<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3bvar8_15WVU6bE00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3bvar8_15WVU6bE00" width="1919" height="1080" ></figure>On Sept. 30, a staple of fast-food service in the area came to an end. With just two weeks’ notice, the Gothenburg McDonald’s officially and permanently closed their doors, leaving community members wondering just what happened. Perhaps more importantly, is this a growing trend?McDonald’s has been owned and operated by Leonard Management since purchasing it from another franchisee in November 2022. At that time, co-owner Blake Zogleman’s main focus was updating the restaurant inside and out, as well as training and recruiting employees and managers for the location. Zogleman married into the Leonard Management business, where he owns 39 McDonald’s restaurants in Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota with his father-in-law Steve Leonard and brother-in-law Nate Leonard.“We really tried to do everything we could to grow that restaurant and support the Gothenburg community. We invested quite a bit in the people and increased wages substantially from where they were,” Zogleman shared shortly after the closure. “Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out. After looking at multiple different avenues, between us and McDonald’s (corporate office) we made the decision that the next step was to unfortunately close the restaurant.”“We don’t close restaurants very often; the last one we closed was I think 11 years ago. That’s not something that we like doing,” he said. “The town of Gothenburg has been great to operate in. We’ve been very appreciative of the business that we’ve had. We know that this not only affects our lives, but the lives of each employee in our business, and a lot of other people throughout the community.”Leonard Management offered incentives to the employees to stay with them and continue serving customers until the closing date, although giving that two-week notice was not without risk. A few workers did choose to leave early, but the majority stayed until the final day. On top of the final run incentives, each employee was also offered the option to transfer to one of Zogleman’s other restaurants in Lexington or North Platte. A key desire of Leonard Management is to take care of their people.“Without the customers and my great people who work in our restaurants, I am nothing,” Zogleman shared. “It was a very hard decision, but we tried to handle it the best way we could for our employees. A lot of these people I’ve worked shoulder to shoulder with, and we wanted to do right by them.”Zogleman could not speak to the future of the building, however, as owner/operators in the McDonald’s franchise do not own the properties they manage. The McDonald’s corporation retains ownership and will decide what to do with the property internally.The question of what this means for Gothenburg’s dining landscape is multi-faceted. Rumors began to fly of other local eateries potentially following suit, leaving the town with even fewer dining options. Pizza Hut, Runza and Mi Ranchito each had to combat such rumors, all unfounded.“The Runza in Gothenburg is NOT closing. My daughter, sons, and I have NEVER even considered it!” Jeff Whiting said in part via Facebook. “We’ve been blessed with the best people throughout the last 30+ years to work with and are looking forward to many more years.”The McDonald’s closure is not the only change taking place in the Gothenburg eatery scene. We will continue our look at the changing landscape in the Oct. 16 issue of the Leader.</div></body>

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On Sept. 30, a staple of fast-food service in the area came to an end. With just two weeks’ notice, the Gothenburg McDonald’s officially and permanently closed their doors, leaving community members wondering just what happened. Perhaps more importantly, is this a growing trend?. McDonald’s has been owned...

A Gothenburg Eatery Staple Permanently Closes

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On Sept. 30, a staple of fast-food service in the area came to an end. With just two weeks’ notice, the Gothenburg McDonald’s officially and permanently cl

A Gothenburg Eatery Staple Permanently Closes

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