McDonald's Releases Too Many New Products At Once

According to Wall Street Journal:

McDonald's Corp. came out with its strongest acknowledgment yet that its customer service in the U.S. has suffered recently, and that it blundered by introducing too many new menu items too quickly.

Jeff Stratton, president of McDonald's USA, said the chain introduced several new products and limited-time offers this year to give customers more variety.

"The pace of product introduction in my opinion: too fast," he said Thursday afternoon at an investor meeting at the company's Oak Brook, Ill., headquarters.

Between March and July alone, McDonald's added Premium McWraps, Egg White Delight McMuffins, blueberry pomegranate smoothies and new Quarter Pounders to its menu. 

The fast pace of the new-product introductions "created challenges for the restaurants," making their operations more complex in ways that slowed service, Mr. Stratton said.

***

To rectify the situation, the company is planning to spend less on remodeling next year by updating just 300 restaurants in the U.S., compared with 465 this year through the third quarter.

It will instead invest in new preparation tables for all of its U.S. outlets that can accommodate more ingredients and speed the assembly process. The new tables also will help address demand for customized orders.

"Ingredients"...