Before that, another 3,000 restaurants had been modernized using some elements that eventually made it into the new designs, though the company hadn’t yet standardized them. “Reimaging remains a focus and priority for our business,” a spokesperson told BuzzFeed News.
The chain’s overall comparable sales still slid as these remodeled restaurants opened, and only started to rebound slightly last summer. But the expectation is that this design effort will boost sales — historically by 6% to 7%, according to the company. “Our operations folks are starting to understand that design does matter, and not looking like a cafeteria does matter,” Carmona said.