McDonald's to Ax 8 Menu Items; Let's Guess Which Ones

At a recent investor meeting, McDonald's announced that they will be slimming down their menu by 8 items heading into 2015 but didn't choose to mention which so I thought it'd be fun to try and figure out which items would get the boot.

Let's start with the items that are pretty much untouchable. These are pretty much the signature items at McDonald's and as much a part of the brand as the golden arches:

- Fries - perhaps the best fast food fries anywhere.
- Big Mac
- Quarter Pounder with Cheese
- Hamburger
- Cheeseburger - along with the Hamburger, the original McDonald's burgers.
- McChicken
- Chicken McNuggets

Next are the solid role players of the menu. They're not quite iconic but there would definitely be a void if any of them got the boot:

- Baked Pies
- McFlurry
- Cones, Shakes, and Sundaes
- Premium Chicken Sandwiches
- Filet-O-Fish - arguably a signature item but not nearly as popular as the others except around Lent.
- McRib - honorable mention since it's a limited-time item that's only available at some locations and only some of the time.
- Salads - a menu necessity at this point.
- McDouble and Double Cheeseburger
- Breakfast - McDonald's pretty much owns breakfast over most competitors; I don't see them getting rid of anything here.
- McCafe menu

Now we get to the meat of things: the "Maybes." There are items that might be good but are also an example of McDonald's trying to be everything to everyone. For the items with several menu variants, they might rid of one of the variants.

- McWraps - I don't think they'll get rid of these though; they're pretty good and deliver a one-two punch of greens and portability. They could pare down the selection by one however.
- Snack Wraps - maybe they should just get rid of these and sell half portions of McWraps instead. I would not miss the Mac Snack Wrap.
- McChicken and McDouble variants - they introduced a lot of these with the Dollar Menu & More expansion, and I can see them scaling back for simplicity's sake.
- Quarter Pounder variants - these filled in the gap after the Angus Third Pounders were discontinued, but they're a little to similar to each other. Maybe they'll get rid of one.
- Cinnamon Melts - Some customers don't even know they exist.
- Cookies - I like these but who knows?
- Clubhouse Sandwich and Burger - I don't think they get rid of these; they do make the Quarter Pounder variants a little redundant though.

There you have it. If I were a betting man, I would put my money on the value sandwich- and Quarter Pounder-variants getting axed. There might be 8 items just from those alone.