The last few years have seen a major public and media backlash against fast food and poor diets, especially in the US and UK. In this climate, McDonald’s in particular has taken a beating, with press articles and books such as Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation claiming its food leads to obesity and that its restaurants and marketing target children.
McDonald’s’ largest region by revenue is now Europe and it is here that the company’s European Design Studio is steadily evolving the look of its fast food restaurants. This design investment, coupled with more menu changes in the past four years than in the previous 30, has led to significant sales growth in the region and a slow reinvention of the brand.
In the UK especially, McDonald’s has ended the one-size-fits all approach to restaurant designs, adopting the more varied styles already in place on the continent. The company has worked with UK design consultancies Spence Harris Hogan Associates, Adcock Clayton and AEW Architects on this refurbishment programme and this year launched staff uniforms by fashion designer Bruce Oldfield in a bid to ‘close the gap between the perceptions and reality of work at McDonald’s’.
Although a tough market for McDonald’s, UK sales are rising. And across Europe the business is growing much more quickly than the US, with recent results showing a double-digit income growth that McDonald’s specifically attributes to its augmented menus and improved restaurant designs.
