McDonald's turned business around by making these major changes

Robert Galbraith/Reuters

McDonald's has been making huge changes over the past year to turn business around and improve its public image.

The company hired a new CEO, removed some items from the menu while adding new ones, and started serving breakfast all day.

The changes have helped drive up sales.

The company's quarterly same-store sales, or sales at McDonald's stores open at least a year, rose 5% globally in the most recent quarter. In the US, same-store sales rose 5.7%.

Here's a roundup of everything McDonald's has changed in the past year, as well as some of the recently announced changes to come.

The company hired a new CEO.

McDonald's CEO Don Thompson resigned in March and Steve Easterbrook, formerly the chief brand officer, took his place.

Easterbrook, 47, is the fast-food chain's first British CEO. Before McDonald's, he was briefly the CEO of the British restaurant brands PizzaExpress and Wagamama.

Easterbrook revealed his turnaround strategy for McDonald's in May, saying he planned to strip away layers of management, focus more on listening to customers, and act faster to adapt to consumers' changing tastes.

McDonald's revamped the quarter pounder.

The chain started toasting its buns longer and increased the size of the quarter-pounder patties from 4 ounces when raw to 4.25 ounces. The 4-ounce patties shrink to 2.8 ounces after cooking.

The company also changed how its patties are seared to lock in more flavor.

It also cut a bunch of sandwiches from the menu.

McDonald's axed the deluxe quarter pounder burger, six chicken sandwiches, and the honey mustard and chipotle barbecue snack wraps.

The company cut the items amid criticism that its bloated menu was slowing customer service.

The menu had grown 42.4% in seven years, from 85 items in 2007 to 121 items in 2014, according to The Wall Street Journal.