Here’s the new technology at Atwater McDonald’s – and the old family story behind it

McDonald’s has come a long way since Jim Abbate’s father opened his first location in 1969.

This week the Abbates will celebrate an upgrade at their Atwater store on Shaffer Road that includes touchscreen kiosks and service through the McDonald’s smartphone app.

The touchscreen menu, which works much like any tablet computer, allows diners to “skip the line,” place an order and pay for it. The diner picks a number for their table and an employee brings the food out, Jim Abbate said.

The Abbates are putting “millions of dollars” into stores in the San Joaquin Valley. “The economy has been better for sure, but really it’s about relevance,” Abbate said. “Nobody wants to eat at a place that’s functional. They want an experience.”

The Atwater McDonald’s, which opened in 1978, was last upgraded about a decade ago to add a climbing structure for children, he said.

Young people tend to like the do-it-yourself kiosks, Abbate said. Then there’s the app, where people can place an order and check in at the location. They can get their food in the drive-thru or wait in the parking lot and an employee will bring it out.

Other recently added technology includes clam shell stoves that cook a burger patty in 75 seconds – about half the time it took before, Abbate said. McDonald’s has also moved to fresh beef and coffee beans that are sustainable and fair trade.

Upgrades are coming to the Gustine and Mendota locations, to name a few, Abbate said. Uber Eats, a food delivery service, is also coming down the pike, according to Abbate, whose family owns 37 stores up and down the Valley.

Many of these technologies were unimaginable when Abatte’s father and uncle, Tony and Joe, went into business with Ray Kroc, the man behind the spread of McDonald’s, in 1969. The Abbates’ first McDonald’s was on Olive Avenue in Merced, he said.

Abbate said his grandfather, Gaspare, came to the U.S. from Sicily with a second-grade education. He worked as a janitor and “lived the American Dream,” Abbate said. “He never got rich, but he did OK.”

Abbate said he’s proud that his stores, where all four of his daughters worked, can be a first job or a career for his employees.

“I think it’s undervalued in society, the ability to get that first job,” he said. “When you hear people say McDonald’s is a dead-end job, it’s absolutely not true.”

A ribbon-cutting for the upgrades is 10:45 a.m. Saturday with other events to follow at 2720 Shaffer Road in Atwater.