A ceremony anticipated for months officially opened the newest McDonald’s restaurant Friday morning as staff, guests, government and business leaders of the community and McDonald’s officials cut the ribbon.

Mike Crowley, a member of the construction team for McDonald’s, said the construction of the facility took just over two months — only 10 days longer than expected.

“From the day of ground breaking to grand opening has been 68 days,” Crowley said. “That construction time is becoming pretty typical for McDonald’s. This one took about 10 days longer, only because we had some rain days here.”

Abraham Maghsoud, owner and operator of the newest of his 14 restaurants, said he is pleased with events being held this week.

“We are happy to be in Atmore and this is our way of saying thank you to our business leaders and the community,” Maghsoud said. “It’s been great.”

The opening began when the restaurant served free lunch to the community Thursday.

“We were open from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday with free lunch to say thank you to Atmore,” Maghsoud said. “It was our way of saying thank you to the community and making the community feel good about us. We always want to do something for the city.”

Maghsoud said the lunch event was also a chance for staff to become acquainted with how the restaurant would operate in the coming days.

“We were packed during that time,” Maghsoud said. “It was a great opportunity for everyone to get experience and get a feel for how things would be for the next few days. We had some very large orders and it was great experience.”

A special VIP event was hosted at the restaurant Thursday evening, giving local dignitaries and business leaders an opportunity to meet McDonald’s executives and staff as well as get a tour of the facility. The restaurant is now officially open to the public, and Maghsoud said plenty of entertainment, prizes and typical McDonald’s menu items will fill the entire weekend.

“We will have Ronald McDonald here this weekend,” Maghsoud said. “We will also have some musicians and other entertainment throughout our grand opening celebration.”

Maghsoud said he is excited about the new restaurant and is happy to be such a large part of the Atmore business community.

“We are so glad to be a part of this community,” Maghsoud said. “Our store on South Main Street has done very well and the community has been behind us. We want to continue that here and we’re excited about being here. We always want to do something for the city.

The store, which began construction just over two months ago, will be open for breakfast lunch and dinner following ribbon cutting on Friday. The restaurant is located on Alabama 21 North in the Rivercane development near the Wind Creek Casino and Hotel.