Local McDonald's Celebrates Reopening

After 25 days of renovations, the McDonald's on Old Bridge celebrated its grand reopening on Oct. 15, after officially reopening for business on Oct. 7.

"The building's about 25 years old," said franchise owner Mike Benner. "It was tired and needed a drastic change."

The updated McDonald's has a bar to charge up electronics, free wi-fi, automatic flushing toilets, soft LED lighting drawing about five amps per light indoors, and softer seats.

"I had one of my regular customers in here the other day," Benner said. "He said, 'My butt's happy.'"

The restaurant is 400 square feet smaller after they took the bump-out stairs on the end. But they still have 90 seats indoors, and a new seating area outside.

For Benner and his family, running the McDonald's is a family affair. Benner owns three in the Woodbridge area, and his two sons are store managers, and aspire to someday own McDonald's of their own.

"My wife, she'll do whatever she has to," Benner said. "She works in the back office, she knows her way around the kitchen. She gives me that support."

Benner first became a licensee of McDonald's in 1995, and the Old Bridge McDonald's was his first McDonald's. He worked his way up from being a crew person in 1976. The building itself has been around for 25 years, and was built as a McDonald's.

He decided two years ago that it needed renovations.

"The building had good bones, so it didn't need to be torn down, but it needed a major facelift, and it got it," he said.