A Really Big Mac

McDonald's Corp. (Oak Brook, Ill.) has opened its largest restaurant, on Broadway and 42nd Street in New York's Times Square.

The 17,500-square-foot McDonald's, housed in the landmark Candler building, features a full-length theater marquee with 7500 light bulbs, 18 42-inch plasma screens and 27 15-inch monitors to entertain customers. Interior designer Charles Morris Mount created a “backstage” ambience for the restaurant's decor by exposing the building's original brickwork and using authentic theatrical lighting fixtures to illuminate the space.

Other special features include: nostalgic McDonald's and Coca-Cola commercials and footage from various Disney Broadway productions and upcoming movies shown on the plasma screens and individual monitors throughout the restaurant; 40-foot-high columns, clad with deep blue, hand cast, reflective glass tiles; 20-foot-long communal tables with fiber optic lighting effects and retro-metallic swivel stools; a double kitchen with more than 18 feet of grilling surfaces; a Belshaw mini-donut machine in the front window that makes 2500 mini-donuts per hour; and specialty coffee and frozen drinks served at a separate cafe counter inside the restaurant.

Irwin Kruger, owner and operator of the franchised location, opened the first McDonald's in New York in 1973 and currently owns six others in Manhattan.