There's a McDonalds not far from us, across the street from my bank. A couple of weeks ago, when I was depositing on of my increasingly infrequent paychecks, I noticed a "CLOSED FOR REMODELING" banner draped over the sign and workmen starting to assemble a chain link fence around the property.
Here it was yesterday...
Obviously "remodeling" means something different here, something that involves bulldozers.
Why raze a perfectly good and relatively new McDonalds to the ground?
Because my friends, I believe we are about to enter a New Age.
A Revloution.
An Evolution.
And that Evolution is going to be deep fried.
I'd written before about Bakersfield being the national petri dish for the casual dining industrial complex. A Frankenstein lab where with a crack of lightning breakfast churros could be born from who knows what. Where complex gene slicing could result in a dimly lit Jack in the Box Cabaret. Where even the Colonel could secretly go to have a little work done, emerging from his nip and tuck with a rakish youthful look. And an apron.
“This change gives us a chance not only to make sure we stay relevant but also communicates to customers the realness of Colonel Sanders and the fact that he was a chef,” said Gregg Dedrick, president of KFC’s U.S. division.
But back to Mickey D's. McDonalds has made no secret of their frontal assault on Starbucks. It started a couple of years ago with the introduction of new "coffee drinks" (which the locals have been drinking here for years, during the "test phase"). Even before we moved here I'd noticed the McDonalds in LA were all starting to get a Starbucks-ish makeover, with a slate veneer and earth tones and stylish pendant lights hanging over the cheap molded plastic furniture bolted to the floor.
But that was just a stop gap. Baby steps. I'd read somewhere that there was a wholesale "re-invention" in the works. Could it be that Bako was going to be the birthplace of a radically re-envisioned McDonalds? I'd read that the new look would be "Danish Modern" in styling. How very forward thinking, adapting a style first popularized 50 years ago. That's corporate America for you, proudly behind the times and "Lovin' It!". I guess in 10 years we can look forward to everything getting a psychedelic makeover.
It's all very exciting, this New McEra. But I'm afraid we'll have to wait quite awhile to see the reveal someplace else. Rome wasn't built in a day, and there's no way they'll have this puppy up and running before we leave. Then again, it's Kern County and they aren't all that picky when it comes to building codes. I've seen entire subdivisions go up in a month. So we'll see.
I would be thrilled to be able to say I have seen the future.
And it comes with fries.
