T-L Photo/SHELLEY HANSON TERRY ENDSLEY, manager of the Martins Ferry McDonald’s, demonstrates how to use one of the restaurant’s new self-order dining room registers on Friday.

MARTINS FERRY — Renovations to the McDonald’s dining room in Martins Ferry are now complete and new technology aimed at making the ordering process quicker is up and running.

The interior makeover of the dining room included installation of new self-ordering dining room registers. The new self-order registers, which feature large, easy-to-read screens, are meant to complement the traditional registers run by employees.

“It’s actually faster. You’re deciding what you want and picking it out. You’re not having to repeat the order. You’re making the order,” owner Ross Stoltz said.

But don’t worry; if you need help at the self-order stations, there are workers waiting nearby to help you. In fact, Stoltz said the restaurant is continuing to take applications for those positions, among others, for the eatery.

“We did get an influx of applications a couple days ago, which we passed on to the store managers to start making calls. … We’re still hiring and need people,” he said.

When using the self-order registers, pay options include credit, debit, Apple Pay, McDonald’s mobile app and McDonald’s gift cards. Cash can also be used, but must be taken to the regular registers still manned by workers.

“If you don’t feel comfortable with the dining room register, you can still order at the counter,” Stoltz added.

Once an order is completed at the self-order register, the customer does not have to wait around the register area for their food. They can take one of the place numbers and sit wherever they like. Thanks to an electronic sensor inside the place number and sensors located throughout the dining room, workers know just where to find the patron to bring them their food.

“It’s pretty high tech. A company called Radius came in before we re-opened and put sensors in the dining room.

“It tracks where the customers are sitting — that’s how it works. We’ve received a lot of positive comments on the remodeling of the dining room,” Stoltz said.

In addition to the new self-order registers, there also is a new self-serve beverage station. The new interior design of the dining room is sleek and modern. One seating area has a simple mural featuring drawings of historic-looking buildings like those seen in many downtowns, including Martins Ferry’s.

The Stoltz family owns 11 different McDonald’s restaurants in the region. Of those 11, eight of the stores already have been renovated.

Three more — Belmont, Warwood and Woodsfield — will see interior renovations including the installation of the self-order registers in the future.

The general contractor on the Martins Ferry renovation job was Max Construction of Saltsburg, Pa.