McDonald’s to renovate 200 Arizona restaurants

It’s time to polish up the Golden

Arches.

McDonald’s has announced a twoyear effort to invest roughly $120 million to modernize 200 of its restaurants throughout Arizona. The remodeling and modernizing effort includes new touchscreen kiosks, made by a Scottsdale-based company, on which customers can place orders.

More than two-thirds of the company’s 290 Arizona outlets will get a face lift this year and next. Construction and modernization costs will be paid for by the parent company and by franchisees. Some restaurants already have been remodeled. McDonald’s employs about 13,000 people in Arizona.

“We’re about halfway through construction,” said Michelle Slayton, a McDonald’s franchise owner in metro Phoenix.

The effort is designed to make the restaurants more relevant to how customers want to interact while providing a more attractive, modern appearance, she said.

Nationally, McDonald’s is spending $6 billion on restaurant upgrades by 2020. The changes in Arizona and elsewhere will include:

❚ New furniture, often with locally inspired decor, and refreshed exterior designs.

❚ Digital kiosks that allow customers to search for menu items, place orders and pay for meals themselves.

❚ Remodeled counters and easier-toread digital menu boards inside and in drive-through vehicle lanes.

❚ Expanded McCafé counters, with larger display cases.

❚ New parking spots for curbside pickup services available through mobile ordering.

❚ McDonald’s has introduced McDelivery with Uber Eats at more than 5,000 restaurants in the U.S.

The expanded McCafé sections better position the company to compete against coffee chains such as Starbucks. McDonald’s last year broadened its lineup of coffee beverages. Also, it gradually has opened more McCafé outlets, featuring smaller dining rooms and a coffeehouse feel, in foreign cities including Toronto.

The Arizona remodeling effort will support local architecture, engineering and construction jobs across the state, Slayton said.

Among the suppliers is Zivelo, a Scottsdale-based company that makes and services touchscreen kiosks for a range of business customers, from McDonald’s and Burger King to CVS, Coca-Cola and the U.S. Army.

Zivelo designs the machines, develops software for them and provides services including installation and maintenance. “We make it real easy for our customers,” said Healey Cypher, Zivelo’s CEO.

The self-order kiosks installed in McDonald’s and other retail locations not only save on labor costs for businesses but can result in higher sales. “When customers use self-service kiosks, they’re spending 20 to 30 percent more,” he said, explaining that ordering in this manner becomes more of a shopping experience.

Zivelo, a 10-year-old, privately held company, also has offices in Seattle and Northern California.