McKay Family Restaurants

06/06/2026

The 2026 Worldwide Convention was my 10th Worldwide Convention, but this one was especially meaningful.

For the first time, I attended as a McDonald's Owner/Operator.

What made it even more special was being able to share the experience with my sons, Josh and Connor. They were amazed by the scale of the convention, the innovation being introduced across the system, and the vision for the future of McDonald's. Seeing the excitement through their eyes reminded me why I fell in love with this business more than 40 years ago.

I was also proud to bring two key leaders from McKay Family Restaurants, Paul Arnold and Carolina Arnold. Their passion for our people, our customers, and our restaurants makes them invaluable members of our organization, and I was grateful for the opportunity to have them experience Worldwide alongside me.

This year's theme, McDonald's > NEXT, reinforced that our best days are still ahead of us. From advancements in technology and operations to exciting menu innovation and an increased focus on hospitality, the future of McDonald's is incredibly bright.

Most importantly, Worldwide reminded me that our success is built on people—our crew, managers, leaders, owner/operators, suppliers, and partners who work together every day to serve our communities.

I left inspired, energized, and more committed than ever to making McKay Family Restaurants the Employer of Choice and the Community's McDonald's.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this experience unforgettable. The future is exciting, and we're just getting started.

05/10/2026

To all the mothers out there, we extend our best wishes for a wonderful day.

03/31/2026

It starts today!!!

03/10/2026

🦆 WHO LET THE DUCKS OUT?! 🦆

The ducks have officially landed!

The libraries in Arnolds Park, Cherokee, Onawa, and Spirit Lake have received their rubber ducks and the Spring Rubber Duck Decorating Contest is ready to begin! 🎨🐥

Stop by your local library, pick up a duck for just $1, and let your creativity shine. Decorate it, bring it back to one of our McKay Family McDonald’s restaurants, and you could win some awesome prizes!

Even better — every duck helps support our local libraries and after the contest the decorated ducks will be donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Siouxland. ❤️

We can't wait to see all the amazing creations from our community!

🎨 Happy Decorating!

03/03/2026

Another Pantry Victory in Onawa!!! 🥫❤️

We wrapped up our 2nd Pantry Battle at our Onawa McDonald’s last night — and once again, this community absolutely amazed us!

Together, we collected 1,444 pantry items to support West Central Community Action. What an incredible outpouring of generosity!

To say THANK YOU, we handed out over 300 Be Our Guest cards for desserts, Snack Wraps, and large sandwiches to the amazing people who donated.

🏆 Faith Lutheran Church – 604 items (WINNER!)
🥈 Hope Free Church – 512 items
🥉 Christian Church – 328 items

It was wonderful to have the pastors, families, and Mayor Dave Sick join us as Bob & Cheri Hardison accepted the $500 winner’s prize on behalf of Faith Lutheran Church.

We are so grateful for the community of Onawa. Because of the overwhelming support and fun competition, we are excited to announce…

👉 Pantry Battle is now an annual event!

Thank you, Onawa, for showing what community truly looks like. 💛

02/25/2026

It was another incredible day for Team McKay Family Restaurants ❤️

With the help of our wonderful friends at Carousel Learning Tree, we were honored to donate much-needed items to Grace’s Boutique inside the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Siouxland. We also had the joy of creating Easter baskets for the children staying at the House — a small gesture to bring smiles during a difficult time.

Our team also prepared the RMHC Family Lunch, made completely from scratch:
🥣 Beef & Veggie Soup
🧄 Garlic Bread
🍓 Berry Fluffy
🥕 Fresh Fruits & Veggies
💪 Protein Balls
🥨 Chocolate Covered Pretzels

It is always a humbling and meaningful experience to serve families staying at the Ronald McDonald House. We are grateful for the opportunity to support them and be part of such an important mission.

Thank you to everyone who helped make today special. ❤️

📸 Photos from the day below!

02/20/2026

What an incredible night supporting the Spirit Lake Indian Athletic Booster Club! ❤️🖤💛

We were grateful to welcome so many volunteers, coaches, athletes, and booster club members who rolled up their sleeves and helped make McBooster Night a success.

It was a fun, hands-on evening where volunteers learned what it takes to run a McDonald’s restaurant — from front counter hospitality to behind-the-scenes operations. Everyone enjoyed a tour of our service and production areas and got to see some of the technology that helps us deliver great experiences every day, including ABS, eProduction, two-sided KVS, and our UHC systems.

Some favorite moments included:
🥤 Learning why McDonald’s serves the best Coca-Cola
❄️ Seeing the walk-in cooler & freezer operations
👀 Getting a behind-the-scenes look at how orders come together

Most importantly, thanks to our amazing community, McKay Family Restaurants donated $500 to the Spirit Lake Indian Booster Club to support local student-athletes.

We are proud to be your locally owned McDonald’s and grateful for the opportunity to give back to the community we love.

📸 Photos from the evening below!

02/19/2026

Tonight is the night!!! We hope to see you this evening to support our local athletes.

Today is the day!! Let’s show McDonald’s how supportive Indians fans are and set a record for the most people through from 5:00-8:00!

With the amazing support of our community, we use money raised from events like this (and our upcoming Gala) to fund purchases such as our most recent big ones - new hurdles, Dr Dish basketball machines, football practice jerseys, middle school wrestling singlets and football uniforms, cheer safety mats, weight-room equipment including treadmills and bikes, indoor hitting facility contribution, baseball bats, tennis ball machine, soccer uniforms, softball infield, wrestling warm ups and the list goes on.
So, if an athlete you love has benefitted or will benefit from any of these, come out and support the IABC and our athletes!

It is easy- just order your supper through the drive thru or come inside and eat and McDonald’s donates 20% of sales back to the Indian Athletic Booster Club.