New jobs, new look at McDonalds Ballymena

The investment involves a complete revamp of the interior and exterior of the restaurant including a new drive thru customer ordering system which will speed up even further the already fast food service which McDonalds Ballymena is famed for.

The additional jobs will bring the staff base of full-time and part-time employees at the restaurant in the town’s Pentagon Retail Park to 99.

Applications are now open and these can be completed on line at www.mcdonalds.co.uk/careers.

Assistant Manager, Lauren Galloway, has made McDonalds her career since starting in the Ballymena restaurant at age 16 as part-time crew.

A graduate of Business and Retail at the University of Ulster, Coleraine, she says: “I worked for McDonalds all through my studies and even came home at weekends when I was at university just to work here.

“While I was at Uni, I was offered the position of assistant manager which was better than any of the graduate jobs I was looking at. I’ve been assistant manager for two years now and this is my career. - If you work hard it doesn’t take long to work your way up!”

McDonalds is keen to support employees who wish to improve or enhance their educational qualifications and offers the opportunity, through apprenticeships, to study for NVQ in Hospitality and Catering, which is equivalent to five GCSEs.

Also, essential qualifications such as Maths and English can also be undertaken and can be scheduled in-house as part of a crew member’s employment.

Last year, 10 Ballymena employees successfully passed through the apprenticeship programme and so far this year five have gone through, with a further two currently on the programme.

The Ballymena restaurant also invests in the community, and the environment, not least through litter picks.

Three have already been carried out this year in the south of the town - two at Braidwater Retail Park and one with the children and staff of Ballykeel Nursery. A fourth is being planned with Waveney Youth Football Club, which McDonalds is proud to sponsor with training kit and equipment.

Having most recently invested in its bright, modern new look, coupled with staff development, the Ballymena restaurant is well placed to continue to deliver consistently high levels of customer service 24-hours per day, under the management of Karl Black supported by assistant managers Lauren Galloway and Tanya Hunter.

Outside, seating has been created to offer alfresco dining and the very popular drive-thru now features ‘Customer Order Display’ (COD) through which customers can place their order through a speaker and check it visually before collecting.

Inside, staff headsets are connected to the COD which means that the order starts to be made up the second it is placed to ensure the best possible drive-thru experience.

Indoors has also been completely transformed.

Seating has been changed and increased with enhanced use of bench-style seats and stools; the order counter is visibily more spacious; toilets have been given a fresh new look; and, there is now a ‘Keeko’ colouring-in station for young customers.

Not surprisingly, the response from both regular and new customers has been highly complimentary since the refurbishment was launched on September 21.

Assistant Manager, Lauren, said: “Customers have told us they like the more modern look; that it’s more comfortable and much more spacious. We’re delighted by the feedback which tells us ‘they’re lovin’ it!”