For nearly a decade, McDonald's same-store sales were climbing upward, but in 2012 a deceleration hit the Golden Arches. It's only within recent months that its top executives finally copped to having some hurdles to overcome, namely operational woes and a decline in consumer relevance.
"The U.S. is our largest market and has the most significant need for improvement in the near term," said McDonald's Chief Financial Officer Peter Bensen, speaking at RBC Capital Markets' Consumer and Retail Conference Wednesday, who called the first half of 2014 a "a service reset" for the business. At the conference this week, the chain offered a look at how it plans to tackle those problems, and it boils down to three tactics: improving marketing; focusing on core products and stepping up digital, including e-commerce.