This is the Subway we remember. Outside, the bright yellow signage called you inside. The interior had an early-2000s-old-Tuscan-kitchen vibe with a brown, red, green, and yellow color palette that screamed cozy. Pictures of fresh veggies lined the walls, reminding you that this is a healthy place.
While the Subway logo hasn’t changed, the storefront has fallen victim to the modern aesthetic epidemic. Sharp lines and a gray and black color palette give the building a somewhat menacing appearance. If you took away the logo, the building kinda resembles a prison guard tower, not a sandwich shop. We think the serious change might have something to do with the death of the $5 footlong. Everything alright, Subway?
Many of us remember McDonald’s looking like this. The red sloped roof was like a beacon of light, leading us towards greasy fries and golden arches. Inside, almost every location had a bright and colorful play place. Sure, they were pretty gross, and the kids were loud, and sometimes you just want to chow down on a quarter-pounder in peace, but at least someone was having fun. Now, not so much…
McDonald’s has gone full contemporary, abandoning its kid-friendly aesthetic for a depressingly adult appearance. The unique rooftop? It’s long gone. The restaurant abandoned its classic style for the sleek, modern look. McDonald’s today is a black, tan, and red box. If the location is particularly nice, it might feature the huge classic archway that sets it apart from other restaurants. It’s just a phase, right, McDonald’s?
Depending on the location, Jack in the Box was often a bright red and black building. Some had a huge rooftop that resembled the toy it’s named after. No wild exterior choices here; the toy-shaped building is all the restaurant needs to stand out from others.
Now, most Jack in the Box locations have forgone the unique architectural branding for an easier, more uniform box-and-rectangle-combo shape that every restaurant seems obsessed with. While it seems they’ve kept their iconic red hue, the restaurants of today are drenched in black and gray, as if Jack in the Box grew up and became emo.
Dunkin’ Donuts has never had incredibly unique-looking storefronts, so this before-and-after isn’t too shocking. By this point, most people knew that America runs on Dunkin’, so exteriors weren’t a huge priority for the company. Here, we can see the classic pink and orange logo, along with some orange awnings on the front of the building. Sure, we’d dunk our donuts here.
Unfortunately, Dunkin’ couldn’t resist the temptation to make a Lego-shaped building. At least they were creative, with the brown ombre wall resembling coffee. This definitely isn’t the worst transformation we’ve seen. It seems like Dunkin’ is actually trying to be creative with the modern, angular vibe. Take notes, Jack in the Box.
This one hurts the most. Taco Bell had iconic Mexican-American style architecture that was full of character. Don’t even get us started on the interior post-modern aesthetic from the 90s. Beloved by many, the style is affectionately referred to as the Miami Vice era. Whatever it’s called, we want it back!
Ouch. The pastel interior and mission-style exterior have been replaced by the same boring, colorless design that we see everywhere. It looks like someone locked Taco Bell up and threw away the key! Where’s the color? What happened to fun, unique architecture? Sure, it can be kitschy, but there’s gotta be a sweet spot– that’s where the fun is waiting!
Domino’s Pizza has evolved over the years, but many of us remember staring at their bright red, white, and blue exteriors while we picked up our pizzas. A nod to the restaurant's roots, the colors scream Americana.
The iconic Domino’s logo has undergone a change for the better, but locations around the world now feature black facades with the sign slapped on the front. It seems the most drastic changes are more internal, with the company acknowledging that their pizza was the worst in the country and launching an entire marketing campaign to improve it. We guess they can get a pass for having a boring storefront… this time.
Pizza Hut’s red-roof logo and red-roof buildings are unique and recognizable to people worldwide. Started by two brothers in Kansas, Pizza Hut distinguished itself from the competition by using this architectural feature. The red roof has been setting the restaurant apart from others since 1969, earning its own patent and helping Pizza Hut become the top pizza chain restaurant in the 1970s. It just goes to show how important individuality was back in the day!
While Pizza Hut acknowledges the effort that the red-roof buildings put into making them #1, it wasn’t enough to resist the temptation of modernization. Most locations have been completely remodeled to blend in with every other restaurant ever – goodbye originality, hello conformity!
This photo is of a Burger King from the 1980s, but regardless of what decade you experienced the restaurant, we all remember the red, yellow, and blue hues that defined the chain. On its standalone buildings, you probably remember a tiered blue or red roof. The interior was decked out with bright colors, and likely featured a kids' maze in the front of the building. Anyone else remember getting a cardboard crown with their kid’s meal?
Like McDonald’s, Burger King has removed many play areas for children, making the restaurant friendlier to a wider range of people, but also taking away the nostalgia and fun we associate with these fast-food chain restaurants. The tiered roof has given way to the basic flat rectangles. On the bright side, at least the chain hasn’t adopted the all-black exterior as a way to “update” its buildings. It’s getting old!
Complete with a sloped roof, a sunroom, cherry-red carpeting, and faux greenery, the Wendy’s of the 1990s and 2000s scream comfort and nostalgia. Sure, the sunrooms probably did numbers on the electric bill, but who cares about money when it comes to curating the perfect vibe? Businesses, I guess. Whatever. We want originality back!
A boring square building? For a fast food chain? Groundbreaking. Wendy’s succumbed to the modern aesthetic, killing the vibes once and for all. Can Wendy’s postpone their identity crisis for later? We really need to sit in the old sunroom with a Frosty in our hands, STAT.
What a fun-looking restaurant! It’s too bad corporations hate fun. While this restaurant still exists (thank goodness), they are hard to come by these days. It’s a rare sight for a Chick-fil-A restaurant to look this fun. Is there some sort of hotline we can call to get a fun-looking Chick-fil-A?
Everyone, look under your seats… it’s a boring restaurant shaped like a box! Honestly, we think this is one of the worst. If you took the logo off, this building could be anything – a high school, an Evangelical church, a prison, you name it – but not a fun restaurant chain. They’ve got funny billboards, why can’t they have cool storefronts?
This picture is of a Panera Bread in 2006. Hubba-hubba – the 2000s brought us some of the coziest restaurant designs we’ve ever seen. The warm colors give the place an earthy feel that makes you want to listen to NPR and wear Birkenstocks. It just looks like Norah Jones is playing over the speakers. The awnings, the tile on the roof, and even the sign are perfectly curated to match the restaurant’s identity.
It’s not the worst modernization effort a restaurant has undertaken, but we still don’t like it. We’ll give them points for keeping the earthy aesthetic– but the sign? Criminal. We’ll take funky fonts and logos over whatever that snoozefest is. It feels so corporate and boring. Give us something to look at!
Unlike other restaurants, Chipotle has never been revered for its aesthetic. Although the place offers Mexican food, its appearance typically leans more towards a modern American style. This location, however, gives us a taste of what Chipotle could be if it leaned into that desert-rustic-hacienda aesthetic that more accurately represents where its food comes from.
We’re gonna need some therapy after seeing this one. If you googled the opposite of character, this image would pop up. If you took the signs off and told us this was a restaurant that sold flavorful Mexican food, we’d laugh in your face. Just… make it go away.
Dang. This is a nice Chili’s. The stonework, the angular roofs, the huge neon sign. We’d trust this Chili’s with our lives just for having a unique storefront. Yes, it’s that serious.
Dang. This is a not-so-nice Chili’s. They can’t all be winners, and this restaurant is here to prove it. On the bright side, at least it’s not as bad as that new Chick-fil-A restaurant we looked at earlier. At least we know this is a restaurant, not a laboratory.
Throwback to 1958. On the side of the building, we can see the one and only Colonel Sanders, next to the restaurant's slogan, “Finger lickin’ good,” invented just a few years before this photo was taken. Although this location isn’t a showstopper, all KFC has ever needed was the face of Sanders, who is known as an “international symbol of hospitality.”
No way. A black, red, and white modern building? That is so creative. Not. Seriously, with the amount of swag that Colonel Sanders has and the rich history behind the restaurant, you’d think they’d come up with something cooler than what literally everyone else is doing. We’re gonna need a bucket of wings to drown our sorrows.
Here, we can see Popeyes old name: Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits. This was before 2008, before the chain found its identity and became Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. The franchise began in the 1970s and has since brought Creole and Cajun flavors worldwide. Now, don’t you think they deserve a unique storefront?
Oh, thank God. We were starting to think we were losing our ability to see color. Finally, a restaurant that knows how to stand out! We’ll forgive the harsh, angular architecture just for you, Popeyes. This might be the only restaurant that has improved its appearance over the years. No one is mistaking this gorgeous yellow and red building for anything but the iconic Louisiana Kitchen!
