GOLDEN Arches will soon be visible on the city’s eastern fringe, with the rapid development of Mount Gambier’s second McDonald’s restaurant on track and set to open its doors in October.
The multi-million dollar restaurant – located on the corner of Attamurra Road and Jubilee Highway East – will boast a five metre indoor play space, a party room and a McCafe drive through window.
According to licensees Liz and Bryce Crick, around 100 local tradesmen have been employed during construction and once completed the restaurant will create up to 150 jobs.
“We pushed really hard to employ as many local tradesmen as possible during the build,” Mr Crick told The Border Watch this week.
“There are certain things McDonald’s needs to oversee, but we engaged a number of South East contractors and had up to 100 local tradesmen on site.
“We have already started recruiting and we will employ between 100 and 110 staff at this restaurant initially.”
Ms Crick said the interior decor at the new store would be the first of its kind in Australia.
“This will be the first McDonald’s in Australia with the family flagship decor,” she said.
“To meet demand for a McCafe drive through we will have a pick up window specifically for McCafe orders and we will be open 24/7 to start with.
“We hope this will take some pressure off the other restaurant, it is an extremely busy McCafe site.
“Early in the morning we do up to 170 cars an hour at the drive through – our record is 186 in one hour.
“Staff push through big numbers and they are very efficient, but the building was constructed 25 years ago – it was not designed for that volume.”
She added accessibility would be improved with a turnoff from the highway and a “huge” car park.
The store will be the fourth McDonald’s restaurant in the couple’s portfolio.
Across stores in Mount Gambier, Naracoorte and Portland, the pair will employ around 500 people.
“We have an amazing management team for this restaurant that we have been developing for a couple of years,” Ms Crick said.
“Our manager from Naracoorte has moved over here and we have been able to draw on some really good people with plenty of experience.
“We have been planning this for a long time and it’s exciting to open our fourth restaurant and provide more opportunities for our people and create new positions for them to move up into.”
Both Liz and Bryce worked as McDonald’s employees as teenagers and worked their way up through the management structure.
“We both started at Maccas when we were 15 and we met at McDonald’s manager training,” Mr Crick revealed.
“It’s nice to understand what it is like on that side, we know exactly what our people need.
“We have really low turnover and a lot of loyalty with our staff – it is a giant, unconventional family.”
Ms Crick said the restaurant would likely open its doors in late October.
“We do not have a date set yet, but we are working really hard to open on the Mount Gambier Show weekend,” she said.
