Restaurant
The franchise has had a restaurant at the 600 N. Clark Street address since 1983, but the new building was redeveloped and reopened on April 15, 2005 as a bilevel flagship restaurant/museum with a two lane drive through. This is the first McDonald's location with a two-lane drive-through. The reopening coincided with the 50th anniversary of the Des Plaines, Illinois restaurant which was opened by Ray Kroc on April 15, 1955. Rock N Roll McDonald's is the location where the corporation kicked off its celebration of the 50th anniversary of the franchise. Among the celebrities in attendance were Colin Powell and Elton John. At the time of the 2004 demolition, the location was the 3rd busiest in the United States and 12th in the world. In the early 90s, it had been the busiest in the United States. It was expected to increase its sales revenue rankings from 3rd in the United States and 12th in the world with the renovation and redevelopment.
The restaurant is one of the highest priced McDonald's, in order to subsidize the interior decor which includes numerous plasma display flat screen televisions and expensive Italian lighting. Its second floor includes a coffee bar serving lattes, gelato and biscotti and lounges that pay homage via museum display, music, and decor to every decade the chain has been in business. The 2nd floor McCafe is designed to compete with Starbucks by serving cappuccino, espresso, gelato and Italian pastries. The building features a pair of 60 foot arches and two stories worth of windows that weigh 800 pounds apiece. It has 10 cash register stations to complement its 300 patron capacity, which is about 3 times the normal McDonald's capacity. The restaurant has three front walls of glass.
Franchisee Marilyn Wright and her husband Ralph Wright have operated 10 McDonald's locations for the past 12 years. In addition to a perimeter of trees, the building has two green roof gardens on two levels. The lower one is visible from inside. However, the upper roof is only visible from surrounding high-rise buildings. Neither accommodates customer access. The trash cans in this tourist mecca say thank you in ten languages. The restaurant has separate preparation lines for white meat and red meat in the giant kitchen. The demolished building faced Ohio Street, but the new building is rotated 180 degrees to face the Ontario Street tourist pedestrian strip.
The restaurant was sung about by the cult Chicago musician Wesley Willis in a song entitled "Rock N Roll McDonald's". The song was featured in the movie Super Size Me.
Read more about this topic: Rock N Roll Mc Donald's
Famous quotes containing the word restaurant:
“A restaurant with candles and flowers evokes more reveries than the Isle of Bali does.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“In a restaurant one is both observed and unobserved. Joy and sorrow can be displayed and observed “unwittingly,” the writer scowling naively and the diners wondering, What the hell is he doing?”
—David Mamet (b. 1947)
“A restaurant is a fantasy—a kind of living fantasy in which diners are the most important members of the cast.”
—Warner Leroy, U.S. restaurateur, founder of Maxwell’s Plum restaurant, New York City. New York Times (July 9, 1976)