Return of the McPizza short-lived after Twitter frenzy

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Nostalgic food lovers had a sliver of hope taken away from them today after McDonald's Canada confirmed there is no plan for the return of the McPizza.

On Thursday afternoon, the company tweeted a simple question: What would you do to have McDonald's McPizza back? Excitement quickly began to spread throughout social media.

The tweet, which gained more traction than the company expected, was supposed to be a fun way to start a conversation with followers.

"It was just a piece of engaging content from our Twitter handle," says David Ford, Ontario communications manager for McDonald's Canada. "It was supposed to be along the lines of, 'What would you do for a Big Mac today?'"

The McPizza, which came to Canada in the 1990s, struggled to succeed because of logistic issues and is now frequently used in business school textbooks under product failures.

Customers had to wait for lengthy periods of time for a pizza compared to the normally quick service they were used to from the company. The expensive ovens also took up valuable space behind the counters.

"There were numerous reasons for moving on," Mr. Ford says. "But generally speaking, it was eventually removed from the menu because it had some operational impact on service times."

Twitter users quickly responded to McDonald's tweet with much enthusiasm about the chance of their beloved McPizza making a return. The question of what people would do for a McDonald's pizza pie saw passionate replies.

"Anything," says @hometown__glory, before pressing the caps lock button for dramatic effect. "DON'T TEASE ME WITH THESE THOUGHTS UNLESS YOU MEAN IT."

"unspeakable things," added in @fatti_smith.

Though there may not be any immediate plans to bring back the McDonald's McPizza, the company isn't completely ruling out its return. It is still an item that the company receives frequent questions about.

"All I can say is that you never know with McDonald's," Mr. Ford says.