McDonald's Expands Build-Your-Own-Burger Testing

In the words of Businessweek, McDonald's is "crowdsourcing its next hit burger" with the multiple-city expansion of its build-your-own burger trials, which are currently underway at four locations in Southern California. The burger chain is reportedly experiencing its worst sales slump in a decade, and is turning to its customers for help.

The build-your-own-burger trials let customers pick out their own burger toppings, with 22 options in total, including guacamole, bacon, grilled onions, chili-lime tortilla strips and spicy mayo.

Lisa McComb, a spokeswoman for McDonald's confirmed to Bloomberg that do-it-yourself option "will be taken to additional markets depending on how the trial goes," although no additional locations have been revealed at this time.

Like its recent move to trademark "McBrunch," McDonald's is likely working to hold onto its millennial customer, for whom menu customization has proven popular given the success of competitors like Chipotle and Potbelly Shop.

In February, a strategy officer for McDonald's told Yahoo Finance that the company hoped the trials would help attract "a different type of customer and more of a dinner-time crowd," as well as provide more data about customers.

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Karen Lo is an associate editor at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @appleplexy.