In Rimavská Sobota, the first McDonald’s fast food establishment should soon be added. Among other things, the branch of the world-famous restaurant will bring new jobs to the district with the long-term highest unemployment in Slovakia.
The first rumors about the construction of this “fast food” in Rimavská Sobota appeared as early as 2022. A year later, the company McDonald’s Slovakia officially confirmed its intention to build its operation in the city, which is to be part of a new business zone in the Sobôtka district.
At the same time, the first preparatory work began immediately. They consisted of all the necessary permitting processes and at the same time the preparation of the relevant land. It is located at a busy intersection where the most important exit from Rimavská Sobota intersects with the main southern road from Bratislava to Košice. It certainly played a role in choosing the location.
Two years of preparation
In the course of 2023, the project entered the environmental impact assessment (EIA) phase and project documentation was being prepared. In January 2024, a decision by the environmental care department of the Rimavská Sobota District Office followed, and roughly half a year later, a zoning decision issued by the local city office.
At the end of 2024, McDonald’s Slovakia acquired the relevant land, which is already recorded in the cadastral map. So we asked when construction could start. However, we did not learn the specific date.
Construction work on the property Construction work on the land where the fast food branch is to be built is still related to the construction of the industrial park.
“In some cities, we are currently dealing with valid permits, which will depend on our specific steps. Currently, it also concerns the location in Rimavská Sobota, so we consider it premature for the time being to comment on specific plans and opening dates for this restaurant,” the external communications manager of McDonald’s Slovakia, Lucia Poláčeková, wrote to us.
However, a source familiar with the preparation of the operation specified for Pravda that the construction of the restaurant could begin as early as March 2025 and would be completed in the fall of this year. The condition, however, is the smooth progress of the remaining preparatory works, mainly the connection to the water supply and sewerage network, which should lead under the busy second-class road leading from Rimavská Sobota.
On the land where McDonald’s and the shopping area are to be located, certain construction works are already underway, but they are not related to the preparation of the restaurant. There is the preparation of engineering networks for the nearby state industrial park, which is being built by the state company MH Invest.
Also new jobs
As it follows from the materials presented at the EIA, the new McDonald’s restaurant in Rimavská Sobota is to be a typical object of this international fast food chain. “It is a one-story building with dimensions of 35.2 × 13.5 meters and a height of 5.8 meters. The building includes a terrace, a playground for children and a parking area,” the documents state.
It is interesting that the new restaurant will be added in a part of Slovakia that has been plagued by high unemployment for decades. According to the latest statistics on the development of unemployment from November 2024, the Rimavskosobotský district has an unemployment rate of 10.10 percent, while it is the only district where this indicator exceeds ten percent.
About 20 employees should find work in the restaurant, and around 80 new jobs will be created in the entire new business zone, where there will be at least ten other establishments. 206 parking spaces will be available.
The future branch of fast food in Rimavská Sobota will be located right next to the main southern road between Bratislava and Košice, which consists of the D1 highway, the R1 and R2 expressways, as well as the first class road I/16. It will be the only restaurant of its kind right next to this link, with the exception of the existing Terminal R1 operation near Beladicie in the district of Zlaté Moravce.
Benefit for a city in a poor region
The mayor of Rimavská Sobota, Jozef Šimko, told Pravda that the arrival of a well-known chain of fast food establishments will be beneficial for the city. “McDonald’s is a concept and especially young people like to go there. I believe that the citizens will like it and a new business center will be created in our city,” emphasized Šimko.
Foto: KLM real estate
Visualization of the restaurant Visualization of McDonald’s restaurant and shopping area in Rimavská Sobota
Until now, McDonald’s has located its operations in Slovakia in large cities and economically stronger regions. It was also about interesting tourist locations, such as Liptovský Mikuláš between the Low and High Tatras or Prievidza, where the Bojnický castle and the zoo are nearby. On the contrary, in the entire southern part of Slovakia, from Nitra and Nové Zámky to Košice, there was no McDonald’s until now.
The fact that the company is starting to change its strategy and is also coming to smaller common towns can be seen in the fact that in December it opened a new operation in Topoľčany and, according to the EIA, it is preparing a new restaurant in Žiar nad Hronom. It currently has a total of 44 restaurants in Slovakia.
Source: spravy.pravda.sk
