The McDonald's Of The Future Looks McMiserable

Are you McLovin' the new McDonald's store design?

Over on Twitter, social media analysts have spent this week analyzing photos of a new McDonald's store design that features a single register closet where customers are greeted by charcoal tiled walls, one worker and one of the most sterile experiences in fast-food history. 

Gone are the days when customers had a full-length countertop to climb over to fight the fry cooks and the managers. 

Gone are the days when you'd look up at beautiful digital menu boards like you were at an airport trying to find what time your flight was leaving. 

"I visited a recently renovated McDonald’s and this new design really left me puzzled," customer Rob Wynkoop tweeted on Monday. This wall & short counter puts up a major barrier to the historical way of seeing by whom and how food is prepared. It felt very cold and closed off. Uninviting even.

Are there robots behind the wall heating up your McRib?

If they're not yet, they will one day. 

In late 2022, McDonald's gave the world a glimpse at what the future of fast-food looks like, and it will be run by machines. That's the hope. 

"When you step inside the test restaurant concept, you'll notice it's considerably smaller than a traditional McDonald's restaurant in the U.S.," McDonald’s said in a statement at the time. "Why? The features—inside and outside—are geared toward customers who are planning to dine at home or on the go."

Go…gooooo….gooooooooo away. 

McDonald's has already tested locations where there will likely be no human interaction. 

Where's the McDonald's drink refill machine at the McDonald's of the future? 

Many are gone forever. 

The company says the plan is to remove all of them by 2032. 

At the new McDonald's Wynkoop stopped at, it's already gone. Now, you get a blank wall with a shelf for app orders. 

"Customers will have to get their refills from servers at the counter," Fox Business reported in 2023. 

If you can find a worker. 

Smaller ordering stations. Fewer workers. Fewer interactions. Push the customer to buy it and leave. Fewer refills. 

Are you McMiserable yet?

Welcome to the future where every member of the Baby Boomer generation will be 65 or older by 2030. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, "Older adults are projected to outnumber children under age 18 for the first time in U.S. history by 2034." 

In other words, McDonald's will have to streamline its business and that means less human interaction, more ordering on your phone and fewer old-timers by the day looking to stop in for a cup of coffee and conversations. 

Apparently, the plan is to make the experience so miserable at the McDonald's of the future that Gen Z and Gen Alpha will want nothing to do with stopping in for a relaxing night of chatting about life and having a burger. 

We can't even get a mural of Ronald McDonald on the wall. The happiness appears to be gone forever.