McDonald's set to amuse Olympic fans

Seen above is the design of a McDonald’s Gangneung Olympic Park store in Gangwon Province, which will be built for spectators at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games. / Courtesy of McDonald’s Korea

By Park Jae-hyuk

A value meal-shaped McDonald’s store will make its debut near venues of the PyeongChang Winter Games.

McDonald’s Korea has unveiled the design of its Gangneung Olympic Park store, Wednesday, announcing it has begun building the 479-square-meter store on a 960-square-meter plot of land.

Gangneung, a neighboring town of PyeongChang, will host all ice events during the Olympics.

The new restaurant will be composed of buildings in the shapes of a hamburger, French fries and beverages.

The hamburger chain is expecting the new store will be a landmark that can entertain its customers.

All of McDonald’s signature menus, including the Big Mac and the McSpicy Shanghai Burger, will be available at the store.

In addition to the Olympic Park store targeting spectators at the events, another McDonald’s store will open in the Gangneung Olympic village.

The Olympic Village store will offer free meals to athletes and coaches from around the world.

Its construction will also begin this month.

“McDonald’s opened its first store here in 1988, the year of the Seoul Summer Olympics,” McDonald’s Korea Managing Director Joh Ju-yeon said. “The PyeongChang Olympics therefore is special for us.”

Expressing her gratitude to customers, who have loved McDonald’s over the past 30 years, Joh promised the company will make every effort to support the success of the Winter Games.

“All of our employees and franchisees are very proud of themselves, because they can help Korean and worldwide customers enjoy the PyeongChang Olympics,” she said.

As an official sponsor of the PyeongChang Olympics, McDonald’s global headquarters and the local affiliate have continued with mass investments in the Winter Games, in addition to supporting the athletes and fans around the world.

The new stores are creating jobs for many people as well. McDonald’s Korea hired staff for the stores in August.

McDonald’s Korea will dispatch 260 employees to Gangneung, and will offer hotels and tickets for the Games.

Three foreigners who rose to fame for their perfect Korean in a local TV program give advice to McDonald’s Korea employees, who will work for McDonald’s stores near Olympic venues. From right are Alberto Mondi from Italy, Guillaume Patry from Canada and Daniel Lindemann from Germany. / Courtesy of McDonald’s Korea

Last week, the employees participated in a workshop regarding management manuals, food safety and global manners.

Three foreigners who rose to fame for their perfect Korean in a local TV program ― Daniel Lindemann from Germany, Alberto Mondi from Italy, and Guillaume Patry from Canada ― imparted advice to the employees at the workshop.

“The staff of the two Gangneung stores are doing their best to contribute to the success of the PyeongChang Olympics by offering the best service to athletes and spectators,” a McDonald’s Korea official said.