Milton McDonald’s close to opening
After four months of work, the Milton McDonald’s at the corner of Route 16 and Union Street Extended is nearly ready to open its doors.
Owner Mike Meoli said as long as McDonald’s gets its remaining regulatory approvals, the restaurant would open Tuesday, Dec. 10, with a grand opening celebration to be held Tuesday, Dec. 17.
“It’s exciting,” Meoli said. “It’s been more of a journey than most new store openings, but I think it's going to be a solid, steady restaurant.”
While McDonald’s is a global brand, Meoli said the Milton restaurant will be ingrained in the local community because it is locally owned and operated.
The new McDonald’s will use the existing entrances and exits to the Food Lion shopping center. Site plans for the restaurant were first unveiled in October 2022, but part of the concerns of town officials was traffic safety through the shopping center. McDonald’s is installing stop marks along four of the drive aisles on the parcel. Stop marks will also be installed at the drive-thru entrance and exit.
Meoli said he is proud of the look of the new restaurant; through the site-plan review process, town planners wanted to see aesthetics that would match the historical nature of Milton. Meoli said he thinks the Milton McDonald’s has accomplished that. He said he is so happy with the look that he is considering using it in some of his other McDonald’s franchises. Meoli Companies owns 37 McDonald’s restaurants in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.
Meoli said the staff for the Milton McDonald’s has been training for the last month to get ready for the new restaurant to open and will be ready to roll on day one.
“We’re ready,” he said. “We’re going to show the Town of Milton that we are going to be great neighbors.”
The restaurant is about 4,000 square feet and will have fewer seats than other local McDonald’s franchises. Meoli said that is a function of where the business is going, as it becomes more centered on online or mobile ordering and drive-thru service.
“We’re responding to what our customers want,” he said. “They’re going to a more digital place and they expect McDonald’s to keep up.”
