In early March 2026, fast food executives stopped acting like executives and started acting like creators. McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski posted himself trying the Big Arch. Burger King answered with its own burger video. Wendy's jumped in on LinkedIn with U.S. President Pete Suerken eating a Baconator. A&W Canada copied the format a day later with the Teen Burger.
On the surface, this is just social media. Underneath, it is a useful pricing signal. The burgers these executives choose to review are not the menu's best bargains. They are halo products: large, photogenic, expensive sandwiches designed to make a chain feel premium. If you run a calories-per-dollar site, that is the interesting part.
Original Source Videos
If you want the primary posts instead of secondhand commentary, start here:
- Chris Kempczinski tries the Big Arch on Instagram on February 3, 2026.
- Burger King posts its reply reel on Instagram on March 2, 2026, reviving its own executive burger clip.
- Wendy's U.S. President Pete Suerken tries a Baconator on LinkedIn on March 4, 2026.
- A&W Canada posts its Teen Burger response on Instagram on March 3, 2026.
Why This Trend Took Off
Fast food has spent years turning menu launches into culture. This is the next step: instead of buying an influencer, the brand turns its own leadership into the talent. That works because the format feels slightly strange, slightly self-aware, and instantly memeable.
It also lets chains put a specific product at the center of the conversation. Nobody is filming the CEO eating a McChicken, a value burger, or a 4 for $4-style bundle. They are filming the biggest, newest, or most brand-defining burger on the menu.
How Efficient Are the Burgers They Are Reviewing?
Here is the core value test: how many calories do you get for every dollar spent? For the Big Arch, we use the official McDonald's product page for calories and a market price of about $8.99. Wendy's numbers come from the live dataset that powers this site.
| Item | Chain | Price | Calories | Cal/$ | Cost for 2,000 cal | Takeaway |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Arch | McDonald's | ~$8.99 | 1,020 | 113.5 | $17.63 | CEO flagship, solid but not elite value |
| Baconator | Wendy's | $8.62 avg. | 930 | 108.6 | $18.54 | Very similar economics to Big Arch |
| Whopper | Burger King | Varies by market | 670 | N/A | N/A | Trend participant, but not in our live pricing dataset yet |
Big Arch Value Breakdown
1. The Big Arch is efficient for a flagship burger
At 113.5 calories per dollar, the Big Arch clears the 100-cal/$ line we usually associate with a respectable fast food value item. That matters because many premium sandwiches fall below that threshold once prices climb toward $9.
2. It is not the best value at McDonald's
The problem for McDonald's is internal comparison. In our McDonald's versus Popeyes analysis, theMcChicken sits around 200 calories per dollar. That means the McChicken is vastly more efficient than the Big Arch if your goal is simple food volume for the money.
Put differently: for roughly the same spend as one Big Arch, you can get more total calories by stacking cheaper McDonald's items. The Big Arch wins on spectacle, not on menu math.
3. The Big Arch is stronger than the Baconator, but only slightly
Wendy's Baconator averages 108.6 calories per dollar in our dataset. That puts the Big Arch a little ahead on pure energy efficiency, but not by enough to change the bigger conclusion. Both burgers are expensive, high-calorie, indulgent flagships. Both are bought because they feel like an event.
What the Trend Says About Fast Food Value
The executive-review trend is useful precisely because it highlights the gap between a chain's most marketable product and its most efficient product. Those are almost never the same thing.
| Value benchmark | Chain | Price | Calories | Cal/$ | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McChicken | McDonald's | ~$2.00 | 400 | 200.0 | The real McDonald's value benchmark |
| Classic Chicken Sandwich | Popeyes | ~$5.00 | 700 | 140.0 | A premium sandwich that still beats Big Arch on value |
| Jr. Cheeseburger Deluxe | Wendy's | $2.79 | 340 | 121.9 | Cheaper burger, better value than Baconator or Big Arch |
This is the pattern to remember: the burger that looks best on camera is usually a premium anchor, not the smartest order for someone optimizing calories per dollar. That does not make the reviewed burger bad. It just means the social post is selling appetite and identity, not efficiency.
Final Answer: Is the Big Arch Worth $8.99?
Yes, if you judge it like a flagship burger. No, if you judge it like a value order.
That is the whole story behind this CEO-review trend. Executives are not picking the mathematically optimal item. They are picking the burger that best represents the brand. The Big Arch gives you a lot of food, and its 113.5 calories per dollar are decent. But the real winner on value is still the boring, cheaper stuff most social teams would never put in the hero shot.
If you want more burger math, see our breakdown of the best value burger in New York and our guide to the fast food items to avoid if you care about bang for your buck.
Methodology
Big Arch calories come from McDonald's official product page. The Big Arch price in this article uses an approximate U.S. menu price of $8.99. Wendy's Baconator averages are pulled from the menu_items_latest data used by this site, covering 4,140 Baconator rows at the time of writing. McChicken, Popeyes Chicken Sandwich, and Wendy's Jr. Cheeseburger Deluxe benchmarks are taken from previously published Calories per Dollar analyses and use the same calories-per-dollar methodology shown here.