McDonald’s opens new building for business
McDonald’s reopened to the public on Nov. 19. The new look features four self ordering kiosks. Josie Sellers | Beacon
COSHOCTON – A new and improved, high tech McDonald’s opened to the public on Monday morning, Nov. 19. The restaurant closed on Aug. 5 and was rebuilt from the ground up.
“It’s the future of McDonald’s restaurants,” said Chad Lawson, director of operations. “We have a state of the art kitchen, side by side drive-thru and (four) self ordering kiosks. A lot of people may think we put those in to replace people, but that’s not true. We have two people out here helping place orders. If you aren’t comfortable with that we can still get your order over at the counter.”
Amy Ansel, owner/operator, made sure Coshocton got the biggest building McDonald’s now makes.
“We get a lot of support from the community and traffic from being right off of (State Route) 16,” she said. “People couldn’t wait for us to reopen. On our last day we had people say they didn’t know what they would do without us. Some people even went and visited our employees at the Newcomerstown location, but they came right back here today.”
Easton Lahna enjoyed testing out the new play area at McDonald’s. Josie Sellers | Beacon
Ansel pushed to make sure the restaurant would be enjoyed by people of all ages.
“It was important when we rebuilt that all different ages could enjoy coming here,” she said. “We wanted a place for young kids and older people. I think you can find a quiet place to sit and chat or study and moms can have fun with their kids.”
Lawson added that Ansel made sure a play area was included in the remodel.
“You don’t necessarily see those in the new McDonald’s, but she knew it was a favorite of people in Coshocton,” Lawson said.
The play area features a slide and climbing area, interactive tabletops and just on the other side are electronic game stations.
Four-year-old Easton Lahna was among the first to test the kid friendly area out on opening day when he enjoyed some time at McDonald’s with his dad Paul.
“I like it (the new building),” Paul said. “I especially like the two drive-thru lanes. It used to be so crazy when you would try to pull in at lunch time.”
When asked what he thought, Easton gave the play area a cheerful, “I like it!”
Ansel was part of adding the original play place to McDonald’s.
“We did that during a remodel in the 90s,” she said. “My father had owned the restaurant since the late 70s.”
Ansel took over the local McDonald’s when her father retired in January.
Both she and Lawson were happy to have the restaurant back up and running.
“We opened with 97 crew members and 15 managers,” Lawson said. “We couldn’t do it without them and we are glad to see them back home.”
Ansel added that they opened after only having four days to get used to the new design.
“They worked so hard and the people we have want to be here,” she said. “That means the world to me.”
McDonald’s is open from 4 a.m. to midnight and the drive-thru is open 24 hours Thursday through Saturday.
Category: Business
