"makeover" news and stories

How'd you like Robert Irvine to makeover your restaurant? The muscle man behind the Food Network's Worst Cooks in America and Dinner Impossible, where he recently succeeded in catering a Six Flags banquet with upcycled park food (think: turkey-leg osso bucco and sage cotton candy), will now be taking on floundering restaurants across America.

Restaurant Impossible premiers on the Food Network on Wednesday January 19 at 10pm and will execute complete turnarounds in two days, with $10,000. Like any proper makeover show, Day One on RI starts with a consultation. In this case, a close examination of the business during its heaviest hours of service in order to determine its weaknesses and flawed employees. Day Two entails a menu-and-staff revamp and ends with a packed grand opening, courtesy Irvine's recruiting of townspeople. Sounds like a PG-rated Kitchen Nightmares to us.

The show is currently in deep casting-call mode, so any interested restauranteurs in the U.S. can apply on the Food Network web site. NOLA.com reports that producers do plan on doing a few makeovers in New Orleans, which will be scheduled once restaurants are chosen and will air "perhaps in February or March."

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.

Back in April, we noted that Reader's Digest bought Allrecipes.com and there was some speculation that they might change the user-friendly site for the worse, especially since they said that they planed to use it as "the main portal to its other magazines and websites." So far, there really have been no major changes to the site, but it appears to have just undergone a major facelift. The new site (there is a site tour so you can figure out how to use it) seems to have given a much more prominent space to affiliated magazines and advertising partners and also seems to put more emphasis on the few top-rated recipes from every category. The biggest change is in layout. Instead of the fairly well-spaced pages that we were used to, where all of the non-recipe content was grouped on the right side of the page, it now seems that every bit of the screen is utilized, drawing attention away from the recipe.

They still have a great recipe database, though, so whether you like the new layout or not, there are still plenty of reasons to use the site.

Remember when Kentucky Fried Chicken officially changed its name to KFC, in an effort to make an older brand seem hipper and to eliminate the word "fried" from its name? Well, the company is looking to change its image a little more. The iconic Colonel Sanders is getting a makeover. KFC has trademarked a new rendition of the Colonel. He is a bit less detailed than previous incarnations, with fewer lines in his hair and skin, as well as getting outfitted with a bright red apron.

I like the look, which is the bottom right in the image here, well enough, but prefer the older versions simply because the Colonel looked more like a real character, a version of the real life man he was based on, and less like a fictional fast-food employee, which is the sense that the new image seems to give. It's not a major change, but it's a noticeable one.

Do you prefer the older look or the newer one? You can vote for your favorite version of the Colonel here.

[via Fast Food News]

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McDonald's is looking to improve its image - literally. The company has recently rolled out a plan to overhaul and update all of its 30,000 global locations. The goal of this makeover is to refresh the look of the brand, which company officials say seems dated, not having  had a makeover since the early 1990s. The company will keep its signature red and gold colors, but will tone them down and add olive and sage greens to their color scheme.  The stores' roofs will now be flat and slanting, with a leaner, more modern look and a lot of the bright plastic features will be replaced with brick and wood but the golden arches will still be prominently featured

The biggest changes will be seen in the appearance of the restaurants, inside and out. Dining areas will be divided into "three sections with distinct personalities." One will be a "linger" area, with plush chairs and WiFi, similar to Starbucks cafes. The "grab and go" area will have tall counters and stools, as well as plasma TVs with news and weather reports.  Finally, the "flexible" area will have booths for families and other groups who are dining in.

Would a makeover make you more likely to eat in McDonald's restaurants? To "hang out" there as you might in a Starbucks?

 

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