For the next generation, the company has eliminated fiberglass tables, industrial steel chairs and neon-yellow, bright "clown" red interiors. It is replacing them with wooden [image-nocss] tables, comfortable faux leather chairs and interiors newly painted in muted oranges, yellows and even subtle greens, said the report. And the white facade is being replaced with more inviting earth tones and glass.
USA Today was given a look at the McDonald's remodeling plans in Tampa that will set the tone for the rest of the nation. After revamping 280 stores in various markets last year, McDonald's is now opting for the Tampa model and will spread that design to more than 800 locations this year, the report said, approximately triple what it did last year.
"McDonald's has to change with the times," Jim Carras, senior vice president of domestic restaurant development for the giant chain, told the newspaper. "And we have to do so faster than we ever have before."
McDonald's is not just doing this to make customers cozy. It is trying to quash its rivals--particularly Burger King and Wendy's--that do not have McDonald's deep pockets and the recent sales success necessary to make such costly upgrades. It is doing it to try to pry customers away from slightly pricier casual chains, including Panera Bread and even Chipotle, the Mexican chain that had once been partly owned by McDonald's. And it is doing it to begin cementing a new image of McDonald's in the minds of consumers.
If the new look proves to be a hit, it could redefine America's biggest restaurant chain and nudge competitors at all ends of the spectrum to find some way to respond, said the report.
With this change, however, McDonald's risks looking so different from the McDonald's most Americans have grown up with that a key part of its customer base--namely, families with young kids--could feel less welcome.
"Flashy decor may not sit well with Middle America," Scott Hume, editor of the restaurant industry blog BurgerBusiness, told the paper. "The trick is to go techno without going Jetsons."
If the change works, "This could be a game-changer for McDonald's," David Palmer, analyst at UBS, told USA Today.
McDonald's McCafes already have borrowed the profitable specialty coffee concept from Starbucks. Now, it's also borrowing small pieces of Starbucks' look and feel. Starbucks executives declined to comment to the paper on the changes.
McDonald's--which for years has emphasized serving customers quickly then getting them out the door--will continue expanding its food and beverage menu, with plans to add even more upscale munchies.
In addition to Tampa, McDonald's is renovating stores in the New York City market, where the new designs--particularly the photos and paintings inside--are flashier than in Tampa; however, the changes in the Tampa market more closely reflect what the rest of the nation can expect to see in its local McDonald's restaurants.
The biggest driver behind the redo: Nicer-looking stores attract more business, said the report. Even a smash-hit new product fails to attract as much business as a redesign, Hume said. The handful of Tampa-area stores that franchisee Blake Casper already has redesigned over the past year have seen double-digit sales boosts, he said.
"We want people to say that it feels like a modern building," Max Carmona, senior director of U.S. restaurant design, told the paper.
Perhaps more than anything, the domestic modernization of McDonald's is about simplicity. Some designs were borrowed from McDonald's already ultramodernized outlets in Europe and Australia. Some ideas came from slightly more upscale competitors. Some even came from Apple.
"McDonald's will have a much better chance of luring the most profitable customer [who orders pricey Angus Burgers instead of Big Macs] while retaining the entry-level visitor," Palmer said.
Some highlights: Redoing roofs. The bright red roofs that have topped McDonald's for several decades are getting the heave, replaced with flatter, more conventional roofs. Muting paint. The neon yellows and reds common to the interiors and exteriors are becoming history, replaced with much more subtle oranges, reds, yellows and even greens. Eliminating fiberglass. The familiar fiberglass tables that have been a mainstay are being replaced mostly by wood. Updating chairs. Those industrial steel chairs are giving way to wooden chairs, colorful stools and, in some cases, vinyl-covered chairs that resemble leather. Some stores will have larger lounge chairs similar to the kind you might expect to find in a coffee shop. Doubling drive-throughs. To ease lines inside and outside stores, many locations are adding second drive-through windows to speed up service. Splashing color. McDonald's hasn't junked it's familiar red and yellow colors altogether, but it is making them far less obvious. Instead of filling the restaurants with them, it is splashing bright yellow and red here and there for effect. Junking the fluorescent look. Overhead fluorescent lights are being replaced with more contemporary lamps that make the lighting in stores look less like that of offices. Dividing dining areas. The sea of tables and chairs is history in the remodeled stores. The new dining rooms are divided into separate eating zones for larger groups, eat-and-run customers and people who want to stay and lounge. Adding flat-screens TVs. Large, flat-screen TVs--some playing contemporary music--are showing up in many locations, though fewer than half of the remodeled stores will display them. Erecting semi-swooshes. Curving across the top of the newly flattened roof is what McDonald's calls the yellow "brow"--or half of a golden arch. It's got the familiar, bright-yellow design but encased in a Nike swoosh-like arc.The overall redesign "allows us to broaden our menu," Carras added. Now, "Customer experience can match menu variety."
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