Justin and Eterei Stonelake have been the owner-operators for the past three years, having switched from operating three Northland outlets to buy Dunedin's three McDonald's - in George St, Andersons Bay Rd and Dunedin North.
The couple said the redevelopment, costing about $1.5 million each at George St and Dunedin North and $2million at Andersons Bay Rd, had been ‘‘challenging''. However, only the George St premises closed, for about six weeks.
That fit-out covered a basement and two-storey redevelopment, with the top floor yet to be leased out. ‘‘The logistics was challenging at times ... It's nice to be back to concentrating on the burgers,'' Mr Stonelake said.
All three sites have had a variation of expanded kitchens, counter streamlining, and often a doubling of freezer, chiller and dry store spaces.
The newly landscaped Andersons Bay site now has a tandem drive-through. This option accounts for about 60% of sales while at the other sites it is about 50:50 between car and counter sales.
Mrs Stonelake said Dunedin staff numbers had been boosted recently by 30 ‘‘to well beyond 200'', with the installation of ‘‘Create Your Taste'', launched at the Andersons Bay Rd restaurant last week, and to be opened in Dunedin North next month.
Customers can order their own gourmet burgers, chosen from 32 ingredients, from digital kiosks. The burgers are then cooked and delivered to the table; the starting price being $10.90.
‘‘We'll have additional crew in the kitchen who will prepare the burgers to order hot off the grill, and extra staff for table service and to assist customers with the new digital kiosks,'' Mr Stonelake said.
Mrs Stonelake said having the kiosks allowed families more time to order at their leisure, avoiding having children queueing then trying to decide on their choices at the counter.
Mr Stonelake said: ‘‘We're looking forward to giving Dunedin locals and visitors the chance to build their dream burger, on what is effectively a giant iPad".
