Mickey D's of the Future

So I promised this wasn't a food blog. And it's not. But writing about things that you've had to eat is quick and easy. Recently, a brand-new McDonald's opened up about a mile from our house. I thought it was going to be just another run-of-the-mill McDonald's. Turns out, it's not. It's a new concept called "Create Your Taste" which allows you to build your own burger or chicken sandwich according to your own preference. We got some promotional coupons in the mail for free sandwiches and decided to try it out for our date night.

You order your food using a touch-screen kiosk, which guides you through the process of your own creation. You get to select the type of bun, the type of cheese, and any additional toppings or sauces. Some items add to your price - for example, bacon - and others are included in the price. We actually went kind of wild because it was completely free regardless of how much we added. So I wound up with a double-bacon cheeseburger, with lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, guacamole, and barbecue sauce.



They had a lot of different toppings, everything from mushrooms to tortilla strips, and sauces from Big Mac sauce to chipotle mayo. It takes a little longer - you go and have a seat and they bring it out to you about 10 minutes later. And it's served in a wire basket just as pictured above, not smashed together and wrapped up.

The interior of the restaurant is fancier than your typical McDonalds. Although it looked really nice, I kind of wondered how long it would be before it ends up trashed. They had these pristine white pull-down shades over the windows and I can just imagine little kids smearing ketchup and grease all over them. But maybe kids won't come so much as it's more of an adult place.

They do have these tablet computers attached to some of the tables, for kids to play, and I can guarantee those will be destroyed and then pitched into the trash within two years.

So we'll see how this goes for McDonald's. It's kind of like McDonald's meets Smashburger meets Subway, but with some technology added in.

We're not really McDonald's people, so I'm not sure if we'll go back as full-paying customers. It's kind of a pricier meal, in the $8-$10 range, if you were going in without any coupons. We'll have to see.