“For any business leader-if it wasn’t for the staff, you wouldn’t have a business.” This is a direct quote from Kevin Foley, the franchise owner of 9 McDonald’s restaurants across the region, and a statement that is intrinsically tied to his success as a businessman.
Ian chats to Kevin about how his passion for people, and his investment in his staff, have helped to grow his role as a franchisee. He took the historically derogatory term of “McJobs” personally, as Kevin can testify to just how hard his teams work, and how much they need to learn and implement in order for a site to run efficiently.
He reflects on the impact COVID-19 has had on recruitment, and on keeping his teams safe at work whilst continuing to secure jobs, and develop his staff, where Kevin thinks outside of the box and has recently appointed a Cultural and Wellbeing Officer! Kevin is an advocate of the life skills that a role in this industry can provide and believes in the value of apprenticeships.
Ian and Kevin also chat about the role technology plays in the future of McDonalds, and how they definitely won’t be replacing people with robots. Kevin tells us his secret to becoming a franchisee, and a successful one at that! He discusses why it’s important to keep on top of trends and move with them; why mystery shopping, and customer feedback is so important; and lets us in on the history of franchising in his family.
This chat is a fascinating peek behind the scenes of someone working in one of the world’s biggest and best known companies, serving over 70,000 people a week, and what life is like when every person you meet is able to hum the theme tune at you!
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