Emokhare Paul Anthony, Daily Herald
The Yard Entertainment District welcomed a familiar set of golden arches with the opening of a new fast food restaurant in the area on Wednesday.
Raj Bains, the franchisee and operator of Prince Albert’s two McDonald’s restaurants, celebrated with staff, guests, and dignitaries as he officially opened his third in The Yard on Wednesday.
“I’m very excited,” Bains said. “This is one more restaurant to serve our community. We are very excited to open the doors and we are looking forward to having our community come and serve on this end of the town.”
Bains celebrated the occasion by offering guests a chance to win prizes, and pledging to donate a portion of the proceeds from every Big Mac sold between Dec. 6-12 to the Ronald McDonald Family Room at Victoria Hospital.
Bains said he wants to make sure families visiting Prince Albert for medical issues always have a place to stay. He said the new Ronald McDonald House opening in Prince Albert will help fill that need.
“We are very excited because we are very closely associated with Ronald McDonald’s House,” Bains said. “Ronald McDonald House for us is big. You can see it through McHappy Days, and we also do certain other sponsorships with Roman McDonald’s House.
“Especially, this is a home away from home. We are catering (to) all of Northern Saskatchewan.”
A McDonald’s employee prepares a basket of fries at the new location that opened Wednesday in The Yard Entertainment District. — Jason Kerr/Daily Herald
McDonald’s is the latest business to open in The Yard Entertainment District. The list includes Firehouse Subs, SaskTel, and a Holiday Inn Express. Bains said he’s happy to see a McDonald’s join the list.
“This is a new iconic area in PA,” Bains said. “If you look at it, we have a community center, we have a rink coming in, we have hotels coming in, and this is one of the iconic areas. It’s going to be just as strong as Cornerstone.”
Bains said adding a third McDonald’s to Prince Albert also made sense. He said the third location will help serve the growing southeast end of the city.
Bains said they were also focused on supporting people coming in from the highway heading to Melfort. He said the McDonald’s is ideally located to be a stop-off location.
“We just wanted to make sure all the corners of the city are served, and it’s convenient,” Bains said.
–with files from Jason Kerr/Daily Herald
