McDonald’s (MCD) has come to the conclusion, it seems, that the problem with healthful foods such as broccoli is that they don’t taste enough like bubble gum. The chain is on a mission to serve children healthier foods, and that means they have to get kids to like them first.

So in a feat of culinary experimentation, the fast food chain created broccoli that did exactly that—it tasted like bubble gum, reports Business Insider. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a hit in testing: The candy-flavored vegetable only confused children. “It wasn’t all that,” Chief Executive Officer Don Thompson admitted during an event hosted by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz on Thursday night.

In addition to product development of all kinds, McDonald’s has been reconsidering its overall menu and marketing strategy as it struggles with falling same-store sales this year. Worldwide comparable sales for the year ended in October down 1 percent, with the U.S. down 2.1 percent.

Maybe gum-flavored broccoli was worth a shot. Nine in 10 children don’t eat enough vegetables, according to the Centers for Disease Control (PDF). About one-third of the vegetables children did eat from 2009 to 2010 consisted of potatoes, most of which were eaten as chips or fried (as in French fries). That’s one vegetable McDonald’s does very, very well.

(Bloomberg Businessweek)