NEW YORK (WPIX) -
Forget the food. The new look at one Manhattan McDonald's - which features modern danish furniture, flat screen TV's and free wi-fi - has customers saying "I'm lovin' it!"
The eatery located in Chelsea is the first in the United States to undergo a sleek, European-style makeover similar to the design of what many McDonald's in France and the United Kingdom already look like.
The newly renovated eatery is equipped with outlets for plugging in laptops, upholstered vinyl chairs instead of Fiberglas seats bolted to the floor and subdued lighting. It even features employees who are decked out in all-black uniforms.
Franchise owner Paul Hendel said many customers are enjoying the new look and have lingered over their lunch longer than they normally do.
"We're becoming a more relevant type of restaurant for the younger crowd," he said. "They don't feel rushed. They're reading the newspaper, relaxed."
McDonalds Corp. Spokeswoman Danya Proud said that while nearly 14,000 of its chain's restaurants have been renovated over the past few years, the Chelsea location is the first "urban design" in the U.S. She said more may pop around the nation in the future in order to give more incentive to customers to make McDonald's a destination.
"People are using our restaurants differently today than they did five, 10, 20 years ago," she said. "People are multi-tasking, doing more on a given day. ... You want to be able to open your laptop, log on and get some work done while you're eating.
The eatery located in Chelsea is the first in the United States to undergo a sleek, European-style makeover similar to the design of what many McDonald's in France and the United Kingdom already look like.
The newly renovated eatery is equipped with outlets for plugging in laptops, upholstered vinyl chairs instead of Fiberglas seats bolted to the floor and subdued lighting. It even features employees who are decked out in all-black uniforms.
Franchise owner Paul Hendel said many customers are enjoying the new look and have lingered over their lunch longer than they normally do.
"We're becoming a more relevant type of restaurant for the younger crowd," he said. "They don't feel rushed. They're reading the newspaper, relaxed."
McDonalds Corp. Spokeswoman Danya Proud said that while nearly 14,000 of its chain's restaurants have been renovated over the past few years, the Chelsea location is the first "urban design" in the U.S. She said more may pop around the nation in the future in order to give more incentive to customers to make McDonald's a destination.
"People are using our restaurants differently today than they did five, 10, 20 years ago," she said. "People are multi-tasking, doing more on a given day. ... You want to be able to open your laptop, log on and get some work done while you're eating.
