To stay competitive against create-you-own type food establishments like Smashburger, a McDonald's in Australia is experimenting with more gourmet burgers that customers can build themselves from an array of ingredients, The Consumerist reported on Monday.
A touchscreen menu allows patrons to create a custom burger, and fries come in a wire basket that resembles the restaurant's frier if they're ordered with the meal, according to Puffington. Mickey D's will also be offering table service and replacing the plastic trays with wooden ones. An app for on-the-go ordering is expected to be introduced in the future.
The Castle Hill eatery in North - West Sydney is the first to offer the new choices, calling the location the "Customer Learning Lab."
After ordering, customers are invited to sit and wait for their food to be brought to the table instead of waiting in line.
But classier burgers with all the fixings don't come cheap. They're costing $8 by themselves and roughly $10.50 with fries and a drink, according to Burger Business.
McDonald's CEO Andrew Gregory said he listened to what customers were looking for and wanted to work with them.
"All of our innovations have been led by Australians. What we're really doing here is just what our customers have asked us to do," he told Metro.
More Customer Learning Lab restaurants will be established before the end of the year, with another 10 coming in 2015.
In the United States, California, Hawaii, Texas and the midwest are doing something similar. In May, McDonald's started testing out guacamole as a condiment at its locations in southern California. They also allow consumers to build their own burger, like in Australia, the Consumerist reported.
At about 2,000 McDonald's restaurants in Hawaii, Texas and the midwest are selling chorizo breakfast burritos. But the burrito wraps are made with dark - meat chicken instead of pork and include scrambled eggs, tomatoes, green chilies, white cheddar cheese and onions.
