Yagoona in Sydney was home to the first McDonald's restaurant in Australia, but it took 26 years before the fast food chain that now sells 75 burgers a second around the world arrived in Echuca.
And while Michael Keaton (who played McDonald's Founder Ray Kroc in the Hollywood version of the restaurant’s story) won’t be cast in any sort of movie role to celebrate 25-plus years of business in Echuca, it remains a staple of many locals’ lives.
Whether it is as a bribe for good behaviour, a celebration following a sports victory or just a convenient and tasty option on that can’t-be-bothered cooking night, most of us have been drawn to the restaurant known affectionately (and apparently uniquely) in Australia as Macca's.
McDonald's Australia is in the middle of a three-month celebration.
Regulars may have already noticed new menu items (including 50 cent Big Macs on the mymacca's app) and promotions at the Echuca store.
In Australia the restaurant chain has sold 1.1 billion Big Macs in the past 50 years and now has not only 1009 stores in the country, but more than 107,000 employees.
Motorists have been speaking into the familiar McDonalds drive-through speakers since 1978. And as of 2011 the business was in 119 countries, having most recently launched in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Trinidad-Tobago.
Scott Moller is the fourth licensee of the Echuca Macca's in its 26-year history (the store opened in April 1995), having taken over from Doug Pearse.
Scott, like every member of his management crew, started from the bottom and has worked his way into the licensee role.
“Doug took over from Gary (Radford) and owned the business for about seven years before I purchased from him,” Scott said.
Scott said the business had grown considerably since its opening and there were now more than 150 crew and 12 managers, operating 24/7.
Among those staff is Scott’s current operations supervisor, who oversees the Echuca and Deniliquin restaurants.
“Cam started as a 14-year-old crew person in January 2009. A number of current managers have started their career as crew,” he said.
He said the core McDonald’s menu items remained the most popular with customers,
“Big Macs, Cheeseburgers, Quarter Pounders, fries and soft drink are still the staples, along with McCafé, which is a substantial aspect of our business,’’ he said.
For Echuca’s Maccas devotees, the delivery service is still in its infancy.
“Customers love the convenience of Macca's being delivered to the door,” Scott said.
“Nine thousand and five hundred kilograms of fries walk out the door every month, along with 141,000 nuggets and 74,000 slices of cheese,” Scott said.
He said McCafé had been a game changer for the business.
“It’s a great Australian initiative, as the platform was started in Melbourne and is now worldwide.’’
Echuca sits comfortably among the busiest stores in Victoria.
“We are a very seasonal store that has big peaks during the school holidays. We are certainly one of the busier stores in Victoria,” Scott said.
