Burger King's new line of chicken wraps is proof that if McDonald's doesn't give fans what they want, other chains will

• Burger King announced it's releasing a new line of chicken wraps from August 14.
• They seem similar to McDonald's snack wraps, which fans wish would come back.
• The release could suggest that if McDonald's doesn't listen to its customers, other chains will.

Burger King is launching a new line of chicken wraps — similar to a menu item that McDonald's fans have been begging the chain to bring back for years.

Starting August 14, Burger King is releasing its new BK Royal Crispy Wraps, the fast-food chain announced in a press release published by Business Wire on Monday. The wraps are made with white-meat chicken in one of three flavors (classic, spicy, and honey mustard), tomato, lettuce, and tortilla bread, according to the press release. The new menu item will be sold at participating US restaurants for $2.99 for a limited time, the press release says, though prices vary by location.

A Burger King spokesperson told Insider in a statement the company wanted to give diners "delicious options that they can't get anywhere else." They added that the new menu item is "the perfect addition to our existing snacking and value platforms, and as with any new menu innovation, we have taken the time to get them right before introducing them to guests nationwide."

The news comes just a few months after Wendy's began selling its own chicken wrap in March, which some saw as a move to answer fast-food fans' requests for McDonald's to bring back its beloved snack wraps.

Other fast-food chains sell chicken wraps as well. Kentucky Fried Chicken announced in a February press release that it would begin selling a crispy chicken wrap, and Chick-fil-A has been serving its cool wraps — also made with chicken — since 2001, according to a press release published at the time by QSR.

McDonald's began phasing out wraps in 2015

Introduced in 2006, the McDonald's snack wrap consisted of either crispy or grilled white-meat chicken breast, shredded cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, lettuce, and a choice of ranch, honey mustard, or salsa, wrapped in a soft tortilla.

As Insider's Mary Meisenzahl reported in May, citing a 2015 report from Bloomberg, McDonald's wraps were thought to be too time-consuming to make and the healthier menu item couldn't compete with other fast-food chains like Panera and Chipotle. The chain began phasing out wraps from its US menus in 2015 before cutting them nationwide in 2016, according to a report from Bloomberg at the time.

Snack wraps have yet to make a return to menus — despite many fans begging the chain to bring them back.

In 2020, fans launched a petition to bring back McDonald's snack wraps and garnered over 18,000 signatures.

And when McDonald's asked its Twitter followers in April 2022 which discontinued menu item they'd most like to return, the consensus was crystal clear: Bring back the snack wrap. 

"You already know you need to bring back these!!!" one user tweeted alongside a photo of the chain's snack wraps. The tweet was liked by 18,000 users.

That same month, a fan even asked Doja Cat to help bring the item back on Twitter, after her involvement with the return of Mexican Pizza at Taco Bell. (Dolly Parton was also involved in that menu item returning, telling Insider in 2021 she thought it should make a comeback.)

Months later, McDonald's alluded to the snack wrap's popularity after the chaos surrounding the sale of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour tickets.

"It's easier to order snack wraps than it is to get these tickets," the official McDonald's account tweeted in November 2022.

As of August 2023, McDonald's still sells wraps in Canada and the UK. And for those in the US missing the menu item, it seems there are plenty of other fast-food chains offering something similar.

McDonald's didn't respond to requests for comment.