WINDSOR -- The McDonald’s on Bloomfield Avenue in Windsor has a new look both inside and out.
“We’ve really expanded things, renovated things to make them great for the customer,” said Roger Facey, the Windsor McDonald’s Owner Operator.
Inside, the dining room is more modern. There are new digital screens behind the counter and new kiosks for customers who want to put in their order themselves.
Outside, there are new spaces for curbside pickup for mobile ordering and two lanes of drive throughs to speed things up.
“I like the dual drive in, it was easy,” said Chris Gearing of Old Lyme.
“It worked out well and moved quick,” said Suzanne Moriarty of Windsor.
“A business needs to evolve and be fresh and give customers great reasons to come in,” said Facey.
That’s why local McDonald’s franchise owners are sharing the $84 million expense with the McDonald’s company to make these changes happen at 90 Connecticut restaurants. Roger Facey owns 18 different McDonald’s franchises in the state, and they’re all at different stages of renovations.
“The customers are really enjoying what we’re doing. They’re enjoying the mobile ordering. They’re enjoying the order delivery at home. It’s very well received, so our sales are up very nicely, and as a result we hope to get our money back eventually,” said Facey.
With the increase in sales comes an increase in jobs. Facey said just because things are automated, it doesn’t mean people are out of work.
“I understand the concern when you see the menu boards and see the kiosks, but the reality is we are adding people and adding labor. We have table service in our restaurants. We have additional help in our drive throughs. We’re doing a lot of things to improve the customer experience. We still have counter service for people who want to go to the front counter, so in reality we’ve added people,” said Facey.
McDonald’s also said local contractors, architects and construction workers are being put to work with these different projects.