McDonald's might change the drive-thru menu to a few of its most popular items

McDonald's might redesign its drive-thru menu to improve business.

The fast food giant has added 100 new US menu items over the past decade, according to Morgan Stanley.

The overloaded menu has bogged down workers and led to the longest drive-thru wait times in company history. Keeping kitchens stocked with so many ingredients is also expensive for the company's franchisees.

To deal with the problem, McDonald's has been cutting some menu items.

But the entire design of McDonald's menu could change soon, Pete Benson, chief administrative officer, said at the UBS Global Consumer Conference.

"It's actually making the menu easier for the customer to order and making the menu easier for our crew and managers to execute," he said. "So, part of it is frankly looking at low moving items and taking them off the menu, but some of that is looking at how we actually display and market it."

Benson suggested that the company could limit the drive-thru menu to hugely popular items like McNuggets, burgers, and fries.

These popular items make up 80% of sales, according to Benson.

Executives believe redesigning the menu would help improve customer service.

"You could significantly reduce the clutter and make it easier when you pull into that drive-through to order something and get on with it," Benson said. "So that has benefits of improving the throughput and improving the order accuracy because the crew is making fewer products and making them more frequently."

It's likely that customers can still order items like smoothies, but they're less likely to if they aren't displayed at the drive-thru.

McDonald's US sales fell 4% in February.