McDonald's Is Retiring Happy Meals From Its Value Menu

McDonald's fans have been munching on Happy Meals for decades -- but it looks like it will cost a bit more to do so.

Brand Eating recently discovered that McDonald's has dropped the Happy Meal from its $1 $2 $3 Value Menu, a fact that was later confirmed to Food & Wine. The iconic kids' meal was originally brought onto the Value Menu in January of this year, meaning patrons only had to pay $3 for a Happy Meal.

With this new change, Happy Meals are expected to get a 25% price increase in some markets, with a Los Angeles area Happy Meal currently retailing for $3.99. But as McDonald's has since explained, the meal might still be part of the Value Menu selection in certain locations, with St. Louis still offering the product for $3.

"The $1 $2 $3 Dollar Menu was created to bring our customers better value with the intent to flexibly rotate menu items on and off over time," a spokesperson told Food & Wine in an email. "Some markets may even offer slight variations to the menu that best fit the preferences of their local customers. While the Happy Meal is no longer part of the nationally advertised $1 $2 $3 Dollar Menu, it is still available for $3 at some U.S. restaurants."

McDonald's certainly hasn't shied away from experimenting with new menu options in the past, ranging from the delightful to the weird to the chaos-inducing. And according to those involved with the company, this change to the Happy Meals might just be another part of that.

"We know that we need to be more aggressive to compete effectively," said Kevin Ozan, chief financial officer. "While our $1 $2 $3 Dollar Menu is driving incremental sales and guest counts with our budget-basic value customers, we need to do more to attract other customer groups."

What do you think of this change to McDonald's value menu? Will it stop you from enjoying a Happy Meal now and then? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.