McDonald's to debut new value menu in January amid turnaround

By Lisa Baertlein

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp said it would debut a "McPick" U.S. value menu in January as turnaround efforts continue at the world's largest restaurant chain by revenue.

The first promotion will be "McPick 2 for $2," and will run from Jan. 4 through Feb. 8, McDonald's spokeswoman Lisa McComb said on Tuesday, adding that the menu would offer choice and flexibility.

McDonald's will still offer its Dollar Menu & More value menu, which will share some items with the McPick menu, McComb said.

McDonald's introduced the Dollar Menu & More to wean customers off its $1 value menu. The goal with McPick is to convince them to spend more money and to shake the chain's reputation for serving cheap food.

"I believe we can own the modern definition of value," McDonald's Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook said at the company's investor meeting last week, where he said new value platform was in the works.

Easterbrook, who has vowed to remake McDonald's as a "modern, progressive burger company," has been taking steps to bolster the taste and quality of McDonald's food by using butter instead of margarine on Egg McMuffins and switching to cage-free eggs and chicken from animals raised with fewer antibiotics.

In October, McDonald's reported a stronger-than-expected increase in third quarter sales at established restaurants, ending six straight quarters of flat or declining results.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles)