29 July 2013 - McDonald’s today announced that Kiwis will be able to purchase a single flavour Georgie Pie at its Greenlane and Queen Street restaurants from 5th June. Another five restaurants in Auckland will begin selling the Steak Mince ‘N’ Cheese pies in the week following, along with four restaurants in the Waikato.

The announcement comes as the company is set to host 50 Georgie Pie fans at an exclusive pre-launch tasting event held at McDonald’s Greenlane restaurant tonight. The fans, who won a competition on McDonald’s Facebook page, will be some of the first consumers in the country to try the pie, a week before they are available to the public (read our review of the media launch here).

Along with the Facebook fans will be Andy Hill, who paid $450 to win a TradeMe charity auction for himself and a friend to attend the event. Mr Hill will travel from New Plymouth to enjoy the original Steak Mince ‘N’ Cheese pie. 100% of the auction proceeds have gone to Ronald McDonald House Charities.

McDonald’s New Zealand managing director, Patrick Wilson, says he is looking forward to hearing what these Georgie Pie fans think of the pie after so many years. ‘There has been phenomenal interest since we made the announcement we were bringing Georgie Pie back, and we’re keen to see if Kiwis still have a big appetite for their favourite pie brand,’ he says.

Price point disappoints

Since the announcement of the trial, McDonald’s has come under a lot of fire for pricing the pie at $4.50  so much so that it has felt it necessary to address the issue in its press relase in a special section entitled ‘Why aren’t the pies $1 anymore?’ It says:

‘The original Georgie Pie ‘dollar menu’ is fondly remembered, but even in 1996 Georgie Pie began increasing prices. The Steak Mince ‘N’ Cheese pie uses quality ingredients including New Zealand beef chuck steak, which is minced, and Georgie Pie’s unique short pastry.’

It has resisted the temptation to point out that the pricing was one of the factors that led to the demise of the original company.  For the trial, the Steak Mince ‘N’ Cheese pie will be priced at $4.50 for the single pie, $6.90 for a medium combo or $4.00 for a menu add-on when the pie is purchased with any other McDonald’s combo meal. Where applicable, the pie will be available 24/7.

The chosen few

The McDonald’s restaurants trialling Georgie Pie Steak Mince ‘N’ Cheese pies will be:

• From 10.30am, Wednesday 5th June, 2013: Greenlane and Queen St
• From 10.30am, Friday 7th June, 2013: Kelston, 500 Ti Rakau Drive, Howick and St Lukes Foodcourt
• From 10.30am, Monday 10th June, 2013: Mangere and Albany Coliseum Drive
• From 10.30am, Tuesday 11th June, 2013: Frankton, 5 Cross Roads, The Base and Te Awamutu

LATEST - Six more restaurants added as trial extends further south - see details.