By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
The recently remodeled McDonald’s on Marion Road in Bucyrus is nothing like your grandfather experienced or could have imagined. Or your father. Or maybe even you.
“This is called an ‘Experience of The Future,’ an ETOF’ owner Scott Nickell said inside the re-opened restaurant. “This restaurant meets all the criteria. I’m lucky we did the remodel because now everything is where it should be. We’ve got the footprints.”
The remodel project, which Nickell said cost more than the original restaurant, is not only offering more modern amenities and services now, the same remodel has prepared the store for future improvements such as kiosk ordering.
“The industry is changing,” said Nickell who began his career with McDonald’s more than 40 years ago as a 16-year-old. “You’ve got to decide if you want to change and grow, or sit still and get behind.”
One might reasonably assume such an undertaking would be a long, drawn out process. While reasonable, such a conclusion would not be accurate.
“Here’s the uniqueness of this thing, OK,” Nickell said. “They did this whole project in 18 days. We were closed 10 days.”
All of the finishing touches are not quite in place. Some finish trim and other items have to be completed. But for those desiring a Big Mac or Quarter Pounder for lunch, or an early morning coffee and Egg McMuffin, the dining room and the drive-thru are now open and operating.
Make that a double, drive-thru – not Quarter Pounder.
“The double drive-thru can handle 150 to 180 cars per hour,” Nickell said. “It improves your capacity.”
To accommodate the new drive-thru, something had to give. What had to give turned out to be a wall which led to a booth in the 79-seat dining room being moved back six feet. However, the dining room is anything but cramped. It is opened up with features such as a television, a self-serve drink counter and a variety of seating styles and furniture.
Nickell said the design is European from the seating to the lamps. While he described the Galion McDonald’s, which he also owns and operates, as having more of a hometown feel with a fireplace, he said the Bucyrus interior is “eclectic.”
“They call it ‘Core 16’ design. That’s the newest and greatest,” Nickell said.
Some of the additions and improvements will be obvious like the new exterior façade, the 
dining area, the counter area and self-service drink counter. There is also the new parking lot and LED lighting. Some improvements, however, won’t be as readily noticeable. The restaurant will have a new rubberized roof as well as a new heating and air conditioning system.
The changes won’t be limited to the restaurant’s physical structure either.
“We’ll have new employee uniforms and we’re hiring a boatload of people,” Nickell said. “We’re always looking for good people.”
Nickell said there are currently 60 to 65 people working at McDonald’s of Bucyrus. He added the changes place the store at the forefront of the McDonald’s branding efforts.
“I feel you need to represent your community. What it does, we’re out there leading in McDonald’s,” Nickell said. “In the McDonald’s brand, this restaurant is one of the few and it’s at the front. This is an ‘Experience of The Future’ and it’s a good thing.”