McDonald's axes sandwiches and options to revive slumping sales

A McDonald's Pico Guacamole burger. (McDonald's)

McDonald's Corp. continues to tinker with its menu amid decline sales.

This week the fast food chain announced it has pulled sandwiches from its menu and is testing a simpler version of its Create Your Taste program.

Just months after the Golden Arches cut eight menu items, Bloomberg reports it has done it again, this time nixing nine sandwiches in the first quarter of 2015.  Of the items that already got the boot are the Deluxe Quarter Pounder burger, six chicken sandwiches, and the honey mustard and chipotle barbecue snack wraps.

A spokesperson for the company tells Bloomberg that the items were axed from menus as part of a “rolling removal,” meaning restaurants discontinued the meals when they ran out of supplies.

McDonald's started slimming down its menu following six straight quarters of same-store sales declines in the U.S, according to Bloomberg, in an effort to speed up customer service.

Meanwhile, the Golden Arches announced it’s testing a simpler version of its Create Your Taste program that lets customers customize their burgers with fewer options.

Called TasteCrafted, the streamlined service will still give customers choices, but aims to speed things up in the service line and at the drive-thru, McDonald’s announced.

“Customers will be able to customize their burger or chicken sandwich with their choice of bun and topping combinations, including bacon clubhouse, pico guacamole, hot jalapeno and deluxe,” McDonald’s spokeswoman Lisa McComb told Crains. The idea is to “quickly introduce more choice to our customers as we work toward greater customization.”

The program will be tested along California's central coast, the Atlanta region and in Portland, Oregon. Customizable food is one tactic McDonald’s is using to lure back customers who want choices they can find a restaurants, such as Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.

But the slimmed down options doesn’t necessarily mean boring burgers.

A Chicago man recently created a $900 burger as part of McDonald’s Create Your Taste program. On his gigantic burger was 10 slices of American cheese, 10 slices of sharp white cheese, 10 slices of pepper jack cheese, 10 pieces of bacon, 10x the order of pickles, 10x red onions, 10x guacamole and more.