McDonald’s to hire 100 for replacement restaurant

SBJ photo by Geoff Pickle

Demolition crews on Monday tear down an existing restaurant to make way for a new McDonald’s.

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A McDonald’s franchisee is planning 100 hires to staff a high-demand Springfield location that’s coming back to life after being closed for a year.

Andy Ruprecht is planning to reopen his 501 W. Sunshine St. fast-food franchise in August, said Kristen Bergman, spokeswoman for McDonald’s Missouri Co-Op, a group of owner-operators that work together on advertising. Demolition of the building — which housed a McDonald’s until a fire caused its closure in early summer 2018 — is nearly complete to make way for a new build by Grain Valley-based general contractor J.E. Hefner Co., Springfield Business Journal reported earlier this week. Crews this morning were working to remove the remains of the building.

“This is one of our highest-trafficked locations in the area,” Bergman said, pointing to the restaurant’s proximity to Wonders of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium and Bass Pro Shops. “We are really excited to open our doors again very soon.”

Bergman said Ruprecht plans to start hiring for the new 150-seat restaurant in the next couple months. She said Ruprecht also owns the McDonald’s franchise operation located southeast of the National Avenue and James River Freeway interchange, as well as restaurants in Branson, Branson West, Forsyth and Hollister.

“This is going to be a good size restaurant for this area,” she said.

At the Sunshine Street restaurant, the 2018 fire caused exterior and interior damages, Bergman said.

“When you have a major disaster happen at your restaurant, there’s a lot of factors involved from permitting to insurance negotiations,” she said of the yearlong timeline to reopen the restaurant.

The new hires would add to some 3,000 McDonald’s employees located within a 50-mile radius of Springfield, according to past SBJ reporting. Bergman said all of the restaurants in the area are operated by franchisees of McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD).