Georgia’s seventh McDonald’s restaurant opens in Zugdidi

American fast food giant McDonald's is expanding in Georgia with a new branch in Zugdidi, a city in western Georgia’s historical Samegrelo region.

McDonald's invested 5.2 million GEL in the construction of the Zugdidi branch, which is the seventh McDonald's restaurant in Georgia.

Today Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and United States Ambassador to Georgia Richard Norland jointly opened the Zugdidi McDonald's restaurant.

The restaurant, equipped with modern equipment and latest technology, was built in accordance with European standards, was built over a five month period.

"This is a unique project. This is the fifth restaurant in the world with such technologies and I am happy it opened in Zugdidi,” said Garibashvili.

Local authorities were actively involved in the opening of the Zugdidi McDonald’s restaurant.

The fast-food restaurant employs 70 people.

Meanwhile, McDonald’s restaurant in Batumi, Georgia’s seaside city, was honoured as the world’s best commercial building for the year 2014.

The restaurant, designed by Harvard-graduate and Georgian architect Giorgi Khmaladze, was named Building of the Year in the Commercial Architecture category in an international competition by world architecture firm Arch Daily.

The country’s first McDonald's restaurant opened in Tbilisi in 1999.