McDonald's $5 billion makeover

The fast-food chain is trying to look less like a burger joint and more like a coffee house.
Posted by TheStreet Staff on Wednesday, April 14, 2010 2:18 PM

Get ready for a McDonald's (MCD) makeover. The golden arches are looking to class things up a bit this decade.

The fast-food franchise is planning to spend as much as $5 billion to remodel thousands of its restaurants during the next few years, Crains Chicago Business reports. These fixes will go beyond sprucing up the bathrooms or renaming menu items.

In the next five years, McDonald's plans to spend billions of dollars to remodel thousands of U.S. restaurants with new features such as plasma TVs, lounge chairs and electric fireplaces, according to Crains. The company will also add free Wi-fi and stone facades to stores, and make practical improvements like widening drive-ins to two lanes.

Company executives are reportedly looking to rebrand McDonalds and give it more of a coffee house feel to complement the new coffee theyve added to the menu. In the process, McDonalds hopes to attract new customers and boost average annual sales at each renovated restaurant from $2.3 million to $3.1 million during the next four to five years.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com..._blg=1,1741932

Can you imagine? It will be like the people from that movie Wall-e in them chairs