McDonald’s has offered a wide variety of desserts and sweets over the years, including some fan favorites like apple pies, cookies, and McFlurries. One dessert that people may remember fondly from years past is the McDonald’s Strawberry Cream Pie.
The History of McDonald’s Strawberry Cream Pie
The McDonald’s Strawberry Cream Pie first appeared on menus in the early 1970s. It featured a flaky, buttery crust filled with creamy vanilla custard and topped with sweet strawberry glaze. The pies were about 5 inches wide and pre-sliced into six pieces so they could be easily shared.
The Strawberry Cream Pies were an immediate hit with customers who enjoyed the combination of flavors and textures. The pies provided a satisfying sweet treat to finish off a McDonald’s meal. At the time, dessert offerings were fairly limited at McDonald’s, so the Strawberry Cream Pies helped fill that need.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the Strawberry Cream Pies remained popular menu items at McDonald’s. Several variants were introduced over the years, like Strawberry Cheesecake pies and Holiday pies with festive sprinkles. McDonald’s regularly advertised the desserts to highlight seasonal flavors.
The Strawberry Cream Pies started to be phased out in the 1990s as McDonald’s expanded its dessert menu. New options like cookies, sundaes, and cakes took over as the most popular sweets. Many franchise locations removed the Strawberry Cream Pies from their menus by the late 1990s.
Availability Today
The traditional McDonald’s Strawberry Cream Pies are no longer available on most McDonald’s menus today. As consumer tastes changed over the years, McDonald’s moved away from the simple fruit and custard pies. However, some international McDonald’s locations may still offer similar strawberry or fruit pie options regionally.
In the United States, the standard dessert selections at McDonald’s now include:
- Cookies – Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Raisin, and Sugar
- McFlurrys – featuring Oreo, M&M’s, and other candy mix-ins
- Cones – Vanilla, Chocolate, and Twist
- Sundaes – Hot Fudge, Caramel, Strawberry
- Pies – Baked Apple Pie, Hot Fudge Sundae Pie
So for strawberry pie lovers, the classics are mostly gone. But there are still plenty of ways to satisfy a sweet tooth at McDonald’s!
Bringing Back Retro Favorites
While the Strawberry Cream Pies are mostly retired, McDonald’s does sometimes bring back special or limited-time desserts that are inspired by past menu items. For example:
- McDonald’s briefly brought back Strawberry Shortcake McFlurrys in 2016, which had a similar strawberry flavor profile.
- In 2020, McDonald’s ran a special “Throwback Menu” promotion that included Chocolate Brownie McFlurrys, an ode to the chocolate pies of the past.
- Seasonal McFlurry flavors often include fruit pie remixes like the Apple Pie McFlurry or Cherry Pie McFlurry.
So nostalgic customers still have some hope of McDonald’s tapping back into those retro flavors every now and then. While it’s unlikely the exact Strawberry Cream Pies will return, variations on the classic treat may pop up for limited runs or regional availability.
Why Were Strawberry Cream Pies Discontinued?
There are a few factors that contributed to the decline and disappearance of McDonald’s Strawberry Cream Pies from most locations:
- Changing consumer preferences – As more dessert options expanded in the 1990s, customers favored thicker milkshakes, cheesecake, and chunky candy mix-ins over the simple fruit pies.
- Difficulty keeping inventory – McDonald’s had issues keeping enough fresh pies stocked during busy rushes. The pies had a short shelf life and weren’t as popular for take-out.
- More profit potential – Items like McFlurrys had higher profit margins and were marketed as more indulgent, premium desserts.
- Supply chain – Keeping fresh fruits, custards, and specialty ingredients on hand proved challenging when streamlining national and global supply chains.
The changing tastes of customers, as well as business and inventory factors, led McDonald’s to discontinue the classic Strawberry Cream Pies. But the nostalgia and love for the retro treat still remains strong for many longtime McDonald’s fans.
Where You Can Still Find Strawberry Cream Pie Today
If you’re really craving a taste of those old-school McDonald’s Strawberry Cream Pies, there are a few options:
- Check international McDonald’s menus when traveling, especially in Asian markets, where fruit pies are more common.
- Visit a McDonald’s in Hawaii, where Strawberry & Pineapple pies have stayed on the menu due to local fruit favorites.
- Make a special request! Some franchises will still make them per customer request, with advance notice.
- Bake your own version at home using pie recipes layered with vanilla pudding and strawberry glaze.
- Look for similar fruit custard pies at other restaurants and diners known for pie. It may not be exactly the same, but can satisfy the craving.
While Strawberry Cream Pies aren’t as easy to find, they still hold happy memories for many customers. With some luck tracking down international locations or special orders, nostalgic McDonald’s fans may get another chance to enjoy the classic treat.
Nutrition Facts of McDonald’s Strawberry Cream Pie
Looking back at the original nutrition facts for McDonald’s Strawberry Cream Pie:
| Serving Size | 1/6th of a pie (74g) |
|---|---|
| Calories | 180 |
| Total Fat | 7g |
| Carbohydrates | 28g |
| Protein | 2g |
As you would expect with most desserts, the Strawberry Cream Pie offered tasty sweet flavor but not much nutritional value. Each serving provided nearly 200 calories, mostly from carbohydrates and fats from the custard and crust.
Today, comparable desserts at McDonald’s offer similar calories and nutrition:
- Hot Fudge Sundae Pie – 250 calories
- Baked Apple Pie – 270 calories
- Vanilla Cone – 180 calories
So the nostalgic Strawberry Cream Pie fits right in with the sweet treat options still found on McDonald’s menus today!
Bring Back the Strawberry Cream Pie Campaign
Over the years since the Strawberry Cream Pie was removed from McDonald’s locations, some die-hard fans have petitioned and campaigned to bring back the menu item. Supporters tend to cite the following reasons:
- Nostalgia and fond memories of enjoying the classic pies as kids
- Love of the unique strawberry cream flavor combination
- Fan culture/community around “retro” or discontinued fast food items
- Request for more fruit-based dessert options besides Apple Pie
While McDonald’s likely has no plans to bring back the Strawberry Cream Pie permanently, the campaigns show the fondness and power of nostalgia. For brands like McDonald’s with long histories, even discontinued menu items can hold special places in customers’ hearts and memories.
Short-term local or limited-time releases of items like the Strawberry Cream Pie can be a great way for brands to tap back into that nostalgia when possible. Customers love feeling like they’ve gone “back in time” with the foods they enjoyed years before.
The Perfect Time for a Comeback?
As more brands leverage nostalgia marketing and capitalize on trendy throwback styles, now may be the perfect time for McDonald’s to consider limited releases of past favorites like the Strawberry Cream Pie. Other successful comebacks have included:
- Pizza Hut’s return of The Edge pizza in 2017, sparking 1980s nostalgia
- KFC’s limited re-release of a retro 1970s logo and packaging design in 2018
- Jell-O reviving discontinued pudding pops in Bill Cosby commercials in 2018
- Coca-Cola rebranded cans as “Stranger Things” New Coke in 2019
McDonald’s itself has seen great success bringing back popular sauces and menu items for short campaigns. Leveraging customers’ fond memories and love for the Strawberry Cream Pie into a future promotion could attract media buzz and drive sales. The conversation around the #bringbackthepie movement shows there is still demand out there for this retro dessert!
The Lasting Impact of McDonald’s Desserts
No matter which desserts come, go, or come back again, McDonald’s sweat treats have had a huge cultural impact over the decades. Selling over 300 million pies a year at one point, McDonald’s has essentially shaped our perception of what fast food desserts should be. The convenience, consistency, and taste provided an affordable indulgence to complete any meal.
While business factors understandably dictated changes to the menu, the creativity of items like the Strawberry Cream Pie should not be forgotten. Offering simple, approachable flavors like fresh strawberry in a familiar crust tapped perfectly into customer tastes and preferences of the time.
McDonald’s Sugared up its menu over the years with new concoctions and indulgent ingredients, but the classics like the fruit pies will always have a place in customers’ memories and hearts. We may have moved on from the Strawberry Cream Pie to McFlurrys loaded with candy mix-ins, but McDonald’s dessert heritage persists.
Conclusion
The iconic McDonald’s Strawberry Cream Pie may no longer be found in most locations today, but it still holds a special place as a nostalgic fan favorite dessert. While changing tastes led McDonald’s to remove the basic fruit pie from its menu, the company still sometimes taps back into that retro flavor profile for limited-time dessert releases. Customers’ fond memories and campaigns calling for its return show this simple, sweet treat is not forgotten. McDonald’s will likely continue reinventing its dessert offerings to match consumer preferences, but the Strawberry Cream Pie’s mellow, fruity flavor provides a classic example of timeless fast food indulgence done right.