McDonald's to experiment with all-you-can eat fries option

This McDonald's will offer custom-built burgers too. And sofas.

New menu item: as many fries as you can tuck away (Getty Images)

You are driving along and your hand wanders for one last French fry in the oily paper sachet in the arm rest. Except it’s not the last. How ever many times you reach, the fries keep regenerating. So you just keep popping them in your mouth. A happy dream or a nightmare?

McDonald's is preparing to experiment with an all-you-can eat French fries option, an idea that should appeal to customers with eyes bigger than stomachs but which surely would have sent Morgan Spurlock to the emergency room had it been available in time for his 2004 documentary film, ‘Super Size Me’, exploring the effects of gorging exclusively on all things Mickey D.

This is not about to be introduced to the burger chain worldwide. Serious fans of Golden Arches fries who like the idea of eating as many as they can in one sitting for the same price - much like enjoying a bottomless mug of coffee - will have to make their way to Missouri.

Nor should they buy their plane or train tickets just yet. The only franchise promising the fries landslide will be in St Joseph, a little way north of Kansas City, and it hasn’t been built yet. Still, the grand opening is planned for July, according to its owner, Chris Habiger.

The fries option is only the half of it. Mr Habiger told the local news outlet, News-Press Now, that customers will for the first time be able to custom-build their burgers at touch-screen kiosks - perhaps a sneaky way to cut payroll costs just as the campaign for a higher minimum wage gets serious.

“There really are hundreds of different choices to build the burger of your dreams,” owner Chris Habiger gushed to the News-Press Now, the building site behind him. “Once you’ve placed your order, you can find your seat because we’ll bring it out to you.”

Nor will his McDonald's look much like one. It will boast earth tones, armchairs and sofas. “Today’s customers seek a comfortable and inviting atmosphere,” Mr Harbiger said. “So we’re committed to providing a modern look and feel to this restaurant.”

Are we witnessing the end of McDonald's as we know it?