{"id":3458,"date":"2025-05-29T14:15:18","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T13:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/?page_id=3458"},"modified":"2025-07-21T14:01:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T13:01:18","slug":"how-we-optimised-the-mcdonalds-menu","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/work\/how-we-optimised-the-mcdonalds-menu\/","title":{"rendered":"How we optimised the McDonald\u2019s menu"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
A smarter, simplified menu of choices<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

How we optimised the McDonald\u2019s menu<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

A customer base of this size is a researcher\u2019s dream; full of valuable insights and behaviour to explore. But there\u2019s also the challenge of loyalty. If you start making changes to a well-loved brand, how will consumers react?\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHow many items can you list from a McDonald\u2019s menu? 5? 10? 20? (Wow, you must be a\u00a0big<\/i>\u00a0fan!) Believe it or not, diners are given up to 100 items to choose from in McDonald\u2019s restaurants across the UK \u2014 making the fast food menu slow to understand and even slower to deliver.\n

Incite\u2019s unique Research approach<\/h2>\nYou\u2019ll find McDonald\u2019s customers everywhere in the country; 3.5 million of them head to the \u2018Golden Arches\u2019 for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert each day.\n\nA customer base of this size is a researcher\u2019s dream; full of valuable insights and behaviour to explore. But there\u2019s also the challenge of loyalty. If you start making changes to a well-loved brand, how will consumers react?\n\nKnowing that menu optimisation at the world\u2019s largest fast food chain shouldn\u2019t be taken lightly, Incite harnessed the collective power of customer voice \u2014 using a uniquely sophisticated \u2018interactive conjoint\u2019 questionnaire to reach 5000 McDonald\u2019s customers within the UK.\n\nReplicating the at-the-counter experience, respondents could choose from over 100 items as if they were ordering in-store. This allowed us to deconstruct\u00a0consumer choice architecture<\/a>\u00a0and better understand the myriad ways McDonald\u2019s serves its customers day in, day out.\n

What did we find out for McDonald\u2019s?\u00a0<\/h2>\nOur research allowed us to step into consumer\u2019s shoes, as if standing at the counter with them.\u00a0 From here, we were able to rationalise (and simplify!) the menu in a way that kept loyal customers happy and made each shift a little easier for McDonald\u2019s kitchen workers.\n\nBut the most important take-away \u2014 if you\u2019ll excuse the pun \u2014 was that a number of items could be dropped from the menu without\u00a0any<\/i>\u00a0negative impact on demand.\n\nToday, the chain\u2019s 1000-plus UK kitchens flow more smoothly and customers keep returning in their millions. Better still, Incite\u2019s research highlighted ways that McDonald\u2019s could better serve its customer base in the future, too. With customer-centric innovation in the pipeline, McDonald\u2019s can hold on to its market dominance and \u2018fast food\u2019 promise for many years to come.\n\nRead more<\/a>\u00a0from WARC on our menu optimisation work for McDonalds UK.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
DON'T JUST TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

It feels different to work with us<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Incite team live up to their name. They are true partners in the way they approach working with the team and create an environment where everyone is able to contribute and innovate.\nTheir workshop style approach ensures that everyone buys into the outcome and actions. Project deliverables have never just been a tick box exercise and they truly come up with tools\/outputs\/ideas that can be taken forward in a pragmatic way. \nIf they had a Google review page - it would have over 1,000 five star reviews. If they were a restaurant, they'd have a double Michelin star. That is genuinely how it feels to work with them.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHazim El Rais<\/span>Head of Commercial operations, leading biotech company<\/span><\/cite>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWe loved working with the STRAT7 Incite team on this large, strategically important innovation project. They brought passion, enthusiasm and smart thinking in bucket loads, challenging us, but also collaborating with us at every stage of the way. I\u2019m genuinely sad that it\u2019s over but also excited for where the outputs take us now, unlocking consumer led growth and new ways of thinking in our business. \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"McDonald's\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tClare Forster <\/span>Consumer Insight Lead, McDonald\u2019s <\/span><\/cite>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIncite\u2019s commercial astuteness and business-centric approach, paired with their passion to go above and beyond, make them an indispensable extension of our team.\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Clare\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tClare Marks<\/span>Head of Research & Insight, Virgin Trains<\/span><\/cite>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSTRAT7 Incite have been a true partner. They are constructive in challenging our thinking, committed, have an in-depth business understanding and act as true trusted advisors helping to manage internal stakeholders and their buy-in to the approach.\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"James\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJames Johnstone<\/span>Global Head of Customer and Data insights, Shell<\/span><\/cite>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSTRAT7 Incite have been a delight to work with; they brought significant expertise to guide our approach and importantly, a creativity to our activation that addresses sustained behaviour change across our organization\u200b.\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Amy\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAmy Gaertner<\/span>Head of Planning, vmo2<\/span><\/cite>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIt has been a pleasure working with the team. They demonstrate strong commercial acumen, expertise in analytics, and a quick response time. We can always rely on them to answer our business questions, making them very dependable. Thank you for the excellent work.\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Fei\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFei Ru Ooh<\/span>Global Mobility Insights Lead, Shell<\/span><\/cite>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tI really view the Incite team as an extension of the Tork insight team - I feel we collaborated very well together. We wanted them to be an integral part of the work throughout the project and they were.\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Jesper\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJesper Valdtun<\/span>Global Customer Insight Director, Essity<\/span><\/cite>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Get in touch<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

If you’d like to work with us we would love to hear from you.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/i>\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet in touch<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A smarter, simplified menu of choices How we optimised the McDonald\u2019s menu A customer base of this size is a researcher\u2019s dream; full of valuable insights and behaviour to explore. But there\u2019s also the challenge of loyalty. If you start making changes to a well-loved brand, how will consumers react?\u00a0 How many items can you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3401,"parent":68,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3458","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3458"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5050,"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3458\/revisions\/5050"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/68"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/incite.strat7.com\/en_us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}