McDonald’s has opened its 81st restaurant in Costa Rica and its first in the province of Puntarenas, with a new location in El Roble along the main highway toward the central Pacific coast. The restaurant opened its doors on Sept. 30 and Arcos Dorados, the company that operates McDonald’s in 21 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, said the opening created 36 jobs for residents of Puntarenas and nearby communities. Six of those positions are management roles, and 19 went to people starting their first formal job.
Puntarenas had been the only one of Costa Rica’s seven areas without a McDonald’s. Arcos Dorados began the environmental permitting process for the El Roble site with the National Environmental Technical Secretariat (SETENA) earlier this year, placing the restaurant on Route 23 near the Prosalud food plant.
The new location offers AutoMac drive-thru service, McDelivery, self-service digital ordering kiosks, a McCafé counter, an outdoor play area and seating for 56 diners. The company said it chose the site for its proximity to El Roble, Barranca and the city of Puntarenas, and for the steady traffic heading to destinations along the Pacific coast.
The El Roble restaurant is also the seventh McDonald’s in Costa Rica equipped with solar panels to generate electricity. It includes a solar water heater, motion sensors, low-flow faucets and designated areas for separating waste, measures the company groups under its “Recipe for the Future” social and environmental strategy.
Arcos Dorados did not say how much it invested in the restaurant or what share of the location’s electricity the solar panels are expected to supply. Marianela Ureña, communications manager for Arcos Dorados Costa Rica, said the company was very excited about arriving in Puntarenas. She added that the restaurant aims to offer customers a varied, quality menu while creating new job opportunities for its new neighbors.
As part of its Good Neighbor program, McDonald’s said it will donate a Barriloteca, a portable children’s library, to the Ivonne Pérez Guevara Special Education Center in El Roble. Fifteen students will also take part in painting a mural inspired by the restaurant’s sustainability features, including its solar panels.
A public grand-opening celebration is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 17, with family activities planned throughout the day. The Puntarenas opening comes less than two months after McDonald’s opened its 80th Costa Rica location in Ciudad Colón, west of San José, which became the sixth restaurant to use solar panels. The chain has kept a steady pace of openings in recent years, including locations in Grecia and Heredia province in late 2025.
A second Puntarenas restaurant is already in the works in Jacó. In August, Arcos Dorados held a job fair with the Municipality of Garabito to recruit staff for a location on Avenida Amapola along Route 34, near the Costanera Jacó shopping center. The company has not announced an opening date.
McDonald’s first came to Costa Rica in 1970 with a restaurant on Avenida Central in downtown San José. With El Roble, the chain now has a presence in every province.
