McDonald’s has provided a sneak preview of its biggest ever restaurant, built for the London 2012 Games at the Olympic Park in Stratford.

Property Week

yesterday toured the 32,000 sq ft branch of the fast food chain, which, in a nod to the pop-up shop trend, will open for six weeks only from 27 July.

The temporary restaurant has been built in the park’s so-called ‘Central’ location, metres from the Olympic Stadium and the London 2012 souvenir store. It is spread over two floors with four kitchens and seating for more than 1,000 customers. The average McDonald’s restaurant seats less than 150 customers.

The structure has state-of-the-art sustainability credentials and is designed to be at least 75% reusable and recyclable when it is dismantled after the Games. More than 5,500 items, including furniture, light fittings, air conditioning units and kitchen equipment – will be redistributed across McDonald’s existing UK restaurant estate.

The Olympic Park restaurant will displace Pushkin Square in Moscow as the world’s busiest branch of McDonald’s and is expected to serve an estimated 50,000 Big Mac burgers and 180,000 portions of fries. The company is preparing to feed 1,200 customers an hour at its busiest, from the start of the Olympics to the closing of the Paralympics.

McDonald’s is a sponsor of the Olympics, and has an exclusive deal that ensures it is the only branded restaurant on site. As well as the flagship restaurant, there are two smaller branches elsewhere in the Park, including a McCafe outlet for the athletes.

During the Games, the chain will serve its biggest menu than at any previous Olympics, with ingredients sourced from a British supply chain, it said. It will also execute a meticulously planned catering operation – having only a 45-minute window between 1am and 3am within which to receive deliveries.

Jill McDonald, chief executive of McDonald’s UK, said: “Our flagship restaurant features many of the innovations that have fuelled our transformation during the past five years to improve the customer experience and increase the efficiency of our business operations.

“We’ll be serving the broadest menu we’ve ever provided at an Olympic Games, thanks to the continued evolution of our menu, our longstanding British supply chain and the technology we have put in place to handle the highly complex Olympic catering challenge.”

An interview with McDonald’s head of property Henry Trickey,  and further coverage of the flagship Olympic Park restaurant, will run in Property Week’s Occupiers section next Friday.