By Rick Kennedy

Herald publisher

HERMISTON A chartered bus with a an entourage fitting of a president pulled into the Hermiston McDonald’s Thursday, but while President George W. Bush was in the region this week, the passenger on the bus was none other than Michael Roberts, the president of McDonald’s Corp., along with a dozen other McDonald’s Corp executives from Oak Brook, Ill.

“The Hermiston store, with the success of its innovative design, especially the integrated dessert center, has been a source of much thought and discussion in the corporate office, so Mike and the other executives are here to see the store for themselves,” said McDonald’s spokesperson Kim Bayer, who serves as marketing director for the Pacific Northwest. “The owner/operator here (Lee Adams Enterprises) has gained a national reputation as an innovator in both the area of store design and desserts.”

Top management has been intrigued by their accomplishments in Hermiston and other properties they own in Washington, particularly the success of the Dippin’ Dots ice cream,” she said.

In a brief statement, Roberts said he was happy to be in Hermiston and found his visit to the Hermiston store “very interesting.”

A native of Chicago, Roberts, as president of McDonald’s, is responsible for the company’s more than 13,000 restaurants in the United States, but he also served previously as the company’s president of Western States Operations.

McDonald’s current president of Western States Operations, Don Thompson, was in Hermiston on July 17, also touring the Hermiston store.

In addition to Roberts, the corporate roll call of officers in Hermiston included Russ Smyth, president of McDonald’s Europe, who oversees the company’s 6,000 restaurants oversees; Ralph Alvarez, chief operations officer; Jeff Stranton, chief of restaurant operations; and Gloria Santona, executive vice president and general counsel.

A full slate of McDonald’s executives from Kirkland’s Pacific Northwest office were present as well, including Chris Woicik, director of NW operations; Mike Pierzchalski, finance director of NW operations; Cody Teets, director of quality service, and Keith Perryea, NW director of development, who was also in Hermiston with Thompson last month.

According to Bayer, among those in touring the Hermiston store were a group of architects. In the July corporate visit to Hermiston, Perryea said the McDonald’s Corp. was interested in the Hermiston store as a “prototype” model for future new facilities, which Bayer confirmed again Thursday.

Bayer said, “This (Hermiston) design of McDonald’s is unique because it was the first that was built with a dessert center from the ground up. It has created quite a bit of interest.”

While touring the building, Roberts also treated random customers to complimentary ice cream from the dessert center, examined the facilities’ main kitchen area, and spoke with several of the Hermiston employees, including Her-miston’s Jennifer Keene, a two-year employee, who was honored for oustanding performance with a $100 certificate from Roberts himself.

Scott Adams, brother of owner/operator Lee Adams, said “This is as big as it gets for us. The only person we haven’t seen as yet is President Bush.”