McDonald's Makeover
Reader Julian Becker calls my attention to this article by Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamen. McDonald's, it seems, has discovered, in Kamin's words, that "There is substance in style and if you want to sell a hamburger and fries, you had better take note." The new McDonald's design isn't just prettier and more up-to-date. It also encompasses more variety.
What they've done inside the new and refurbished buildings is better, recognizing, as the year-old flagship McDonald's along Ontario Street in Chicago does, that people come to McDonald's in different-size groups and with different expectations for their experience. So there are three kinds of seating areas: a "fast" zone, with a large communal table or smaller adjoining tables with stool seats; a "social" zone, where families and others can park in banquettes around big tables; and a more secluded "linger" zone with comfy, upholstered chairs.
This is real customization and it comes with real comfort (the banquettes are outfitted with imitation leather seats and backs versus the "measured comfort" of the double-mansard era, with its cushioned backs and plastic seats). There's also real choice (you actually can move some of the chairs around, unlike the old fixed ones that made you feel like you were eating in the high school gym).
For all the talk about "de-plasticizing" McDonald's, there is still plenty of plastic present in the faux wood tabletops, floors and walls, all of which can be easily cleaned. But the design cleverly de-emphasizes plastic, drawing the eye instead to warm brick walls, soft pendant lights (which replace the harsh lights inserted in acoustical tile) or the plasma TVs that indulge the modern habit of multitasked eating.
With this and other smart touches -- like the red Eames chair and a modern fireplace that adorn the linger zone in the new McDonald's in Westerville -- the result is attractive without being snooty, more a restaurant and less of a pit stop, responding to the rising expectations that people today bring to shopping and eating.
Alas, the Tribune site includes no photos of the new McDonald's.