Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

Billie Jean Atkinson watches Bob Lewis, owner and operator of the Vinton McDonald's, direct traffic during the lunch hour. She said that Lewis has always been attentive to the older customers.

Bob Lewis begins his days dodging vehicles as they shoot for the drive-through.

He waves his arms to show cars how to circle the restaurant with the golden arches without crashing into one another -- and hope they will not crash into him.

"The drive-through has to keep going," said Lewis, wearing a blaze orange vest one recent day at lunchtime while he motioned for cars to proceed past the drive-through window.

The drive-through line had circled the restaurant on Hardy Road in Vinton.

And there was not an empty parking space in sight.

This is not a typical McDonald's. And Lewis, 64, isn't an ordinary franchise owner.

During the breakfast and lunchtime rush, he's a parking attendant, directing cars into spaces and keeping vehicles moving. His goal is to serve each drive-through customer in 98 seconds or less.

Lewis said he'd like to hire someone to man his spot in the lot this summer, but he doesn't know if that will happen.

"I'd need to train someone," he said. He wouldn't feel comfortable tossing just anyone the orange vest and telling them to wing it.

Lewis opened the Vinton McDonald's in 1974 with his wife, Fran. They moved to the Roanoke Valley from Pennsylvania, after Lewis trained at Hamburger University, McDonald's management training school in Illinois.

He previously served in the U.S. Navy and worked in his family's construction business, but he didn't love his job.

McDonald's was his first foray in the restaurant business.

Lewis once owned a McDonald's on Williamson Road, but he let it go so that he could man one location and get to know his customers better.

This McDonald's at 809 Hardy Road has become an escape for a group of regulars who gather there several times a day to socialize, eat and discuss their problems.

Dorris Guilliams, 58, a Vinton McDonald's regular, said: "There's no other McDonald's like our McDonald's."

No. 2 location in region

But while this group of largely senior citizens sits indoors on cushioned seats with coffee cups in hand, the action is outside the restaurant.

"It's a great problem to have," said Lewis, who calls himself the "yield sign."

Since last summer, he has manned the parking lot during breakfast and lunch.

Annika Stensson, a spokeswoman for the National Restaurant Association, said parking attendants for fast food drive-through restaurants are "definitely not the norm."

"It certainly does sound like a testament to the store having a high volume of customer traffic," she said in an e-mail.

Last year, Lewis said, his restaurant ranked No. 2 in sales of McDonald's locations in a 600-restaurant region, though he would not disclose sales or profit figures.

A McDonald's spokesperson could not be reached to comment about the Vinton franchise's sales and its ranking among other restaurants.

So, why is this McDonald's so crowded? No one really knows.

Perhaps it's the way the restaurant is situated and the flow of traffic. Two lanes of vehicles barely can fit through the parking lot at a time, and there's a bottleneck as vehicles exit the drive-through.

Greg Eigenfeld, who lives in Moneta, said the food quality at this McDonald's is better than others. Several days a week, he swings by the restaurant on his way to work, picking up coffee and a sausage biscuit with cheese.

"This one has a consistent good quality [of food]," he said. "I don't know what it is."

Eigenfeld parked his car and walked in for his to-go breakfast on Tuesday morning.

"The drive-through is so busy," he said.

A group of friends on their way to William Byrd High School on Tuesday didn't seem to mind the long drive-through line.

William Shell, 18, who was driving a truck with two friends beside him, said he comes to this McDonald's for its cheap food, fast service and sweet tea.

A family business

The eatery's busyness may also be a reflection of the Lewis family, who are well known in Vinton.

Lewis' son, Kevin, now owns the Vinton eatery with his father. Lewis' daughter, Meagan, is a manager.

As Lewis stood in the lot recently, customers stopped to talk and shake his hand.

But could a closed Burger King across the street be contributing to McDonald's swelling traffic?

Burger King closed in March, and the building has been demolished. It will be rebuilt with a new design, and it should open by late July, said franchise owner Mike Sloan.

Sloan said Burger King's traffic jumped when McDonald's closed for three months in 2005 for rebuilding.

"I don't think he [Lewis] will be directing traffic once we get open," Sloan said.

Likely McDonald's is benefiting some from Burger King's closure, Lewis admitted, though not entirely.

Directing traffic "was necessary to do way before that happened," he said.