McDonald’s officially cracked the seal on its newest Nanaimo restaurant with a grand opening celebration earlier this month.
Patrons packed the new restaurant at 1835 Bowen Rd. for the official opening on Jan. 9. The new McDonald’s on Bowen Road is the city’s first new full-restaurant location since McDonald’s opened on Mary Ellen Drive in 2001 and incorporates new design features and layout, including a dual-lane drive-thru, separate beverage and food preparation areas, plus current colour and decor schemes and seating.
“We’ve done a lot of remodels, re-images, to our existing restaurants – they’ve all been modernized – but this is the first brand-new McDonald’s that we’ve built,” said Wayne Krawchuk, franchise owner.
Krawchuk has operated McDonald’s in Nanaimo since he took over all franchises in 2008. He now operates 10 restaurants, which include six McDonald’s locations in Nanaimo and four in the Cowichan Regional District.
Part of the Bowen Road location’s opening celebrations, which began when the restaurant opened its doors Dec. 29, included giving away free cups of coffee, which boosted early customer counts.
“We gave away 16,400 cups of coffee – mostly large because it was free, all sizes – so that’s a lot of coffee since we’ve opened,” Krawchuk said.
