CARL'S Jr is looking forward to a successful future in the Bathurst region after serving its first customers.
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The new American-style fast-food outlet opened its doors on April 26, 2023, the opening day coming after months of delays outside of the chain's control.
People waited in line for hours to get their first taste of the Carl's Jr signature burgers, with the first 50 customers receiving free food for a year.
The first person in line arrived at midnight and camped out until the doors opened to them just after 9am.
Carl's Jr QSR Group general manager Domit Makhoul was in Bathurst to see it all unfold and was pleased to see people turn out to be among the new restaurant's first customers.
"Opening day is always big," he said.
"We do the first 50 guests get free burgers for a year every week, which is fantastic. We've had a pretty good turnout of people sleeping overnight in this freezing cold."
After serving the first 50 customers, the restaurant opened to the general public at around 10am.
It marks the start of what it is expected to be a great future for the brand in the Bathurst region.
The city was chosen as the site for one of Carl's Jr's many new restaurants across Australia several years ago.
Mr Makhoul said there was a lot of interest in the area for the brand, particularly after plans for Dubbo were announced.
"There was just a lot of hype on social media about 'When are you coming to Bathurst?', 'What are you doing here?', so it was pretty big," he said.
"It also creates a lot of job opportunities for the locals as well. We've been interviewing and hiring people since December last year and it's been well received.
"There are a lot of career opportunities and a lot of growth opportunities for the locals as well."
Carl's Jr will employ around 90 people for its Kelso operation, and those aren't the only new jobs on offer.
The fast-food outlet shares the site with a new BP fuel retailer, which also opened for business on Wednesday morning.
Dennis Vasiliou, who is a consultant for Jasbe Petroleum, said the service station will employ around 30 people.
"There's still opportunities in the service station to hire staff, so we're encouraging people to come forward," he said.
The service station has been designed to accommodate both light vehicles and big trucks, with designated heavy vehicle parking bays available for truck drivers to pull up for a rest.
"It's all about the safety for the truckers," Mr Vasiliou said.
The pairing of Carl's Jr and BP is expected to attract people travelling through the Bathurst region, particularly as the area continues to attract big events.
It's a prospect Mr Makhoul is excited about.
"We've got the mayor down here [on opening day] as well. He's telling us Bathurst is a big events area for the weekends as well, so we're pretty excited," he said.
"We've got the rugby on this weekend, the NRL, so we're pretty excited about that as well.
"Looking forward to welcoming all the guests over the next few days."
Carl's Jr is located on Sydney Road, next to the Clancy Motors dealership.
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