McDonald's CEO reveals his favorite menu item

Steve Easterbrook became CEO of McDonald's eight months ago.

But he's been working for the company for more than 20 years, and he's been a fan of the chain's food for decades.

In 1978, when he was an 11-year-old student at Watford grammar school for boys in the UK, he and his friends used to take the subway to the London borough of Harrow to visit McDonald's.

"Me and my mate used to go across the park, jump on the Met line to get the tube into Harrow. There was a sports shop we always used to go into, and there was a McDonald's," he told the Guardian in 2008. "We used to go off with three or four quid in our pocket. That would cover our train fare, mooching around Harrow, and going to McDonald's. It was the first time I had shakes and fries."

Nearly 40 years later, he's now the CEO of the fast-food chain, and his favorite menu item is as basic as it comes: a quarter pounder with cheese, he told the New York Times in a recent interview.

Maybe that's why he's made a number of changes to the quarter pounder in recent months.

Since becoming CEO, Easterbrook has asked cooks to start toasting the buns longer and he has increased the size of the meat patties. He has also changed how the meat patties are cooked and seared.