AUSTRALIA. Departing passengers at Sydney Airport’s Terminal 1 now have an unusual and eye-catching sight ‘floating’ above their heads – a glowing yellow glass box. It is, in fact, a special new design for the McDonald’s food & beverage outlet in the departures area of the terminal.
The project called, Kitchen in the Sky, was created by the strategic branding consultancy, Landini Associates, in collaboration with McDonald’s Australia.
“The McDonald’s restaurant in T1 International has become one of the most Instagrammed places at Sydney Airport. And why wouldn’t it?” said Sydney Airport General Manager Retail Glyn Williams.
“It’s a piece of theatre, full of colour, movement and surprises. People have started arriving early for their flights just to see it.”
The unit – visible from a long distance due to its height – meets a simple but hard-to-accomplish brief: create an iconic, memorable customer experience, like nothing seen before, the airport company claimed.
A spokesperson for Landini said: “Placing the kitchen above the counter, whilst visually stimulating, was structurally complex. Ensuring it could deliver its wares to the customers below, efficiently, quickly, and without causing chaos, was an even steeper challenge.”
To overcome this, Landini combined kiosk ordering technology and a ‘vertical transporter’ delivery system to ensure the fast arrival of food items – an element that McDonald’s customers consider paramount.
Kitchen staff place food orders into bags which are attached to the delivery system for transportation downstairs to customer-facing staff at the tills.
Globally, McDonald’s has been continually evolving its customer dining experiences with modern designs at flagship domestic locations around the world. This presentation in the duty free and travel retail channel at Sydney Airport uses technology to great effect to achieve a unique, head-turning spectacle.
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Please send all news of food & beverage outlet openings, together with images, menus, video etc to Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com to ensure unrivalled global exposure.
The company also organises the annual Airport Food & Beverage (FAB) Conference & Awards. This year’s FAB will be held in Helsinki on 20 and 21 June. Click here for details.
