After two fast-food restaurants closed in downtown Evanston last weekend, a McDonald’s executive suggested Thursday it might be difficult to make money on fast food in any downtown.
McDonald’s, 1700 Orrington Ave., and Panda Express, 1721 Sherman Ave., both closed Saturday. The restaurants, within one block of each other, faced special difficulties because of their downtown locations, said Greg Semos, McDonald’s director of development for the Chicago area.
McDonald’s was expected to close as part of the renovation of the Omni Orrington Hotel, 1710 Orrington Ave. Greenfield Partners, which owns of the Omni Orrington and McDonald’s properties, plans to replace the fast-food restaurant with a more upscale establishment.
Semos said McDonald’s was willing to part with the restaurant because the rent was expensive and the sales volume was relatively low. Semos said he wouldn’t be surprised if Panda Express had similar problems, but Panda Express officials could not be reached for comment.
The problems McDonald’s faced are common to most downtown fast-food restaurants in any city, Semos said.
Not only is it difficult to find an affordable location downtown, but the restaurants also lose some of their primary sources of business, Semos said. Fast-food restaurants typically get 50 to 60 percent of their business from drive-thru customers, but drive-thru usually isn’t an option in downtown locations.
Semos said downtown McDonald’s restaurants also lose business from a lack of weekend customers.
“It’s more of a five-day-a-week place than a seven-day-a-week place,” he said.
Students who have stood in long lines at 2 a.m. at Burger King, 1740 Orrington, might argue otherwise, but Semos said downtown restaurants typically see fewer customers during early-morning and late-night hours, too. Semos said he didn’t know why McDonald’s didn’t stay open later to compete with Burger King.
Despite the difficulties Semos stressed that the restaurant would not have closed if not for the deal with Greenfield Partners.
“It was a restaurant that we were not unhappy with,” Semos said. “We probably would have continued for the next 10 years of options on our lease.”
Greenfield Partners struck a deal Oct. 28 with McDonald’s to buy out the property’s lease, said Omni spokeswoman Susan Stoga. The deal stipulated that the McDonald’s lease would end Dec. 31, so Greenfield Partners could begin renovations after the Omni Orrington closes Jan. 4.
“I was surprised that they left so quickly,” Stoga said.
As soon as the deal was finalized, restaurant operator Jerry Bear sought approval from McDonald’s executives to close the restaurant early. Semos said news of the restaurant’s eventual closing made it difficult for Bear to keep it open any longer.
“Employees start to figure that they don’t need to show up if the place is closing,” Semos said. “In fact, he was starting to lose some of his help already.”
Semos said McDonald’s still is looking for alternative restaurant locations in downtown Evanston.
“We’d like to be in Evanston,” he said. “We’d like to be in the downtown area.”
