Fast-food outlets test trends

Alison Calkins

Thursday, March 21, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Four-year-old Easten Leavitt was having a ball at the McDonald's Playplace this week on Maryland Parkway. So was her mother, Denise, who sat reading near a sunny window.

"We love to come here. We both have fun," Denise said. "We don't live in this area, but we come here three or four times a year. It's always an event."

That sentiment is shared by parents and children throughout Las Vegas and the country as evidenced by the number of playgrounds appearing at fast-food restaurants.

The two- to three-story, indoor, "soft" playgrounds are a big hit with consumers.

Unlike traditional playgrounds made of metal and wood, they're made of foam-padded tubular steel and plastic. Nets encase the play area for safety, and they typically have tunnels, slides and a pit of plastic balls.

McDonald's calls them PlayPlaces and is one of the industry's most aggressive builders. The chain has installed 600 indoor playgrounds out of 12,000 restaurants nationwide and is the largest operator of indoor playgrounds in the country.

The trend started in Las Vegas in the late 1970s with the first outdoor playland. In 1993, the playlands started moving indoors and became PlayPlaces. The first in Vegas was at the West Sahara Avenue and Arville Street restaurant.

Now, of the 41 McDonald's restaurants that dot the Las Vegas Valley, five have the earlier style outdoor playlands with slides, see-saws and bouncy horses, eight have outdoor PlayPlaces and six have indoor PlayPlaces.

A seventh indoor PlayPlace will be available when the newest McDonald's opens in May at Charleston Boulevard and Buffalo Drive.

Even other fast-food outlets, like Burger King, have adapted the playground trend in the Las Vegas Valley.

Operations Manager Tim Andersen said the McDonald's playgrounds and PlayPlaces of Las Vegas are of varying sizes and the older versions tended to be bigger than the new ones.

"Now, they average between 1,200 and 1,400 square feet. Over the years, we lived and learned about the best size that fits the best number of seats and the equipment. Plus the older ones were single-story. Now they're all three stories," he said.

Moving the outdoor playgrounds inside was a logical evolution, according to Andersen.

"Even here, it's often too cold and windy outside in the winter and definitely too hot in the summer. Having them inside gives us year-round playability, day and night," he said, adding that consequently, the outdoor playgrounds are phasing out.

But soft playgrounds -- or play systems, in industry jargon -- don't come cheap. Design firms say the price of the equipment favored by fast-food places averages between $30,000 and $75,000, depending on the complexity of the model, with a capacity ranging from 30 to 75 children.

Add the costs of building the structure for the soft playground, insurance and a unisex bathroom for the kids and "it costs a lot," according to Andersen, who wouldn't be more specific about the particulars.

"But obviously the investment pays off," he said.

Industry figures indicate that PlayPlaces boost sales 10 to 15 percent.

Not every McDonald's qualifies for a PlayPlace though. "We look at Happy Meal counts and the demographics of the area and make a decision," Andersen said.

Customers Pat Wellz and Heather Creasey are happy that a PlayPlace was built at the Maryland Parkway McDonald's. Recently, Wellz's 2-year-old granddaughter and Creasey's little sister were busy playing in the ball pit.

"It's just great," Creasey said. "I've brought my little sister here a few times and we usually stay about an hour."

An hour may seem like a long time for customers to sit without further purchases after the initial one, but Andersen said the return visits are what the company counts.

"Our hope is that they'll come back more often. And that's what they seem to be doing," he said. "Parents have told us they like the fun, safe, clean environment for their kids."