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SAVOY — “I’m lovin’ it” is what Big Mac fans will soon be saying after grabbing a bite to eat at the new McDonald’s, which officially opens today in Savoy.
“It’s exciting for me as well, because I live here in Savoy,” said Gus Bolanos, director of Linders Family McDonald’s restaurants. “This becomes my hometown store.”
Eleventh-hour technical difficulties pushed the original planned opening back a day, Bolanos said, but the restaurant got positive early reviews this week from members of the Savoy village board and local business owners, who were invited to a VIP open house.
The event served as a way for some employees to get experience working in their new store rather than their training locations.
Some of the attendees worked at the nearby memory care unit and residents have already started asking for the MTD bus route to stop by the restaurant.
The village “has been great to work with,” Bolanos said. “They’ve welcomed us with open arms and helped along the way. It’s been a really nice situation.”
Owners Blake and Laura Linders purchased the 509 S. Dunlap Ave. location earlier this year — making this their 26th McDonald’s.
The family owns all the stores in Champaign and Urbana, as well as locations from Altamont to Rantoul and beyond, employing close to 1,300.
The Savoy restaurant will employ 45 people, including a general manager from the Bloomington Road property and a district manager who has worked with the family for 20 years.
Around 95 percent of the Savoy staff members were hired recently and trained at other stores while waiting for the new location to open.
“We thought (staffing) was going to be a bigger challenge than it ended up being,” Bolanos said. “We were able to pick up 30 of those staff members in about three weeks and get them into restaurants and training.”
Bolanos said every McDonald’s has its regulars and coffee club members who share stories about what used to be on the property. He’s looking forward to meeting them.
“You start hearing those stories from local customers and that part’s pretty neat,” he said.
