Food Chain - Issue 194 - June 2023 | Page 36

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“ Immediately , I took action ,” he says . “ I discussed opportunities in the West Midlands with private equity businesses , looking at new investments – and then , by sheer chance , I found myself entering the McDonald ’ s franchising model .”
So the story goes , David was attending a social event and got speaking to someone that happened to work in finance at McDonald ’ s . When asked what he knew about franchising , David spoke plainly . He said that his only experience of franchising was being involved in building out an IT system that enabled Costa Coffee to roll out their franchising program across emerging markets .
The next question was much simpler . What did he think about McDonald ’ s ? “ Obviously , I said I loved it from a customer ’ s point of view , especially enjoying visits with my young children ,” David recalls .
“ Little did I know in the moment , but that was the start of my progression towards becoming a fullyfledged McDonald ’ s franchisee .”
World-class progress
As he remembers , the process was not plain sailing . “ It was a rigorous selection process ,” says David . “ I learned a lot about myself during that time . Ultimately , I was delighted to be accepted by McDonald ’ s and enrolled on its renowned franchise training program , which would last nine months .
“ For any readers or entrepreneurs out there considering a career in franchising , my advice would be to thoroughly research all the opportunities available . Personally , when I first considered changing my career , and certainly once I ’ d spoken to McDonald ’ s , I knew I needed to assess my transferable skillset and find out which franchise best fitted with my values and ethos .
“ I thought long and hard about it and did my due diligence ,” he adds . “ It ’ s important that you don ’ t rush ; you have to have a real
The company is really well-regarded for having a world-class franchisee training program and business model ...
openness and keenness to understand the model and how you could fit into it .”
When considering which brand to partner with , David ’ s top tips can be summarized as follows : look out for companies with great brand values , a proven track record , a robust training process , and those that understand
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