One customer noticed the kiosk error and posted it on Reddit’s New Zealand forum, writing: “I was just getting some nuggies and noticed this… Is this a glitch? Or should the McRib lovers be getting excited?”

The McDonald’s spokesperson said it was a chance for Kiwis “to try a bite of Macca’s history”.

The McRib consists of a pork patty in a “homestyle bun” with pickles, onions and barbecue sauce.

A legacy menu item first trialled in Kansas in the 1980s, the McRib remained available in the United States until it was discontinued in 2005.

But its cult following in the US has seen it return several times for limited runs, most recently in 2024.

There have only been a handful of occasions where Kiwis have been given the chance to try the McRib here at home.

McDonald’s released the burger in Australia and New Zealand as the “Atlanta Pork McRib” in 2012 to celebrate the London Olympics and prior host cities of the Games.

And in 2015, the burger brand teased a limited run of the McRib in stores with a 90-second video of a man’s dancing session that ended with him doused in barbecue sauce.

It most recently appeared in 2019, although it was only sold for a few weeks.

In other countries, the lore of the McRib still holds, with Germany and Luxembourg offering them year-round and Canada and Britain reintroducing them to stores last year for a limited time.

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