt it was important to not only bring back much more sauce this time, but to also admit our mistakes, answer questions and give fans access to the story behind the story.”

Last year, McDonald’s announced a “one-time only, limited-edition” run of the sauce, which was first released in 1998 as a promotional tie-in with the release of Disney’s animated movie “Mulan.” Twenty years later, the sauce has a fan following, which was referenced in an episode of “Rick and Morty.” The limited batch was at a few McDonald’s locations Oct. 7.

When the day came, however, fans were left rejected. In some restaurants, customers only got one packet of sauce and in others, no sauce was available despite posters promising otherwise. Some customers were so upset that police had to be called to locations.

McDonald’s officials say this time will be different.

"We have hundreds of packets (of the sauce) per restaurant to satisfy that sauce craving, so we encourage customers to get 'em while we've got 'em, whether they come into the restaurant, use Mobile Order & Pay, or order through McDelivery on Uber Eats where it's available," Debbie Wright, a franchise owner for Dayton, Ohio, McDonald's, said in a release.

"We've worked every day since October to bring back much, much, more of the sauce our fans have been craving," the company said. "And we're excited to announce that starting Monday, Feb. 26, 20 million packets of Szechuan Sauce will be available across all U.S. McDonald's restaurants with a qualifying purchase, while supplies last (which this time around, we hope is a while)."

The sauce will be available starting at lunchtime on Monday. To obtain it, a customer must buy an item on the menu.

More information on the return of the sauce can be found at McDonald's We Want The Sauce website.