McDonald's is planning to cut items and ingredients from their menu in efforts to speed up service, bolster sales and offer consumers personalized options.

The change in the marketing plan is a strategy for the fast food restaurant to compete with competitors Subway and Chipotle Mexican Grill, reported Yahoo Finance. 

McDonald's is cutting 13 items from the menu, according to Mike Andres, the company's U.S. president. The menu cut will result in eight fewer food items and five fewer Extra Value Meals. 

"There's more to come," Andres said on a conference call with investors. "We don't need to have a big menu board to offer variety." 

Part of the changes will include shorter ingredient lists in the foods offered, something that Andres told Yahoo Finance is an enormous task. 

"Why do we have to have preservatives in our food? We probably don't," Andres said. "Many busy McDonald's locations go through their food quickly, which Andres said makes the preservatives seemingly unnecessary."

The changes may also be a business strategy for the company that has not seen a financial gain since Oct. 2013. 

McDonald's is already testing the slimmed down menu in in six markets, including Bakersfield, California and Knoxville, Tennessee. The company plans to introduce this menu nationwide in 2015.