THE Orange McDonald’s restaurant has been sold to Sydney operators who will move to Orange to take over the franchise.
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After operating the business for 27 years, Joanne and Geoff Lewis said the mix of timing and the new owners was right to sell.
“We have had several people approach us over the years wanting to buy in, but we wanted to make sure the new owners would be prepared to also have a strong interest in the community,” Mrs Lewis said.
She said the sale would free up time to focus on building Ronald McDonald House in Orange, as she is chair of the board of directors.
Mrs Lewis said senior staff had been advised of the sale and were passing on the information to junior staff.
Orange McDonald’s employs 150 full-time, part-time and casual staff.
“We have employees who have been not only here with us since we started, but now have their children working here. It is with quite mixed feelings we have decided to step away at this time,” Mrs Lewis said.
She recalled the recruitment process when McDonalds announced it was opening in Orange.
“We hired a hall and there were literally hundreds of young people who queued that day to try and get a job with us,” Mrs Lewis said.
Since owning the Orange McDonald’s restaurant, Mrs Lewis said she and her husband had developed a strong admiration for young people.
“You hear so much in the media about the negative things associated with young people but I think they are just wonderful,” she said.
“Their work ethic often comes from a strong family upbringing and we have strict rules about how they present themselves for work with clean shoes and fingernails.
“I believe even simple things like these these are valuable lessons they learn that take them through other careers in their life.”
The Lewises disapproved of the company’s choice to build a second Orange restaurant at the site of the AnitaMotor Inn on the corner of the Mitchell Highway and Dalton Street.
“We just didn’t feel that site was right, but the choice of a new area on the distributor road we think is very appropriate,”Mrs Lewis said.
The new owners will operate both the existing restaurant on Bathurst Road and the yet-to-be-built distributor road outlet.
Mrs Lewis said the couple’s daughter Kylie Lewis-Minogue would stay on in the business to help with the transition of the new owners.
janice.harris@ruralpress.com
