All-day trading on food giant’s menu

Fast-food chain McDonald’s will soon be serving customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the first time in Albany.

From December 26, the drive- through will operate throughout the night and customers will be able to order breakfast from 4am.

Darren and Tracey Tyrrell, who have owned the Albany franchise since August, said opening the drive-through for 24 hours had been on their radar for some time.

“We just needed to get some structure around it and make sure all the staff were comfortable, make sure our rosters were right, and that we had the staff numbers to be able to do that,” Mr Tyrrell said. “Even the weather conditions at the moment — it is broad daylight at 5am.

“People are going to work, tradies are building, people are fishing and there is huge shiftwork in Albany.”

With the extra trading hours, Mr Tyrrell said employment opportunities had arisen and the store was a fantastic way to gain retail experience.

“We are on a constant recruitment plan,” he said.

“We have recruited 10-12 staff since being here and probably another 10-12 to come. McDonald’s is a registered training organisation, so we have a training program like a TAFE program and you can do that here in Albany.

“Kids can still be at school, work here for some extra cash and qualify for a Certificate II, Certificate III and Certificate IV in retail.”

The dining room opening times will remain the same, closing at 11pm and opening at 6am.

The breakfast menu will start from 4am, rather than 6am.

The full menu will be available from 10.30am-4am.

The drive-through service last week started trading 24 hours on Thursday, Friday and Saturday as the team prepares for 24-hour, seven-day trading from Boxing Day.