Burger King Burns Downsizes "Industrial-Inspired" Design

An example of Burger King's late "20/20" look.

Way back in 2009 McDonald's started unveiling an upscale, metrosexual look for its fast food spots featuring new uniforms, subdued lighting, free wifi, and bright colors. So naturally (well, as natural as fast food gets) that prompted arch rival Burger King to announce that it too would be overhauling its 12,000 locations with a "20/20" design featuring "industrial-inspired corrugated metal and brick walls." But apparently somebody finally looked at the financial sheets and noticed that the company doesn't really have the $500,000-per-store in cash needed for the remodel. Burger Business is reporting that the 20/20 design has been deep-sixed. So no red-flame chandeliers for New York, we guess.

The news came on a conference call last night when the company let slip that sales are down in the U.S. and Canada, with same-store sales down 2.7 percent. Guess they really should have pushed the beer and those pizza burgers harder.

McDonald's, meanwhile, continues to roll out its new look all over.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Garth Johnston in Food on April 8, 2011 11:37 AM

Comments [rss]

colonelcasey

Their menu is lacking way behind Wendy's and McDonalds...that's why fewer people are eating at BK.

Peanut_Butter

The reason BK is poor is because their Whopper is put together like crap, whereas it was amazing when I was a kid. And the onion rings got really pathetic at one point, but they were among the best onion rings I've ever had when I was younger.

ganghiscon

They should install troughs already. Quit stalling!

Kate

This actually looks "cheaper" than the moulded-plastic, subway-seat style atmosphere I remember from fast-food visits in the '80s.

How long will the flimsy chairs stay in that orderly configuration? And I can't imagine any of those surfaces staying clean or being cleaned often.

Seriously, BK customers do not care about the atmosphere. They might as well leave the walls blank.

SPsGhost

Yeah, seriously. the people who eat this crap don't care about their surroundings. Why would they? They don't care about what they are eating, they would just as soon eat out of a trough, or off the floor, as at a table with a chair, let alone a designed interior.

TheRealCannibal

...and it looks just like chipotle. Yuck. They should just replace the furniture with tubes that the customer puts their mouth directly on to receive preserved chicken ammonia paste and drywall beef powders.