McDonald's serves up success for duo

The surging success of fast-food chain McDonald's has proved good news for a pair of Black Country entrepreneurs and the 2,000 people they now employ.

The British arm of the business has just recorded its 40th consecutive quarter of growth over a decade that included the deepest recession since the Second World War.

But both Abdul Sirkhot and Doug Wright have racked up more than 30 years with McDonald's. Both started out working behind the counter before roles in management and then the step to becoming franchisees – independent businessmen working as part of the McDonald's operation.

Each has built up an extensive portfolio of restaurants across the Black Country and the wider West Midlands – around a dozen apiece. And both have just seen the workforce in their respective businesses pass the 1,000 mark.

Abdul's employee count reached 1,050 just before Christmas, while Doug has reached 1,004 with another restaurant on the way at Burntwood.

Doug joined McDonald's straight from Bedford public school, earning 95p an hour. "My O-level results were not quite what my parents had projected, but rather than do resits I told them I was joining a restaurant. I've been with McDonald's ever since, becoming a franchisee in 2002."

He now has sites in Oldbury, Lichfield, Rugeley, Walsall as well as Birmingham and Solihull and is enthusiastic about the recent investment in technology seen across the McDonald's estate, including touch-screen menus, new kitchen equipment and even the introduction of table service.

"It's definitely improved customer perception, and you notice how proud staff are to come in and work at those restaurants. We are also seeing a return of the 'millennials (those born from the 1980s to the early 2000s). I was delighted to hear a youngster in one of our restaurants saying: 'This is cooler than the Apple Shop.'

"The recent investment in our new decor and technology represents a quantum leap for us. The roll-out of improvements across the whole McDonald's estate has seen £400,000 to £600,000 spent on each restaurant."

And he says the chains path to continuing growth coincided with the appointment of Steve Easterbrook as UK chief executive. Mr Easterbrook has gone on to become McDonald's global CEO, but, says Doug: "He started the process of making us more customer-centric; we started listening more to what people wanted, both our customers and our employees."

Another focus has been quality. In the wake of health scares over fast food, said Abdul: "We have done a lot of work on the quality of our food, working with our suppliers – most of whom are local. It is part of the reason why we served 49 million customers last year."

"Over the last five years growth in the average restaurant has been around 40% to 50%.

Abdul, who started behind the counter of a McDonald's in Woolwich in 1974, now runs restaurants in Cradley, Wednesfield, Merry Hill, Willenhall and Wolverhampton. "We have changed in line with our customers' expectations, introducing new technology and table service. We are now looking at the use of smartphones so, in future, people could order on their way to the restaurant."

And both men are keeping a close eye on another new development: the piloting of a luxury burger, dubbed the Signature, to compete with the rise of the gourmet burger bar. "We're going to be very interested to see how that develops," said Abdul.