USA : McDonald’s build-a-burger in Downers Grove, Illinois

(source: chicagobusiness.com) A restaurant on a well-traveled commercial stretch in Downers Grove has a drive-thru and signature golden arches, and from the outside, at least, it is unmistakably a McDonald's.

Inside, however, diners are in for something different. Fresh flowers. An open kitchen. Menus rotating on large LCD screens. Oversized jars filled with spices lining a wall. Servers deliver open-faced sandwiches in stainless-steel baskets and french fries in cylindrical vessels lined with wax paper.

A hamburger with sharp white cheddar 

Inside each entrance are twin touch-screen kiosks that allow customers to build burgers from among 22 options, including three types of cheeses, two buns or a lettuce wrap. The burgers are a substantial upgrade from McDonald's existing options and compare favorably to the “better burger” brothers (Five Guys, Shake Shack) it's trying to mimic.

It starts with the bun. The firm ciabatta and a brioche-like toasted artisan roll hold up well, even with a surfeit of toppings, and offer a vast improvement over the Quarter Pounder's comparatively boring sesame-seed bun.

Touch-screen kiosks allow customers to build their own burgers from a wide range of options.

Of new cheese choices, the pepper jack had a nice kick, and sharp white cheddar played well with spicy jalapenos, sweet caramelized onions and thick-cut, crispy bacon.

Other toppings include a spicy mayo, which two of us enjoyed and one despised, a creamy garlic sauce that seemed out of place on a burger and a sweet BBQ that doubles as a dipping sauce for Chicken McNuggets.

One burger came with grilled mushrooms, which were tasty and plentiful, a mound of hot jalapeno rings and a tasteless tomato. A pleasant surprise was a chunky guacamole that tasted freshly prepared and paired nicely with crispy chili-lime tortilla strips that offered texture and zing.

The beef itself is the same quarter-pound patty used in standard McDonald's offerings and arrived overcooked to our taste. A nice touch, however, was a visible fresh crack of pepper and a dash of sea salt.

For unlimited toppings, the price ($4.69; bacon or an extra beef patty a buck more) is a bargain and positions McD's below many “better burger” competitors. Even compared with its own offerings—both the Big Mac and the Quarter Pounder with cheese are $3.99—the build-a-burger is a much better option for those willing to wait a few extra minutes. As for the rest of the menu? It's still, unmistakably, a McDonald's.

The Downers Grove East McDonald's is one of about 15 nationwide in a rollout of “Create Your Taste” stores, part of the flagging Oak Brook chain's attempt to reverse two years of declining revenue and profit.

Executives initially said they would have 2,000 Create Your Taste locations by the end of 2015, but later Chief Financial Officer Pete Bensen said at an investor conference that “we haven't set a specific number.”

There are kinks to work out: During a somewhat slow Friday lunch service, our three custom burgers and a regular Quarter Pounder with cheese arrived two minutes apart at 10 minutes and 12 minutes. That's a hefty wait time for fast food, and a window two minutes longer than the chain's aim.

For now, the option is not available via drive-thru, but McDonald's, which derives some 70 percent of its sales from folks ordering in their cars, undoubtedly is thinking about it. Customized burgers to go are wrapped in plain brown paper and packaged in plain brown bags, with only a tiny McDonald's logo appearing in one spot.