A McDonald’s restaurant in the Illawarra region of New South Wales is the first in the world to provide customers who choose to dine-in with plates, cutlery and table service. 

The idea came about after Glenn Dwarte, franchisee of McDonalds Warilla began providing his family members with table service when they came in for their weekly visits.

Mr Dwarte said that other customers started to catch on, and they wanted service of a similar nature.

Mr Dwarte and his wife Katia, who is also a franchisee at the restaurant, pitched the idea to the company’s chief executive in Australia, Catriona Noble, when she paid their venue a visit at the end of last year.

They served her a meal with crockery and glassware, and she was all praise for the idea.

Noble proceeded to contact the company’s global headquarters in Chicago, who gave approval for a five week trial, reports Good Food.

The trial officially commenced on 4 February, so how has it been received by customers?

Mrs Dwarte said it has been positive. “Most of the people who came in decided to try it,’’ she said.

‘‘Most were quite excited. We actually had a group of eight people who asked me to take a photo of them so they could put it on Facebook. We are also providing customer surveys so we can gauge the feedback.’’

Mr Dwarte said that for the next month, anyone who decides to munch on a Grand Angus, Big Mac or Chicken Deluxe meal at the restaurant on a Monday or Tuesday night between 5pm and 8pm can choose to have it delivered to their table with cutlery and on a plate.

The Dwarte’s have a mobile ordering trial in the works too, so it seems they are a busy lot indeed. 

Mr Dwarte said the app allows diners to place and pay for an order via their iPhone before they pick it up, and it seems to be garnerning interest amongst the company’s corporate staff all over the world.

‘‘They are quite keen to see if this [mobile ordering] will take off,’’ Mrs Dwarte said.