The company hired a new CEO.
McDonald's CEO Don Thompson resigned in March and Steve Easterbrook, formerly the chief brand officer, took his place.
Easterbrook, 47, is the fast food chain's first British CEO. Before McDonald's, he was briefly the CEO of British restaurant brands PizzaExpress and Wagamama.
Easterbrook revealed his turnaround strategy for McDonald's in May, saying he planned to strip away layers of management, focus more on listening to customers, and act faster to adapt to consumers' changing tastes.
McDonald's revamped the quarter pounder.
The chain started toasting its buns longer and increased the size of the quarter-pounder patties from 4 ounces when raw to 4.25 ounces. The 4-ounce patties shrink to 2.8 ounces after cooking.
The company also changed how its patties are seared to lock in more flavor.
It also cut a bunch of sandwiches from the menu.
McDonald's axed the deluxe quarter pounder burger, six chicken sandwiches, and the honey mustard and chipotle barbecue snack wraps.
The company cut the items amid criticism that its bloated menu was slowing customer service.
The menu had grown 42.4% in seven years, from 85 items in 2007 to 121 items in 2014, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The chain tested a premium sirloin burger, but decided to phase it out when it didn't meet sales expectations.
McDonald's added a "sirloin third pounder" to the menu, with patties that weighed about 1.3 ounces more than the Quarter Pounder.
The limited-time item was introduced in May.
The burgers, made with 100% sirloin, featured the biggest meat patties on McDonald's menu. They were served on wooden boards meant to signify their premium quality, along with fancy toppings like grilled mushrooms, white cheddar cheese, and peppercorn sauce.
The company started expanding its customizable-burger menu, called "Create Your Taste," to thousands of restaurants nationwide.
The menu allows people to customize their burgers with premium toppings like guacamole, grilled mushrooms, onions, bacon, and chili-lime tortilla strips, using touch-screen kiosks.
McDonald's stopped using margarine on its breakfast sandwiches and replaced it with real butter, and sales exploded as a result.
Adding butter had an immediate impact, driving up sales of Egg McMuffins by double digits, executives said in October.
The chain launched a new buttermilk crispy-chicken sandwich made with real buttermilk.
The sandwich features a chicken breast filet marinated and battered with buttermilk and a blend of spices include pepper, garlic, and onion powder. It's topped with tomato, leaf lettuce, and mayonnaise, and served on an artisan roll.
The sandwich has been a hot seller, according to executives.
"It outperformed the high end of our expectations," McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook said of the sandwich in October.
And it launched a delivery service.
McDonald's started offering delivery in parts of New York City.
McDonald's is working with the delivery service Postmates to transport the food, and some of the 88 restaurants involved in the test offer delivery 24 hours a day.
Customers can order anything from the menu except for ice cream cones.
McDonald's stopped displaying the full menu on drive-through menu boards.
McDonald's simplified its drive-through menu boards to speed up customer service.
The company is now displaying only top-selling items on outdoor menus.
And started serving breakfast all day.
McDonald's fans have been begging the chain for years to serve breakfast all day.
Customers finally got what they were asking for in October, when McDonald's rolled out all-day breakfast nationwide.
The all-day menu is limited to a couple breakfast sandwiches, pancakes, and sides.
Restaurants are serving either McMuffin or biscuit sandwiches — not both — depending on local preferences. Hash browns are also available at most restaurants.
The chain previously stopped serving breakfast at 10:30 a.m.
The company started testing kale as an ingredient in breakfast bowls at nine Southern California locations.
The company is also testing quinoa and kale salads at a new restaurant concept in Canada.
The addition of kale to McDonald's menu came as a surprise, considering the chain's anti-kale sentiment in an ad that the company released earlier this year.
The ad shows close-up shots of a Big Mac and pokes fun at foodies and vegetarians.
"You can’t get juiciness like this from soy or quinoa," the ad's narrator chides. "Nor will this ever be kale," he adds as the camera zooms in on the lettuce in a Big Mac sandwich.
McDonald's announced plans to improve the quality of its chicken.
McDonald's has been rolling out upgrades to its chicken to better compete with rivals like Chick-fil-A.
The company vowed to remove all antibiotics vital to fighting human infections from its chicken supply within the next two years.
The chain is also removing a number of hard-to-pronounce ingredients from the grilled chicken used for sandwiches and wraps, and renaming it "Artisan Grilled Chicken."
The eggs are also getting an upgrade.
The company promised to shift to cage-free eggs in the US over the next 10 years.
And reintroduced Premium Chicken Selects.
Premium chicken selects cost $2.99 for a three-piece order, compared with $1.99 for a four-piece chicken McNugget order.
The premium chicken selects are made from whole pieces of chicken tenderloin that are breaded and fried, whereas McNuggets are made from ground chicken meat.
McDonald's raised wages for some of its employees.
McDonald's announced that it would be raising wages by more than 10%, but the increase applies to only a fraction of its workers.
The changes do not impact franchisee-owned restaurants, which account for 90% of the more than 14,000 McDonald's locations in the US. That means that just 10% of employees got a pay bump.
The company added more mid-priced sandwiches to the menu.
These include a McChicken sandwich with leaf lettuce and tomato and a double burger with leaf lettuce and tomato.
The sandwiches sell for roughly $1.50, about 30¢ more than similar sandwiches the company currently offers.
McDonald's started testing a new ground-chicken burger
The new chicken burger is made from a blend of white and dark ground chicken seasoned with spices like garlic and onion powder. It can be ordered in two varieties: "classic," with red onions and ranch sauce; and "tangy," with grilled onions and a tangy "signature sauce."
The sandwiches, which are each under 400 calories, also come with lettuce and tomato on a new "gourmet" potato bun.
The sandwich was rolled out in all 202 of McDonald's Tampa locations.
And added mozzarella sticks to the menu.
McDonald's is charging $1 for three mozzarella sticks.
The fast-food chain started testing the fried cheese sticks in Wisconsin this summer.
McDonald's said at the time that customers wanted more snacking options.
The chain added table service and a new menu in Southern California.
Customers will be able to order their meals at a register, then go to a table where their food will be brought to them by a McDonald's employee, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal.
The Southern California restaurants are also planning to roll out a new menu of burgers and chicken sandwiches, the company said in a news release.
The "Taste Crafted" menu will give customers the option to choose between beef, buttermilk crispy chicken, or artisan grilled chicken on a sesame seed bun, potato roll, or artisan roll.
Customers will also be able to choose between four flavor combinations: pico guacamole, buffalo bacon, maple bacon Dijon, and deluxe.
McDonald's revealed plans for a new promotion reminiscent of its former Dollar Menu.
The "McPick 2" deal will let customers select two of the following items for $2: a McDouble, a McChicken, small fries, and mozzarella sticks.
The promotion returns sandwiches to the $1 price point of the Dollar Menu.
The deal is the start of a broader value platform that McDonald's is planning to roll out next year.