A lot of the franchisees complain about the growth of the menu. Too many marginal products they are required to produce. Then there is the complain about HQ marketing stunts that have no known purpose (free coffee, fer instance). McD lost its founding vision for any number of reasons. Press I've been reading says McD will go back to its roots.
Too many products for the franchisee, and too many for the customer. It has been years since you could look on the overhead menu and see every available product listed. A few recently-renovated stores now use digital menu boards, so the display can scroll through the entire menu -- but (at least around here) those are few and far between.
Another annoying trait is lack of menu consistency from one store to another. The value menu includes a "McDouble," which is a double cheeseburger but with only one slice of cheese rather than two. To shave a couple more calories, I usually order a McDouble and tell than to hold the cheese. The store nearest home does that -- and they charge me for a McDouble. Last price I remember was $1.19, but it may have gone up.
If I go to the McD's nearest to work and ask for a McDouble with no cheese, the order taker always says, "Oh, you want a double hamburger" -- or else doesn't say anything and rings up a double hamburger. The price for that is $0.99. Go back to the one near home and ask for a double hamburger and they tell me there is no such thing.
The one near home offers sundaes in chocolate, caramel and strawberry. Another, newer one a few miles in the other direction doesn't have strawberry sundaes.
Not insurmountable once I learn the foibles of the individual stores, but it's very annoying away from my home turf when the menu isn't the same as what I'm accustomed to. I understand that, due to rent, taxes, and perhaps food costs the price for any menu item may vary by a few cents from one location to another, but the actual menu choices should be uniform.
It was much easier when all they sold was a burger, fries and a shake. The McDonald's ad jingle when I was in high school was, "Forty five cents for a three course meal? Sounds to me like that's a steal. ... AAAAAT McDonald's."
The three course meal, of course, was a burger, fries, and shake.