The updated application for a whole new restaurant at the Howick Street and Midland Highway site was lodged with the council on Monday.

The new restaurant features state-of-the-art technology designed to improve the customer experience and will allow for the installation of a dual-lane drive-thru.

Licensee Steven Nicholas said the ability to renovate the restaurant was due to the successful purchase of the block at 182-186 Wellington Street.

The block was formerly owned by the now-defunct VIP Sheds business.

“We are confident that we can improve the size of the staff with the new store,” he said.

However, with the purchase of the corner block, he said the opportunity arose to develop the entire site.

“It’s a good site for us and we would like to see if continue to grow,” he said.

The South Launceston McDonalds employs about 150 people but Mr Nicholas said it would need to increase to about 200 once the new store was built.

An original planning application was submitted to the City of Launceston in June last year, to allow for a car park and drive-thru extension at the restaurant.

The new restaurant will increase the current footprint of the site and will include modern play equipment and ordering facilities.

The drive-thru will also include new waiting bays to ensure fast delivery of food.

Mr Nicholas said the new car park and drive-thru would allow the company to address bottleneck issues they currently experience.

The South Launceston McDonalds store is about 21 years old. If the application is successful a tender would go out to a local construction firm.

“We don’t believe there will be a closure, there might be right at the end when we are transitioning to the new store but it would only be a couple of days.”

Mr Nicholas said there would be no shut down period for the restaurant.

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