Early last week, posts began circulating through social media announcing the closure of Sayre’s McDonald’s, located at the junction of Highway 66 and Interstate 40.
The closure date is confirmed to be set for April 29.
The same franchisee owner of the Shamrock store owns this particular McDonald’s.
On Friday evening, business was steady enough to keep the employees busy but not hectic.
The on-shift assistant manager, LaLa Tanner, spoke with the Beckham County Record about the restaurant’s upcoming closing and how the staff is being impacted.
“Our owner is a very real and very human person,” Tanner said. “I don’t believe this is something that he wanted to do. But, as a franchise of McDonald’s, we have to give a certain percentage of our sales to the company itself. I’ve seen in the news that there have been many changes in the McDonald’s corporate hierarchy recently. I don’t know whether that affected this decision, but local people did not decide it.”
Tanner moved to Oklahoma from Tennessee in 2011 and has worked off-and-on for Sayre’s McDonald’s since 2014. She had high praise for the manager and owners.
“This is going to be hard for many of us because we have a great relationship with our co-workers. I think there is approximately 30 employees, and several of us have been here for a long time. That’s the thing that I know I will miss the most. Our manager, I think, has worked here for around ten years. We feel like a family,” Tanner explained.
Ayden, a teenager taking orders, echoed Tanner’s opinion.
“I’m sad about it. But I really like this job, and I’m not sure where I will find another one that I like as much,” the young man added.
After taking a few moments to speak on the closure, Tanner jumped right back to work with her fellow crew members. She said that she is already submitting for other jobs.
“I have told all these younger people not just to sit back and not look for something new because they are getting unemployment. You need to take the job when it is available because it might not be in the future. I think there is a good chance that I will have to move, which isn’t something I want to do. I own my home here, and a big part of me thinks it would be stupid to leave that. And I also really love living in Sayre. It is a nice little town with a lot of good people.”
