TakeAway: The McRib – a boneless pork patty molded into the shape of a rib slab and adorned with pickles, onions and barbecue sauce on a bun – is almost never available at all McDonald’s restaurants at the same time.
Instead, the Golden Arches offers them in different cities at different times, rarely for longer than a few weeks.
The elusive nature of McRibs has prompted a “McRib Locator” website and offers cache to a humdrum sandwich.
Sometimes, distribution is slim on purpose.
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Excerpted from the Wall Street Journal, “Bona Fide Fans Chase Rib-Free Rib Sandwich” By Julie Jargon and David Kesmodel, October 11, 2010
The sandwich’s elusiveness has created a fan base of people who go to considerable lengths to munch on a McRib. On Nov. 2, for the first time in 16 years, McDonald’s will offer the McRib at outlets across the U.S., but even then, only for six weeks or so. “It doesn’t sell well all year long because people get tired of it,” says McDonald’s USA President Jan Fields.
Plenty of companies offer limited-time products to coincide with holidays or promotions. Burger King offered actual ribs for a while this year. Mars sells red and green M&M’s at Christmas.
While the chain says it sold more than 60 million McRib sandwiches in the last three years, it sold 1.5 billion Big Macs in the same period. But every sale counts in a business that demands month after month of strong same-store sales.
Edit by AMW
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Full Article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704696304575538373863627604.html?mod=WSJ_hps_RIGHTTopCarousel_2
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The Homa Files 
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