The 53-year-old was recently awarded the prestigious operator of the year award at the McDonald’s Annual Franchisee Gala Awards, which not only recognises her contribution as an operator, but also as a leader within the community, and as a brand ambassador.
She started working the grill on the opening day of Dunedin’s first McDonald’s store, in George St, after finding herself in a bit of a pickle.
Originally, she wanted to become a police officer when she left Taieri High School, but a skiing injury stopped her from doing the fitness test during recruitment.
So she decided to work fulltime at the store for a year while her injury healed, and she planned to have another go at recruitment the following year.
"While I was there, the franchisee asked me if I wanted to become a trainee manager, and it all started from there."
The hard graft won her the role of operations manager of Dunedin’s three stores, and the McDonald’s restaurant manager of the year award.
After 20 years at the Dunedin stores, she left to work for head office as a remote business consultant for South Island franchisees for two years.
After that, she became a franchisee for the first time and opened a new McDonald’s store in Taumaranui in the North Island.
Now, 36 years later, she lives in Northland and owns and operates all six of the region’s McDonald’s restaurants.
She said the secret recipe for her success was simply "dedication and commitment".
"When I’m talking with my young employees about what they want to do in the future, I often tell them my secret was to look at my end goal.
"A lot of people let their business go too easily. To get somewhere in life, you have to put in the hard yards, and still today, even though I’m on holiday in Bali, I’m still sending off work emails and communicating with my team."
She said one of the best parts of her work was seeing young people thrive, like she did.
The job taught them team work and a good work ethic, and once they started getting management training, they learned about finances, scheduling and how to manage people — skills that would put them in a good position for whatever future role or career path they chose.
"Whether someone is with us for a short time, a long time, or a lifetime, we aim to have people leave the business with skills that will be relevant to them in the future", she said.
