Custom burgers? Sleek design? Comfy seats? THIS is McDonald's? (Video)
McDonald's General Manager Kareen Braitwaite demonstrates how to use the new touch-screen… more
Local McDonald's franchise owner Scott Rodrick said that when people walk into his newest McDonald's location at 441 Sutter St. in Union Square, they often don't realize it's a McDonald's.
The spot has a sleek design, comfortable seating, and two giant touch-screen kiosks up front that let people create their own burger meal, with choices of bread, meat and a vast array of toppings and sauces. But it is indeed a McDonald's.
In an attempt to regain its footing in a changing fast-food world, McDonald's has been piloting a program that lets consumers customize their burgers, and now the new "Create Your Taste" experiment has come to compete in the San Francisco burger world.
"This restaurant has gotten more Yelp reviews and more four-star ratings," Rodrick said. "People are using words I haven't heard to describe a McDonald's in a long time."Rodrick, president of Rodrick Management Group, is a second generation McDonald's franchise owner with 40 years experience running the restaurant chain and 10 McDonald's spots throughout San Francisco. He unrolled Northern California's first McDonald's Create Your Taste concept a couple months ago, and while it's too early to forecast the financial success of the restaurant, he's so excited about the concept that he's unrolling it in two other San Francisco McDonald's spots.
Like other McDonald's Create Your Taste restaurants, which the chain started unrolling across the United States in the past year, Rodrick's Sutter Street location also has the traditional McDonald's menu — think Big Macs and chicken nuggets — but his team is emphasizing the mix-and-match strategy of Create Your Taste.
An employee stands by touch-screen kiosks near the front door to help take customers through the do-it-yourself customizing process. People can include bacon on their burgers, build a burger out of multiple beef patties, and add toppings from guacamole to various cheeses to different sauces. Buns include a buttered and toasted artisan roll or a ciabatta roll, and besides the addition of more meat, the toppings and choices come at no extra cost.
The food is cooked and made to order, Rodrick said, so it takes about eight minutes to make instead of the average three or four minutes traditional McDonald's orders take, but an employee will bring the meal to the table when it is ready.
The kiosks, he said, are not an attempt to replace employees — in fact, the location uses more employees than it did before to help prepare the meals and take customers through the touch-screen ordering. About 30 percent of customers are using the kiosks to order, he said.
The program is technically a test, so there are no formal plans by McDonald's to unroll the program at all locations, Rodrick said, but he's enthusiastic about the concept and will unroll the program at his McDonald's at the Stonestown mall in the Outer Sunset and at the 235 Front St. store in the Financial District. The Stonestown location will likely close for four weeks of renovations and re-open by the end of the summer, while the Financial District location will likely transform by the end of the year.
The program, which McDonald's rolled out nation-wide in Australia, is an attempt for McDonald's to refresh its brand in the face of steep competition from other fast-food chains and the rise of burger chains like Shake Shack and others.
McDonald's reported its global comparable store sales down by 2.3 percent in the first quarter of the year. New CEO Steve Easterbrook announced a plan in May to refranchise 3,500 restaurants and focus on introducing technology like the touch screens.
In San Francisco, it also has to compete with beloved local burger joints and fast-growing chains like Super Duper.
"McDonald's is … realizing their customers want something more, whether it be from Danny Meyer's Shake Shack or Super Duper, the gourmet burger thing has kicked off a lot of their business," said restaurant and food business consultant Ed Levine. "I would never count them out — they are an enormous part of sales in food world, and they have had their downs and ups, so it will be interesting to see that experiment."
The challenge it might have is attracting a new type of customer, Levine said.
"A lot of people go to McDonald's for sustenance that is inexpensive, so there might be a bifurcation of their audience," he explained. "I don't see gourmet burger customers going to McDonald's, but we'll see if their current customer will want the (new, more elevated menu)."
The prices for the new McDonald's burgers are about 50 cents more expensive on average than the traditional sandwich items, Rodrick said. A basic burger on the new menu at the Sutter Street store costs between $5 and $6.
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