10 unique restaurant buildings in a fast food chain
Fast food chains are generally fairly uniform. From the food on the menu to the interior decor, everything is designed to be nearly identical in branches around the world. This creates a cohesive brand identity and gives customers a sense of familiarity, but there are some notable exceptions. For example, some chains have country-specific menu items ranging from kimchi quesadillas at South Korean Taco Bells to Nutella burgers at McDonald’s locations across Italy.
In addition to unusual menu items, there are also some unique fast food restaurants scattered around the world. Here are 10 of the most interesting buildings that house restaurant chains, home to popular eateries like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Starbucks.
Related: 10 Weirdest Menu Items From American Fast Food Chains In Other Countries
10 Railway station KFC, Azerbaijan
The largest KFC restaurant in the world happens to be located in a huge converted train station in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Sabunchu Railway Station was originally built in 1926 but had fallen into disrepair, allowing KFC to swoop in and build the building for a whopping three million euros (just over $3.2 million). The grand building extends over 1600 square meters and has two impressive domed towers.
In 2012, KFC celebrated the opening of the huge restaurant with a light show. Colonel Sanders’ corporate logo was projected onto the building, along with images of buckets of chicken and sandwiches. All of this was set to a distinctly odd musical arrangement, with a transition from The Prodigy’s rave-worthy “Omen” to Frank Sinatra’s singing ballad “My Way” and back again.[1]
9 Taco Bell Defy, Minnesota, USA
Drive-thru is incredibly popular with fast food restaurants, but the usual system – each car going through one lane to order at the counter – can often cause long lines. Taco Bell has attempted to revolutionize this process with Taco Bell Defy in Minnesota, which opened in 2022. The two-story building has four drive-thru lanes at the bottom, while the kitchen is elevated above. Food is delivered to the customers via a vertical elevator.
Three of the lanes are for people who have ordered through the app and are coming to pick up their food. Taco Bell President Mike Grams says the goal of this location is to “create a 2-minute or less drive-thru experience for customers.” The fourth lane is a traditional kiosk where customers can speak to an employee to place their order. There is also a small indoor area on the ground floor with a touchscreen kiosk for walk-in customers.[2]
8 Flying Saucer McDonald’s, New Mexico, USA
Thanks to the 1947 Roswell Incident (which the U.S. government reports was just a military balloon), Roswell, New Mexico, has become known for its connection to potential flying saucers and extraterrestrial life. This allows UFO-related sights and attractions to be seen and visited throughout the city, such as the International UFO Museum and Research Center. McDonald’s even got in the mood by giving one of their restaurants a spatial theme.
The exterior of the building is shaped like a flying saucer and features decorative strips of red lights. There are statues of gray aliens everywhere, as well as figures of McDonald’s characters in spacesuits. Unfortunately, the menu is not space themed.
In the 1990s, another UFO-shaped McDonald’s could be found in Alconbury, England. It closed in 2000 due to rising maintenance costs, which were due in part to the restaurant’s outer shell being made of plastic.[3]
7 Artistic glass McDonald’s, Georgia
One of the most popular tourist destinations in Georgia (the country, not the US state) is Batumi, known as ‘The Las Vegas of the Black Sea’. The city is located right on the coast and offers a mix of grand historic architecture and contemporary modern skyscrapers. An ordinary Golden Arch wouldn’t fit into this landscape, so architect Giorgi Khmaladze designed a sleek McDonald’s building that looks like a posh fine dining restaurant.
The angular glass dome looks impressive from the outside, and the inside is just as striking. The upstairs dining area is framed by a beautiful rolling green garden, which erupts in blooming flowers in spring. This area is actually a canopy, hiding a gas station underneath. Not many McDonald’s buildings win design awards, but in 2014 this glass creation won ArchDaily’s award for best commercial building.[4]
6 Truett’s Luau Chick-fil-A, Georgia, USA
There are a few unique Chick-fil-A locations in Georgia (this time it’s the state, not the country) that are S. Truett Cathy Brand restaurants. Named for Chick-fil-A’s founder, these restaurants are designed to celebrate the chain’s history, but one stands out from the crowd: Truett’s Luau. This Hawaii-themed Chick-fil-A opened in 2013 because Truett wanted to bring Cathy “Hawaii to Fayetteville, Georgia,” after she enjoyed visiting the island so much.
The restaurant is decked out in Hawaiian-inspired decor, from a wall of ukuleles to tropical plants. There is even a waterfall outside. The menu also features many Hawaiian-inspired dishes along with Chick-fil-A classics. Customers can enjoy mahi mahi, fish tacos, and a kalua BBQ pork sandwich. All this can be washed down with specialty drinks, such as the Frosted Pineapple, which is actually a pineapple milkshake.[5]
5 Shipping container Starbucks, Taiwan
Starbucks has dabbled in turning metal shipping containers into small coffee shops in the past, but they pale in comparison to the big boxy creation found in Taiwan. Located in Hualien Bay Mall, the Starbucks location is made of 29 shipping containers artistically stacked.
The entire space measures 3,444 square feet (320 square meters) and is two stories high. Large windows cover some of the white containers and skylights let in even more natural light. The creation isn’t just about artistic flair (although Japanese architect Kengo Kuma’s design certainly catches the eye); it’s also part of Starbucks’ plan to build stores that are more sustainable.[6]
4 Sauna Burger King, Finland
The meat sweat is usually something people want to avoid, but at the Burger King on Helsinki’s main street, sweat and meat are brought together in the form of a sauna. The sauna in the restaurant is big enough for 15 guests. There is also a shower, changing room and media lounge. In 2016, the price for renting the sauna for three hours was 250 euros ($283 at the time), not including the cost of food.
While the idea of sweating over a Whopper may not appeal to everyone, saunas are a way of life in Finland, with one sauna for every three people. Burger King’s contribution to the number of saunas in the country won Euromonitor’s award for New Concepts in Food Service, which called it “a powerful example of localization”. The strange sauna has even been graced by Paul Rudd and Richard Ayoade, who visited an episode of the TV show in 2016 Travel man.[7]
3 Traditional Machiya Starbucks, Japan
Starbucks is no stranger to matching the design of its stores with the surrounding architecture, but a particularly unique example of this can be found in Kyoto, Japan. Higashiyama is one of Kyoto’s best-preserved historic areas, with its traditional wooden mansions called machiya. The Starbucks store in this area is housed in a 100-year-old renovated machiya and blends seamlessly into the surrounding buildings.
There is a Japanese garden on the ground floor and tatami mats and silk pillows on the upper floor. The only signage that indicates it’s even a Starbucks is the siren logo (often mistaken for a mermaid) on the traditional teal door curtains called noren. Takafumi Minaguchi, the CEO of Starbucks Coffee Japan, explains that “as this store is located in an area of great cultural significance, we feel responsible to be the custodians of the traditional architecture of the building and to ensure that it is a will remain an integral part of the historic district for many years to come.”[8]
9 Plane McDonald’s, New Zealand
The McDonald’s in Taupo in New Zealand’s North Island is home to a decommissioned Douglas DC-3 aircraft, where customers can enjoy their Big Macs and McNuggets. When the plane was originally grounded, it was parked outside Taupo’s Airplane Car Company and used as a prop for advertising. In 1990, McDonald’s bought the building and sales came by plane, so they converted it into a dining space. There are 10 tables inside, seating 20 diners, and the pristine cockpit can be viewed through a glass door. Owner Eileen Byrne says: “Our locals are very proud of it. It has become a milestone here in New Zealand.”
New Zealand’s impressive airplane restaurant isn’t the only McDonald’s in a converted vehicle. At the McDonald’s in Barstow, California, meals can be eaten in old train cars.[9]
1 One World Trade Center subway, New York, USA
The One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the United States, and the construction of the 541-foot skyscraper posed a problem for the hungry ironworkers: where to eat lunch. Climbing and descending the building in progress would have taken up a lot of valuable time during lunch, so a Subway store was installed in a cargo container that could be lifted into the building as the workers moved higher and higher.
The tiny Subway store cost $500,000 to build and was elevated via a hydraulic elevator, taking about two hours to go up per floor. The food and drink was hoisted with cranes to the ever-expanding store. Leftover food was composted and leftover drinks were boiled until they evaporated. Two hundred meals had to be sold each day to make the restaurant break even, but in the end only about 90 employees ate the sandwiches for lunch. DCM, the steel company that erected the building, agreed to offset any losses, with the franchise running up a $180,000 bill. But DCM’s Bill Grutta has no regrets, as “it means we’ve saved 90 hoist trips per day.”
The exclusive Subway in the sky had to close after about two years. On the 90th floor, near the top, the building began to narrow and there was not enough room left for the deli. Still, it followed the workers through most of the building, which has 104 floors.[10]