Coleraine McDonald’s reopens with 20 new jobs and 120 seats

The McDonald’s restaurant at Riverside Park East in Coleraine has reopened following an £850,000 investment, creating 20 additional jobs. The refurbishment combines a redesigned kitchen, a larger customer area and improved staff facilities at the restaurant operated by franchisee Bruce Baillie.

More room for customers and orders

The reopened restaurant has a customer area with 120 seats, alongside changes behind the counter intended to improve the way orders are prepared and served. According to Insider Media’s report on 30 October, the investment is designed to provide a faster and more efficient experience for both customers and crew.

A bigger order assembly area is a central feature of the new kitchen layout. It gives crew members additional capacity to handle orders, with the aim of serving customers more quickly. The work therefore extends beyond the visible dining space to the operational areas that support service throughout the restaurant.

The distinction matters when assessing the project: this is a refurbishment of an existing Coleraine restaurant, rather than a new opening. Its reported benefits centre on greater capacity, an updated customer environment and additional employment at an established location.

The 120-seat figure describes the customer area following the work. No previous seating total was reported, so it should not be read as the number of seats added by the refurbishment.

Restaurant employment reaches 160

The investment has created 20 additional jobs, bringing the total number employed at Riverside Park East to 160. Improvements have also been made to the crew member room, with the aim of providing a more relaxing and comfortable space for employees.

That staff provision sits alongside the kitchen redesign and expanded customer area as a separate element of the refurbishment. While the kitchen changes focus on order handling, the crew room work addresses the space available to employees away from their service duties.

Commenting on the investment, Baillie said: “This investment ensures we can continue providing a modern, welcoming restaurant for our customers while supporting employment and skills development for our crew members, most of whom live locally.”

His comments connect the physical improvements with the restaurant’s role as a local employer. The confirmed employment increase is specific to Riverside Park East; the wider workforce supported by his two Coleraine restaurants is a separate total.

One franchisee, two Coleraine restaurants

Baillie also operates the McDonald’s restaurant on Coleraine’s Ring Road. Across the two restaurants, he and McDonald’s now support 280 jobs in the local economy.

The Riverside project is therefore an investment within an existing two-restaurant operation in the town. The reopening report identifies Riverside Park East as the location receiving the £850,000 refurbishment; it does not describe a corresponding refurbishment at the Ring Road restaurant.

For Ireland’s franchise community, the story provides a concrete example of a local operator investing in an established business. The reported changes bring together customer seating, kitchen capacity, employee facilities and recruitment within one project, rather than focusing solely on the appearance of the premises.

The two employment figures also show the importance of distinguishing an individual restaurant from a franchisee’s wider operation: Riverside employs 160 people, while the combined Coleraine total is 280.

A locally owned Northern Ireland network

There are currently 36 McDonald’s restaurants across Northern Ireland, all owned by nine local independent franchisees, according to the reopening report. Baillie’s Coleraine operation forms part of that locally owned network.

The Riverside investment illustrates how development within a franchise network can involve upgrading existing premises as well as opening new restaurants. Here, the reported outcome is a reopened site with more staff, a 120-seat customer area and a kitchen designed to accommodate more orders.

Practical takeaway: Franchisees considering refurbishment can use the Coleraine project as a checklist for their own planning: assess customer space, order-handling capacity and staff facilities together, while separating intended service improvements from measurable outcomes such as jobs created.