Ronald would be proud.
The new arcade-style McDonald’s is set to open Tuesday, and Ronald McDonald, himself, will be making an appearance at the new store on May 29.
The 1979 restaurant across from Lenoir Community College, with its faux-stone exterior, was torn down in January. The new store resembles one built in Greenville.
It features a double lane drive-through, seating for 110, three 42-inch flat screen televisions and two interactive touch screens for children.
Nearly half of the chairs are soft seats. There are also a couple of bar-top seating areas, décor-style hanging lamps and a booth that seats six plus room for a wheelchair.
“This is for those early morning coffee people,” Tim Sollars, director of operations with Dixon Foods McDonalds, said about the large booth.
Other décor includes four large acrylic windows with photographs featuring local sites, including LCC buildings, Mother Earth Brewing and the CSS Neuse II. The interior is painted LCC’s blue school color.
The restaurant will feature the standard McDonald’s menu with the addition of limited-time-only blueberry pomegranate smoothies and quarter pounder toppers. The three toppers are the deluxe, bacon and habanera bacon.
What’s not completed is an 80-square-foot digital projection play area with about a dozen games where kids can kick a soccer ball, pop balloons or jump on lily pads. The games will be projected onto the floor for patrons of all ages.
The play area is expected to be completed sometime in June, Sollars said.
“As soon as we can get it up,” said Candace Windham, Dixon Foods marketing manager, “we’ll have it open for the kiddies.”
Sollars said the location on U.S. 70 for the modern-style store with its projection play area is ideal as travelers can come in and “let the kids unwind.”
McDonald’s tries to keep their construction within 100 days, but an additional 20 days were figured in because of a drainage issue, said Wade Dixon, owner of the Dixon Food Group — which owns 20 McDonald’s in Lenoir, Greene, Wayne and Pitt counties.
Windham said the store was originally slated to open last week.
“We’ve had a lot of rain,” Sollars said. “That’s the only thing that affected our schedule.”
A ribbon cutting will be held 10 a.m. May 21. Ronald McDonald will be visiting the new store from 5:30-7:30 p.m. May 29. McTeacher’s Night will be held 5-8 p.m. May 30. Visit the store for information on special discount days, giveaways and promotions.
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.