A cushy deal with McDonald's.

• Position: Soft Play Inc.

It's red, yellow, blue and green, a set averages about $26,000, and it can boost sales by as much as 17 percent

*if your business is a fast-food restaurant, that is.

"The payback on the equipment is very quick," says Neil Crites, president of Soft Play Inc., a Charlotte company enjoying extraordinary growth thanks to an exclusive two-year contract to outfit McDonald's restaurants with soft, modular play equipment.

The fast-food chain had been moving away from installing playground equipment at its 12,000 locations because of skyrocketing liability insurance. But Crites' equipment - made of soft polyethylene plastic, with no moving parts - made the company reconsider. He landed a contract with McDonald's last February, and as a result, his sales should reach $9 million this year, up from $4 million in 1988. Crites, 36, has boosted his staff from 11 to about 70 and is building around 70 units a month. Prices range from $8,000 to $34,000.

Absent are dizzying heights, sharp edges and chains that can pinch fingers; they're replaced by enclosed slides, soft plastic tunnels and attractions such as the ball pit - filled with hollow plastic balls children can play among.

McDonald's hopes the equipment will bring more business to its restaurants in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas - states hit...