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by Camel Tolhurst

The golden arches of Balmoral's newest fast-food outlet might never be loved by parents, nutritionists and

community groups, but the community-oriented franchise owner is developing a strong following.
The new McDonald's restaurant on Balmoral Road has been controversial with locals.

McDonald's opened its doors at the chaotic Balmoral/Dominion Road intersection (in 2011), but not until locals

had fought for three years in an attempt to stop the American fast-food giant from taking over their corner. The

original proposal forthe restaurant included 24/7 operating hours and numerous lit signs outside the building.

After 840 submissions, a six-day hearing and a two-year-long consent process, McDonald's was granted

consent to develop the new restaurant, but not on the terms it had hoped for.

Balmoral Community Group (ECG) secretarylustine Tringham says dealing with McDonald's head office was

difficult during the process, but now they're lucky to have a good franchisee, Sam Maharaj.

The Maharaj Corporation owns the Balmoral franchise and operations manager lovan Petrovic says this is the

general feeling towards McDonald's everywhere. 'People don't like McDonald's in terms of it being an American
corporation and a big fast-food giant that makes a lot of mess. But they do like Sam as an owner of McDonald's
and the franchisee who operates the business, he says.

Tringham says ideally there would be no McDonald's there at all, but the persistence of the local community
paid off in the strict consent conditions. 'I think the 10 and 12 o'clock closing times and the big fence have
mitigated the potential impacts. This is because we had a big fight with them about it.
One of the more than 40 consent conditions requires all external lights of the building to be turned off at closing

hours, including the trademark, brightly-lit golden arches.

Security cameras are to operate in the car park and adjacent side street at all times and there is to be a litter
collection within 200 m of the site every day.

Petrovic says they're taking their consent conditions seriously. He says they're also working with police to reduce

crime rates in the area Were keeping up to our part of the bargain, says Petrovic. lt's part of being involved

in the community and around one per cent of profits goes back to the community in local sponsorship of schools

and sports groups.

Things haven't gone completely smoothly since the opening, however.

Tringham says McDonald's came close to breaching their conditions when gaps developed in the noise-reducing
fence and when they opened on Christmas day.

But franchise owner Sam Maharaj has been excellent, she says. 'Hes very respectful of issues that are raised.

This guy's got a good reputation and he makes an effort to engage with the community. If you've got a good

franchisee then the impact of the operation is going to be mitigated.

Source: Auckland University of Technology, 14 August 2012.

This article was first published on AUTs journalism website. Te Wana Nui.