Restaurant celebrates its 20th McBirthday (From Swindon Advertiser)

Restaurant celebrates its 20th McBirthday

9:50am Sunday 13th December 2009 in News

AN icon of American life, the drive-thru, is celebrating its 20th year in Swindon.

It is now two decades since the system of fast-food straight to you in your car came to the town.

Staff at McDonald’s off the Great Western Way, near the Cockleberry Roundabout, marked the occasion by looking back on how times have changed.

The format was first pioneered in the United States in the 1930s but has since spread to other countries.

Paul Booth, who operates seven McDonald’s franchises across Swindon and Wiltshire, said: “This is a special day for me.

“Many of my staff and customers have been coming here for over a decade, so they deserve a big thank you and a slice of cake.”

Since December 11, 1989, Swindon customers have eaten more than two million Big Macs and consumed over one million free-range eggs.

The first McDonald’s drive-thru in the world was in Sierra Vista, Arizona, in January 1975 and was designed to serve soldiers at a nearby military base. The first in Europe opened in Dublin in 1985.

More than 1,000 local employees have worked at the Swindon restaurant since 1989, which now has a workforce of 60, many of them related. Anna Hughes, one of the managers, has been working in Cockleberry for over 11 years and her son Connor recently joined her there as a crew member.

She said: “The restaurant is a fantastic place to work and I knew my son would fit in with the rest of the team.

“Unlike other working mums I have the opportunity to spend loads of time with Connor.”

Jasmine Fernandes works as a manager with her mother Margi who works in the dining area and they have both worked together for over eight years now.

She said: “We work mornings together and it’s great to have someone close to you at work.”