McDonald's

Location: 40 Glebe Road

First Shovel of Dirt: Fall 2007

Just the Facts:

• CLOSED FOR REBUILD - There are cranes around the MacDonald's at the intersection of Glebe Road and Route 50 this week. But it doesn't mean we are loosing the fast-food favorite which has been at that location since 1969. Rather, it anticipates the replacement of the "golden arches" with the "swish brow".
  
  
• In 2006, the 51-year-old fast-food giant introduced its "Forever Young" brand by redesigning all of their restaurants. The redesign of over 30,000 eateries around the globe represents their first design overhaul since the introduction of play places for children in the early 1980s.
  
  
• The new design will tone down their original yellow and red colors, and complement with olive and sage green. Restaurants will have less plastic and more brick and wood. Hanging lights will produce a softer atmosphere and contemporary art or photographs will decorate the walls.
  
  
• The double slanted mansard roof will be replaced by a flat roof topped by a newly designed, contemporary, golden sloping curve. The "swish brow" replaces the classic "golden arches".
  
  
• The interior of the restaurants will feature areas such as:
  
  
  • The "linger" zone which, like Starbucks, includes armchairs, sofas, and Wi-Fi connections;
  • the "grab and go" zone offers tall counters with bar stools and plasma TVs; and
  • the "flexible" zone, targeted toward families, with fabric cushioned booths.
  
  
• The redesign was created by New York-based Lippincott Mercer. For more details on the process for the redesign, visit the Corporate Design Foundation site.
  
  

• For more pictures and more information about the redesign, visit Business Week online.

Trivia (from Wikipedia):

• According to Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (2001), nearly one in eight workers in the U.S. have at some time been employed by McDonald's. (According to a news piece on Fox News this figure is one in ten).
  
  
• The book also states that McDonald's is the largest private operator of playgrounds in the U.S., as well as the single largest purchaser of beef, pork, potatoes, and apples.
  
  

For More Information:

• McDonald's Official Web site - Corporate and USA
• History of McDonald's on WIKIPEDIA
• Business Week article "Mickey D's McMakeover" (May 15, 2006) with slideshow of already finished restaurants

Exterior of existing redesigned McDonald's



Interior of existing redesigned McDonald's