McDonald's To Look Like Starbucks

McDonald's is taking a cue from Starbucks and upgrading the look and feel of its stores, reports USA Today. The fast food giant has invested over $1 billion in remodeling its 14,000 U.S. franchises and hopes to have most of the facelifts complete by 2015.

Jim Carras, senior vice president of domestic restaurant development for McDonald's explains that it is important to change with the times and to do so faster than ever. Not only is the chain hoping to edge out rivals like Burger King and Wendy's but McDonald's also hopes to give Panera and Chipotle a run for their money as well.

Simply put, "nicer-looking stores attract more business," as is proven by McDonald's newly redesigned Tampa branch, which has seen a double-digit sales boost in the past year. McDonald's sought inspiration from its outposts in France and Australia, which already have a sleeker, more modern feel. Additional inspiration has also come from the uber-sleek Apple stores.

The "McRemodel" laundry list of changes includes:

• nixing the red roofs


• a focus on earth tones rather than red and yellow


• no more fiberglass, no more steel chairs


• more drive-through windows


• getting rid of fluorescent lights


• adding flat-screen TVs

This isn't McDonald's first redesign effort, (see here and here) but the Tampa model is serving as a standard for what 800 other franchises will look like by the end of the year.

With free Wi-Fi and increasingly popular coffee at McDonald's, Starbucks might be the one playing catch up before you know it. Which makes us hope, maybe a menu makeover could come next?

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McDonald's also posted April sales on Monday, exceeding Wall Street's expectations with a six per cent rise in revenue at stores open at least 13 months.

Comments

[Informatix]

10:37 PM on 05/13/2011

Adding flat screen TVs? That's not like Starbucks at all, but, rather, like...McDonald's!. McDonald's atmosphere is tawdry enough with an annoying boob tube blaring empty-headed TV fare.

[BobHiggins]

08:32 AM on 05/13/2011

Going to McDonald's for good food and a tasteful atmosphere is akin to traveling to Texas City and expecting Yellowstone.

McDonald's never disappoints, I only yield and inflict myself with their product about once a year because the awful aftertaste, if not the indigestion, lasts approximately that long. The food is dreck to be consumed by people that you have little regard for, like the kids.

As for the new more tasteful atmosphere, I doubt that the addition of lipstick will alter the species.

[RTFanatic]

08:09 AM on 05/13/2011

Raising prices, too? It's already too expensive. I say keep the old look and give me a $2 Big Mac!

[The Colonel]

12:25 PM on 05/12/2011

Remember: McDonalds' food has all the freshness of roadkill with half the nutritional value.

[Jcray]

12:17 PM on 05/12/2011

How are McDonald's going to compete with Chipotle? Don't they own Chipotle?

[bg222]

12:14 PM on 05/12/2011

It will help the economy with all the construction, too bad about the millions of pounds of garbage it will put into the landfill.

[The Colonel]

12:28 PM on 05/12/2011

True. But wouldn't you rather see it go into a landfill than children's stomachs?

[The Colonel]

12:11 PM on 05/12/2011

The McDonalds in my town also airs FoxNews on its' TVs. Where else can you get brainwashed and poisoned at the same time?

[Jon Bowers]

12:55 AM on 06/02/2011

You really are not that bright are you? Your comments are so childish.

[DebB]

12:08 PM on 05/12/2011

If they offered better food - like Panera - that would be the ultimate upgrade.

I would like to see what they do with the McDonald's I accidently ended up at in Harlem one dark scary night! ;) because I took the express instead of the local!!

[Dragontech]

12:04 PM on 05/12/2011

I worked for McDonalds for 7 years due to a lack of college education, all over the US and the one thing I can say about them is that the working conditions are horrible. High stress, loud, low pay, no benefits. They quality of their food has always been deplorable. So what if they are revamping how they look? Until they get rid of the "USDA Grade D But Edible" beef (taken straight from the box it used to come in, they changed the box, not the beef) and the chicken puree nuggets, then they are still the same old toxic sludge that nobody should ever be eating.

[MsMarchHare]

11:57 AM on 05/12/2011

mcdonalds, and burger king coffee is made from a premanufactured concentrated syrup. Sorry....I just prefer my coffe made fresh.

[Joel Kent Melville]

11:51 AM on 05/12/2011

oh wait i misread that their adding more.

[Joel Kent Melville]

11:51 AM on 05/12/2011

no more drive up window? whaaaaat? thats a big part of their customer base right there.

[S Cooper]

11:42 AM on 05/12/2011

We've had these redesigned McDonald's in Canada for a couple of years now. They really are very nice, with brick walls, gas fireplaces, nice tables and chairs. None of which changes the fact that the service (at least here in New Brunswick) is appalling and the food still sucks. I only set food inside on road trips when there's nothing else available.

[Dragontech]

12:09 PM on 05/12/2011

I won't even eat there on road trips. The food is just short of toxic, and long term exposure causes severe obesity, diabetes, coronary artery disease and high blood pressure. They shouldn't be remodeling their restaurants, they should be closing them, until they can make real food.

[REEE SPECT WALK]

11:32 AM on 05/12/2011

I thought it was funny when McD's coffee beat out Starbucks in a nationwide blind taste test. McD's has really grown over the years. You can get breakfast, lunch, or dinner there. They have healthy choices and unhealthy (healthy for the soul) choices. They're an American icon. I've been all over the world and in every country where there are McD's, there are always lines.

[SanDiegoD]

11:21 AM on 05/12/2011

McDonalds used to make up a bunch of sanwiches, which went into the warming bin with heat lights until the expiry, which was signaled with a metal tab with clock numbers on it, and then they were discarded and fresh ones added. You got your sandwich in less than 10 seconds.

Now, in order to provide you with "fresh" sandwiches "made to order", they assemble them once you order, with patties that have sat in the warming trays for who knows how long. You wait several minutes for this "fresh" sandwich to be served to you, with a dried-up patty in it.

Want to increase your customer satisfaction, go back to the old system. And clean the filthy floors. And get rid of the 15 people behind the counter who are not making food or serving customers.