Nicola Dornan expands to four McDonald’s in Northern Ireland

McDonald’s franchisee Nicola Dornan has expanded her Northern Ireland business to four restaurants after acquiring the Enniskillen, Omagh and Cookstown outlets. The three restaurants join her existing Dungannon operation, bringing the combined workforce across her business to close to 500 people.

Three acquisitions extend an established business

Dornan acquired the three restaurants on 26 October, according to a report published by the Impartial Reporter on 11 November 2026. She has owned the Dungannon restaurant since the end of 2023.

The transaction takes her business into Fermanagh through the Enniskillen restaurant, while also adding the Omagh and Cookstown locations. It represents expansion through the acquisition of existing restaurants rather than the opening of new premises.

That distinction matters when assessing the announcement. The close to 500 people employed across the four restaurants represent the combined workforce of Dornan’s enlarged business, not a figure for newly created jobs. Similarly, the addition of three outlets to her portfolio should not be read as three additions to McDonald’s overall restaurant network.

For Ireland’s franchise community, the development illustrates a growth route alongside new-site openings: an existing franchisee taking responsibility for additional trading locations within the same brand.

Local experience is the immediate priority

Dornan said her immediate priority would be to retain the local knowledge and experience within the three newly acquired restaurants while bringing them into her wider business.

That places continuity at the centre of the transition. Rather than presenting the acquisition solely in terms of restaurant numbers, her stated focus recognises the experience already held by the teams in Enniskillen, Omagh and Cookstown.

For a franchisee expanding from one restaurant to four, integrating the additional locations is a different task from establishing a restaurant from scratch. Existing teams and established ways of working form part of the business being taken on. Dornan’s emphasis is on retaining that experience as the restaurants become part of her larger operation.

The practical question for other franchisees considering acquisitions is therefore not simply how many locations they can add. It is also how they will support the people already working in those businesses and manage the transition in ownership. In this case, retaining local knowledge is an explicitly stated priority rather than an assumed benefit of the transaction.

From a franchise milestone to a larger portfolio

Dornan became Northern Ireland’s first female McDonald’s franchisee when she took over the Dungannon restaurant at the end of 2023. The latest acquisitions build on that initial entry into the network.

Her involvement also extends beyond restaurant operations. As part of her work as a McDonald’s franchisee, she regularly visits schools and encourages young people, particularly girls, to consider careers in business.

The expansion gives that business journey a further milestone: responsibility for four restaurants and a combined workforce approaching 500 people. Those figures describe the scale of her current operation without establishing its financial performance or the terms of the acquisitions.

Her school visits add a separate community dimension to the story. They sit alongside the operational responsibilities of ownership, providing a way for young people to hear about business careers from a local franchisee.

A local ownership network across Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland currently has 36 McDonald’s restaurants, owned and operated by nine local franchisees, according to the Impartial Reporter’s report. Dornan’s four restaurants sit within that locally operated network.

The announcement is therefore principally a story about the expansion of one franchisee’s business, rather than an increase in the brand’s regional footprint. It highlights how ownership can evolve within an established restaurant network while the locations themselves continue to form part of the same brand.

Practical takeaway: Franchisees weighing up an acquisition should distinguish existing employment from new job creation and portfolio growth from new openings. Dornan’s stated focus also offers a useful starting point for transition planning: understand and retain the local experience already within the business.