Jennifer Dailey of NJ.com reports that a local business owner here is looking to bring in a Dunkin Donuts/Subway to the old Wendy’s restaurant building on North Broadway, Pennsville, NJ.
Jaynesh Patel, owner of local businesses Pennsville News Shop, Broadway Deli & Market, JT’s Liquors and Franco’s Pizzeria, is hoping to open the Dunkin Donuts/Subway franchise in January.
“It’s a good location. Pennsville needed another business,” said Patel Monday.
Patel is hoping to open the Dunkin Donuts/Subway as part of his company OM Development, Inc. of which he is the president.
At this point in time, Patel has turned in a change of occupancy application and is working on getting together a construction permit.
He expects to turn the construction permit in within the next month. Once this permit has been turned in, they can begin renovations needed on the old Wendy’s building.
Mayor Richard Barnhart said Patel probably won’t have to go to the planning board with his application since the location was previously a retail food restaurant and will remain a retail food restaurant. He’ll have to show the changes he plans to make inside the building but it could just be a matter of the zoning officer signing off on the project.
The building doesn’t need a lot of construction done to it. For the most part, the outside of the Wendy’s will be the same.
Most of the work will be done inside of the old restaurant space even though that won’t be major. The Dunkin Donuts part of the building will be open 24 hours a day, Patel said.
The old Wendy’s has sat vacant for a considerable time. It was originally boarded up as Barnhart said a lot of companies do this as a means of protecting windows and the building from vandalism. However, local businesses owners asked that the boards be taken down to make the area look better. The company was willing to take the boards down.
Opening the new eatery is one way Patel is hoping to help the community when many are dealing with problems as a result of the economic downturn, he said.
By opening it, it will bring jobs to residents in the area that need one.
“It will help the local public with jobs and it’ll help everyone because of the economy,” said Patel.
Barnhart thinks it’s great to bring the Dunkin Donuts/Subway to Pennsville though he doesn’t know how many jobs it will bring.
“It’ll be part-time jobs, but whether it’s an adult that needs a little extra money or a high school student that needs a job, it’s good,” said Barnhart.
