McDonald's has offered a sneak peak of the future of its sixty year old brand, and it looks shiny.
McDonald's Next landed in Hong Kong complete with a salad bar, touch screens, table service and an open kitchen, as though those kitchens weren't already open enough.
McDonald's has called it a “theatre kitchen” because the glass counters and bright lights let customers see the new ingredients.
They include 19 different salad ingredients: two choices of salad base greens, two kinds of cheese, three flavours of sauces and the choice of couscous or quinoa.
McDonald's Next serves coffee and sells beans, so that customers can take that unmistakable blend home with them. There's also a mixed berry waffle on the menu that has been “designed for Hong Kong consumers' love for quality desserts”.
Staff have been trained for 720 hours to prepare for table service, McDonald's said, and the team have been given new uniforms.
The restaurant features digital walls that will feature changing food items, phone changing stations and a self-ordering kiosk.
Not everything is different though: McDonald's Next still offers the traditional McDonald's menu.
McDonald’s sales rose in the third quarter of 2015 following several quarters of decline, marking a turning point in what had been called a "deep depression" for the brand.
Steve Easterbrook, chief executive, has fought fiercely against falling sales since he joined almost a year ago, cutting the use of antibiotics in the chicken supple and introducing all-day breakfast.
Hong Kong is the first location to get a McDonald’s Next restaurant. The company called it “a milestone of McDonald’s evolution to a modern and progressive burger company” – where burgers are at the bottom of the menu.
