Burger King Gets Edgy, 'Futuristic' Makeover

by Jennifer Lawinski, Posted Oct 7th 2009 @ 5:30PM

The new look of Burger King. Photo: Pat Sullivan, AP

Burger King is going red, steel and flame.

In an effort to get more customers to choose dining in over the drive-thru, the country's No. 2 fast-food chain is revamping the interiors of its 12,000 locations worldwide, the Associated Press reports. Burger King hopes this contemporary, upscale look and feel will appeal to its biggest customers -- young men.

"The contemporary restaurant design incorporates a variety of innovative elements set to a backdrop that evokes the industrial look of corrugated metal, brick, wood and concrete," a Burger King official told Slashfood.

Franchise owners, who by contract have to periodically update their restaurants' design, can choose from include LCD menu screens, "Have It Your Way" graphics and a dining area centered around a flame-themed chandelier. "Drawing inspiration from Burger King Corp.'s flame-broiling, the 'grill-centric' design brings the signature cooking process to life," the company said.

The design, called "20/20", has been used in about 60 Burger King locations, and 75 more should be complete by the end of the year, the AP reported. The design is intended to give consumers a more "upscale" experience.

"I'd call it more contemporary, edgy, futuristic," Chairman and CEO John Chidsey told the AP. "It feels so much more like an upscale restaurant." The company announced its plan Wednesday in Amsterdam.

All new locations will be built in the "20/20" style, but the Miami-based chain's new cutting-edge decor comes with a steep price tag: between $300,000 and $600,000 per location.

Chidsey told the AP he thinks franchise owners won't have trouble obtaining financing and could benefit from a sales increase. Remodeled Burger King restaurants have seen sales spike 12 to 15 percent while ones that have been demolished and rebuilt have seen sales rise as much as 30 percent, AP reported.

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Edgy Burger King 20/20 Design

Burger King's new "20/20" restaurant design on view in the Houston suburb of Spring, Texas, on Oct. 5. 2009. The new design features industrial metal, brick walls and a flame chandelier.

Pat Sullivan, AP

Getty Images North America

Edgy Burger King 20/20 Design

Burger King's new "20/20" restaurant design on view in the Houston suburb of Spring, Texas, on Oct. 5. 2009. The new design features industrial metal, brick walls and a flame chandelier.

Pat Sullivan, AP

Burger King's new "20/20" restaurant design on view in the Houston suburb of Spring, Texas, on Oct. 5. 2009. Video screens and bun-like seating is part of the appeal designed to attract the King's most loyal customers -- young men.

Pat Sullivan, AP

A flame chandelier is at the center of Burger King's new "20/20" restaurant design on view in the Houston suburb of Spring, Texas, on Oct. 5. 2009.

Pat Sullivan, AP

Analysts are skeptical about the plan and whether franchise owners will indeed shell out the cash and see the sales growth the company is promising by getting customers to come inside.

"I don't think they'll change their perception," Morningstar analyst R.J. Hottovy told the AP. "They're pretty entrenched in their reality."

[Via Associated Press]

What do you think of Burger King's new look?
Radical.	4273 (63.7%)
Meh.	1406 (21.0%)
Keep the restaurants the way they are!	1024 (15.3%)

Filed Under: Food News, Fast Food
Tags: burger king, BurgerKing, makeover, restaurants

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Reader comments (Page 5 of 5)

5-31-2011 @5:19PM Dennis said... The first they need to do is hire people that can speak english, count out change and prepare whatever is ordered to look like what they advertise. Every so called "fast food" restaurant takes your order; then it goes to the back, where there are a few people back there that can't speak english and evidently have NEVER seen pictures of what the product is supposed to resemble after it is prepared. Then the person that took your order is busy taking someone else's order while someone else is trying to find what you ordered. When it is finally slopped together, put in a wrapper and thrown into a bin to be picked up by someone else working the front and dropped in a bag or on a tray so that you can take it to a dirty table to sit at to consume this collection of items that have been sitting in a warmer for an hour. When you open the wrapper there is this pile of bread, questionable meat, a tiny piece of lettuce, half a tomato, a squirt of ketchup and mustard maybe a sliver of onion and a dried up pickle smashed all inside this foil wrapper. It is about as appetizing as looking in a hog pen to find something to eat. Then they have the nerve to raise prices on this garbage that we as the weak consumer continue to pay to keep these places alive. I say SHAME ON THE CONSUMER for continuing to support companies such as these, that take your money and continue to turn out garbage.
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