Advertising no doubt has something to do with all this success. The company’s annual advertising budget has been estimated to exceed $2 billion — making it “unmatched in the industry,” according to BMO Capital Markets, and roughly the size of the gross domestic product of Aruba. That allows McDonald’s to reach an audience far larger than the one that saw “Super Size Me.” But for McDonald’s to keep succeeding, especially in the United States, it can’t be satisfied with serving only its core customers.

The goal, according to Neil Golden, the company’s chief marketing officer for its American restaurants, is to win over the holdouts. One way to do that is by improving the food itself. Another way is to change how we think about that food. “The consumer perception of the quality of our food is not where we want it to be,” Golden told me. “Listen, we’re serving 28 million people every single day; there are a lot of consumers that love what we’re serving. But we believe that they would come more frequently. We also believe that there are more people that would want to come — if they could feel better about the product.”

With their remodeled restaurants, additions to the menu and at least one nontraditional ally — mom bloggers — executives are trying to present a greener, more healthful McDonald’s. And in some ways the company is indeed changing. For the first time last year, McDonald’s sold more pounds of chicken than pounds of beef, a seismic shift that would be like Starbucks selling more tea than coffee. Beverages, thanks to smoothies and espresso drinks, are now a $9 billion annual business for McDonald’s in the United States. The restaurants themselves are changing, too, adding Wi-Fi, colorful chairs, tables that wouldn’t be out of place in an IKEA catalog and, in some West Coast test markets, flat-screen TVs playing the McDonald’s Channel.

The content on the nascent channel is breezy (think Top 10 lists) and anodyne. The objective is “an agnostic view of the world,” according to Lee Edmondson, the founder of ChannelPort Communications, the California company building the channel for McDonald’s (its only client). In the test markets, at least, this means there will be no jarring images from CNN or Fox News. Instead, every few minutes between short features, the company’s catchy jingle — ba-da-ba-ba-bah — serenades the dining room as a reminder that all is right and good. “We don’t want to have graphic images up on the television screens,” says Brad Hunter, the senior director of customer engagement for McDonald’s U.S.A. “We’re not in this to keep the news from somebody. But the way that it’s shown is important for us and for our brand.” Even if the new channel does not make it into every one of the country’s 14,000 restaurants, the audience, Hunter says, “is everyone.”

If there is one McDonald’s franchise that seems to epitomize everything about the company’s recent efforts to win over new customers and strengthen bonds with old ones, it can be found in Riverside, Calif. There are solar panels on the carport, eco-friendly L.E.D. lights in the ceiling panels, totally new décor — and soaring sales.