A Downtown San Francisco McDonald’s Has Closed After Nearly 30 Years on Front Street

 

    A downtown-area McDonald’s in San Francisco is closing after more than 30 years, the San Francisco Business Times reports. The 235 Front Street McDonald’s is closed as of Friday, October 27, and franchisee Scott Roderick of Rodrick Management Group cited “high office building vacancy rates and visitor trends” that haven’t recovered since the pandemic, as a reason. “My Front Street location, without the benefit of parking and a drive-through, amplified the challenge,” Roderick told the Times via email.

The McDonald’s location was bought by the company following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and opened in 1994, serving as a testing ground for McDonald’s initiatives, such as allowing customers to customize burgers with guacamole and bacon. Roderick says the location’s 35 employees are now working at other locations in the city. Notably, the management group owns seven other franchises elsewhere in San Francisco, and Roderick says those locations have since reached “the same level of vibrance” they had prior to the pandemic.