From the 1960s through to the late 1990s, ‘no loitering’ had been an important principle underlying McDonald’s operations. Founder Ray Kroc had ordered that pay telephones, jukeboxes and vending machines were forbidden at McDonald’s restaurants. The goal of the restaurant was to quickly serve customers and not entice them to stay any longer than it took to eat a hamburger.

Dining areas were designed with minimalist – and often uncomfortable – hard plastic tables and chairs, which were usually bolted into place. Customers consumed their purchases in spartan surroundings, which acted as a forcing device to hurry them along and create space for the next customers. However, with the new ‘Forever Young’ store design (adopted in 2006), remodelled restaurants featured dining zones with ‘distinct personalities’. Most of the new store designs offered three sections, or zones. A linger zone was designed to accommodate people who were inclined to dawdle and socialise while sitting comfortably on armchairs or sofas using free wifi access. Another zone offered counters and stools for patrons in a hurry who might just grab and go. The third, and perhaps most important, zone is the one for families or groups where seating arrangements can be reconfigured to meet a variety of needs. Harsh colours and hard plastics were replaced with custom earth tones and flexible, padded, fabric-covered booth seating. All changes had the aim of encouraging diners to loiter and perhaps spend more money. Similarly, in 1993, the McCafé store design was developed in Australia and, as it was rolled out worldwide a decade later, addressed many of the aims of the ‘Forever Young’ store design. In 2012 McDonald’s announced that it would be bringing the McCafé brand and line of products to all of the McDonald’s restaurants in the United Kingdom. As outlets went through their five-yearly upgrade and redecoration cycles they incorporated both ‘Forever Young’ and McCafé

facilities designs.7 Map the service concept for the original and post-‘Forever Young’ McDonald’s store designs. What impact do the changes have on those elements of the service concept that were not directly the subject of formal redesign?

In other words, what were the consequences for the service concept overall of the changes to the physical design of the restaurants?