McDonald's Trims Menu, Expands Customization to Turn Around Brand
McDonald's has an new unofficial tagline: "We won't do it all for you."
Starting in January, the quick-serve giant will trim items from its bulging menu, including recession-busting Extra Value Meals, as it starts to roll out "Create Your Taste" do-it-yourself digital kiosks across America so customers can build and order their own burgers and chicken sandwiches.
The slimmed down menu and customization moves come as the chain faces its worst financial slump since 2001, and are a key part of the brand's "Experience of the Future" turnaround plan.
n an operational acknowledgement that its domestic menu has become unwieldly, the plan is to cut eight items in the new year from a board that offers more than 100 options overall.
The moves, disclosed at the chain's investor meeting this week, amount to the best evidence yet that CEO Don Thompson and his ever-changing roster of top U.S. executives are finally bringing potential solutions to some of the company's biggest problems to the fore.
The chain didn't say which items would be axed, but executives did point out that market tests of the changes have cut drive-through wait times. McDonald's also will reduce the number of extra value meals to 11 from 16 in a further effort to simplify its menu.
The cuts are "not significant in terms of percentage" of McDonald's menu, Mike Andres, recently promoted USA president for McDonald's, told investors. "It is significant in terms of the impact on the back of the line."
