This Is the One Burger That Could Save McDonald’s

McDonald’s is going back to basics after an over-complicated menu contributed to a sluggish 2013. The fast-food king saw flat sales in 2013 and a slight drop in customers. Executives think that’s partly due to a menu that got, well, too fancy.

In response, McDonald’s unveiled a more traditional Bacon Clubhouse sandwich this week, available as beef or chicken topped with lettuce and a thick slice of tomato. To give it some flair, the sandwich will be served on an “artisanal roll.”

The brand-new-yet-mostly-traditional burger comes after a tough year, when McDonald’s experimented with a number of new menu items. Last year, McDonald’s introduced Fish McBites, which went on the menu February, McWraps, available in March, and Mighty wings, in September. But even as the economy expanded in 2013, McDonald’s saw a 0.2 percent drop in U.S. same-store sales. And February sales in the U.S. were even worse, when restaurants saw a full 1.4 percent drop. (Cold weather didn’t help.)

At a conference Tuesday McDonald’s CFO, Peter Bensen said the company plans to “refocus on the core” in 2014, including old Mickey D’s favorites like the Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, French fries and Chicken McNuggets, reports Bloomberg Businessweek. The new Bacon Clubhouse Burger, which hearkens back to the classics, will be a core menu item. It’s all part of McDonald’s plan to introduce new items at a manageable pace. Last year “we probably did things a little bit too quickly,” Bensen said.