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McDonald's to ramp up restaurant makeover

by Gemma Charles, Marketing 04-Mar-08, 08:25

LONDON - McDonald's is rolling out a fresh restaurant exterior design as part of its UK-wide refurbishment programme.

The 'Folded roof' concept is to be implemented on McDonald's 752 drive-through restaurants this year. The design includes a slanted roof and timber-effect slats at the front of the restaurant, which highlight the signage.

The interiors of the outlets will also be refurbished, based on a design the company has dubbed 'Purely simple'. This look, which is characterised by natural tones, has been rolled out in six restaurants so far. McDonald's plans to complete another 100 'Purely simple' refurbishments this year.

The chain attributes part of its recent resurgence to its 'reimaging' programme, during which it has tried to transform its restaurants' sometimes sterile and garish interiors into trendy cafe-style haunts under the banner 'Less is more'. McDonald's claims that its 'reimaged' restaurants record sales increases of about 6% after the changes are made.

The 'Less is more' look is now in place in 120 restaurants, with another 100 planned by the end of this year. The design includes colours such as khaki, orange and russet in a mixture of geometrics, lines and patterns created by French designer Philippe Avanzi.

McDonald's January sales for Europe were up by 8.2% compared with the same period last year. It attributed double-digit growth in the region for the last quarter of 2007 to its strategies of 'upgrading customer experience and building brand transparency'.