Food Innovations Inside McDonald’s Test Kitchen and the Creation of Tomorrow’s Menu
Behind every McDonald’s menu item is a small but mighty team of chefs blending creativity, food science, and a healthy dose of curiosity. Among them is Chef Janaé Havis, whose path from family holiday kitchens to McDonald’s global headquarters in Chicago has equipped her with both technical skill and fresh perspective. Whether she’s taste-testing patties, developing sauces, or tracking viral food trends, Janaé is part of the team shaping the flavors McDonald’s fans crave.
From Holiday Traditions to Culinary Ambition
For Janaé, cooking has always been more than a chore — it was a calling that started early. Growing up on Chicago’s South Side, she spent Thanksgiving mornings in her grandmother’s kitchen, chopping celery with a butter knife while surrounded by relatives and the aroma of family recipes. “I was way too young to be using a real knife,” she laughs, “but I was just happy to be there.”
Those early memories left a lasting impression: show up, stay curious, and trust your instincts. Food Innovations That philosophy carried her through Johnson & Wales University, where she earned a degree in Culinary Nutrition with a concentration in Food Science. Food Innovations Her experience across various food and hospitality environments helped her understand the industry from multiple angles — from flavor development to operational execution — ultimately leading her to the Golden Arches in 2023.
Inside McDonald’s Culinary Brain Trust
McDonald’s culinary team may be small, but it operates like a powerhouse of innovation. Food Innovations With roughly a dozen members, and about five to six focused on product development on any given day, collaboration is essential. “I rarely like to depend on my own palate,” Janaé says. “It’s always nice to have other opinions.”
Each chef brings a different specialty, whether rooted in nutrition, food science, global cuisines, or menu strategy. This diversity creates a built-in system of checks, balances, and creative sparks that ensure every concept is challenged, refined, and elevated before it lands in the hands of customers.
Since joining McDonald’s global headquarters in March 2024, Janaé has worked closely with her manager and mentor, Chef Mike Lingo. “He’s kind of like my work dad,” she jokes. Food Innovations His willingness to coach, explain, and occasionally step back so she can experiment has helped her grow in both skill and confidence. Mike admires her drive: “A big part of coming here is trying to understand the complexity of the company, and she dove right in and never stops learning.”
This culture of mentorship and shared creativity fuels the innovation the brand is known for.
What Innovation Really Looks Like at McDonald’s
Janaé’s role is anything but routine. “Every day is almost completely unique and different,” she says. Food Innovations One day may involve perfecting the ideal sauce for the Snack Wrap®, while another might take her to California to oversee beverage production, collaborate with suppliers, or even film content in the test kitchen for TikTok.
This constant variety reflects the broader innovation process at McDonald’s. Once the culinary team finalizes a promising recipe, the next step is ensuring it can be replicated perfectly at scale. Consistency is everything.
“I’ll go to our suppliers, brief them, and give them a detailed recipe with instructions down to the gram,” Janaé explains. The goal: make sure suppliers can reproduce the exact flavor and texture the team created in Chicago. “There’s no room for error. We all need to be tasting the same thing and aligned on what our menu should look like.”
From the first spark of an idea to the final tasting with suppliers, every step combines imagination and precision — the only way to translate a chef’s inspiration into millions of reliable, delicious customer experiences.
When Food Culture and Fan Energy Converge
Beyond recipe development, Janaé has carved out a unique niche on the team: monitoring and decoding internet food trends. Food Innovations As the youngest and most online chef, she leads quarterly “social share outs” to highlight flavor trends, viral ideas, and emerging fan interests.
It’s a role that merges classic culinary work with fast-paced digital culture. Whether it’s a TikTok hack, a bold flavor mashup, or a viral ingredient, she helps the team understand what’s “just for fun” versus what has real menu potential. Some concepts inspire new product tests; others guide marketing ideas or seasonal explorations. The goal is not to chase every trend, but to tap into fan excitement and translate it into meaningful experiences.
Cooking Up What Comes Next
McDonald’s keeps future products tightly under wraps, but it’s clear Janaé’s creativity will continue to shape what arrives on menus. Her guiding principle is simple: “Ultimately, I hope it tastes good … it’s really cool to see the vision come to life and resonate with customers.”
Innovation at McDonald’s goes far beyond taste, though. It requires scaling quality across thousands of restaurants worldwide, ensuring every detail — from sourcing to packaging — meets the brand’s standards. Rigorous testing, constant feedback loops, and a spirit of problem-solving define the journey from idea to menu.
Fascinated by global flavors and modern twists on classics, Janaé sees every project as a chance to surprise and delight McDonald’s fans. Whether it’s a fresh dessert idea, a bold new sauce, or a reimagined favorite, her mission is to help build the next generation of McDonald’s food — one bite at a time.
Source Link:https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/
