CHICAGO – While McDonald’s announced recently farewell to
the Angus Burger and Chicken Selects, they probably won’t be the only
McDonald’s dishes on the chopping block, Bloomberg News reports.
The QSR chain has also considered cutting Caesar salads, the
McSkillet Burrito, the Southern Style Biscuit and steak bagels, a franchisee
told Bloomberg News.
The menu overhaul is an effort by McDonald’s to streamline a
menu that has grown nearly 70% since 2007, an expansion that has strained
kitchen staff, while slowing service and spoiling customers for choice.
“It’s gotten to the point where the operation has kind of
broken down and that’s all a symptom of the complication of the menu,” said
Richard Adams, a San Diego-based restaurant franchisee consultant and former
McDonald’s store owner. “They can’t make the food fast enough.”
“We are constantly adding and removing menu items,” said Danya
Proud, a McDonald’s spokeswoman. “It’s not new for McDonald’s. We’ve been doing
it for decades!”
McDonald’s Chief Executive Officer Don Thompson is trying to
revive U.S. same-store sales, which dropped 1.2% in the first quarter.
Even as the company cuts items, it keeps adding new ones,
including egg-white McMuffin sandwiches, three chicken McWraps, and three
new Quarter Pounder hamburgers.
Meanwhile, Burger King earlier this year began selling
turkey and veggie burgers, and Wendy’s launched flatbread grilled chicken
sandwiches.
While McDonald’s has added double-lane drive thrus to speed
its service, the efforts are offset by new items, which take longer to make,
such as the McWraps. And it takes longer to get through the McDonald’s drive
thru than it used to, according to QSR Magazine and Insula Research Inc. Last
year, the average time was 189 seconds, compared with 184 seconds in 2011 and
167 seconds in 2007.