Monday, Jun. 07, 2010

Busy opening weekend for new Rally's

Double drive-through restaurant popular

Javier Gomez, the franchise owner and director of operations of the brand-new Rally's double drive-through restaurant, carried a burden on his shoulders this weekend -- ice.

On Memorial Day afternoon, Gomez had just returned from a run to a local supermarket where he had purchased several large bags of pre-made ice cubes.

"Our ice machine has not been keeping up with the volume of the drinks we have been selling," he said.

If business success can be measured by quickly serving two unrelentingly regenerating lines of cars, as well as selling so many sodas that the automated commercial-grade icemakers couldn't keep up, then Rally's is doing well.

"We are very pleased with the way the community accepted us," Gomez said.

As of Monday afternoon, Gomez estimates Rally's has been averaging about 850 to 900 customers a day since Los Banos' newest fast-food restaurant opened last Friday.

Located at 1330 E. Pacheco Blvd., Rally's serves such fare as burgers, chicken, hot dogs, fish sandwiches, fries, and beverages via unique double-drive-up windows on each side of the building as well as walk up windows located on the front.

Los Banos' newest fast-food restaurant is located just south of the rail trail on the corner of Highways 152 and 165. The intersection is reportedly one of the busiest crossroads in Merced County.

According to Gomez, the location was a deliberate choice.

"This is something we were working for in the last two or three years," he said. "We were looking for a good site and finally the location came up -- and we've been wanting to expand."

Gomez cited other reasons for selecting Los Banos.

"This is a commute area for people from Fresno, up to the coast, to San Jose. We just found that we needed to be here to capture those people," he said. "People were just asking us to come out here to Los Banos. We have customers driving to Madera (which is the nearest location from here), and asking, 'When are you guys going to Los Banos or cities closer to Merced?'"

Despite three days of heavy customer traffic punctuated by at least one run for ice, Gomez was appreciative.

"I just want to thank the community for coming and supporting us and hopefully they will continue on supporting us. We are glad to be here," he said.