Do you ever think of fast-food restaurants as a soothing retreat or a place to gain good fortune?

Not me. But, apparently some fast-food chains are adopting the principles of feng shui (fung shway) to lure diners. The ancient Chinese philosophy involves arranging objects in a room, office or house to promote health, harmony and prosperity.

Orange County McDonald’s operator Mark Brownstein is using feng shui at a Golden Arches in Hacienda Heights. He also runs four McDonald’s in Buena Park. There’s no plans to adopt feng shui in those eateries. However, Brownstein and his Los Angeles partners have made massive decor changes to the Hacienda Heights location, which contains leather seats, earth tones, bamboo plants and water trickling down glass panels.

The makeover is aimed at creating a soothing setting that will encourage diners to linger over their burgers and fries, and come back again, Brownstein told the Associated Press during a recent interview. (map of store to right)

Feng shui is also used in the designs of the Panda Express, including several locations in Orange County. Eddie Lee, a regional manager at Panda, recently gave me a tour of a restaurant at the Irvine Spectrum Center shopping center. It was built less than two years ago under the guidance of two feng shui masters.

Elements include: Front and back doors do not face each other in accordance with a basic feng shui principle. That theory is that luck entering the front door could exit the back if the doors faced each other, Lee said. Also, the front doors and other interior décor are painted bright red, a color that symbolizes prosperity.

This one was my favorite: At the manager’s station, overhead lighting is banned because the heat and brightness of a lamp puts “too much pressure” on the manager, said Lee, who employs feng shui principles in his own San Diego home.

To read more about fast-food and feng shui, read the Register’s Marketplace section on Friday. Below, view more feng shui photos, courtesy of AP, and Register photographer Mike Schwartz:

DON’T FORGET: McDonald’s is serving free iced coffee in SoCal starting today through Sunday. CLICK HERE to learn more.

McDonald’s in Hacienda Heights. (above)

Panda Express in Irvine Spectrum with red decor, and red front doors.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 3:00 am and is filed under Burger Joints, Chinese, McDonald's, Panda Express, Personal encounters, Takeout foods, Wacky stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.