McDonald’s Franchisee, Atul Pathak, launched a staff training centre at his Southall restaurant last month, offering workplace skills and nationally recognised qualifications to the 1,400 staff he employs across North and North West London. He met up with Asian World to talk about the state-of the art training centre and how the classroom will benefit his workers.
Most people who leave education behind them and venture into the world of work won’t expect to find themselves in a classroom again. But Atul’s staff members across the 20 McDonalds restaurants he owns will certainly be back at the desk.
The franchisee invested £300,000 in the training centre and its computer workstations and audio teaching aids, which is all part of his commitment to the development of his staff.
“We have 13 state of the art PCs, two rooms for audio projects and teaching aids as well as space for exams that our staff will have to take” he said.
Indeed, the facility is also an examination centre, allowing staff to sit exams on-site under the watch of qualified invigilators. These exams and lessons will be part of the many qualifications Atul’s centre will be offering to staff to help them move up the ladder, as well as to give as extra sheen to their CV.
“We offer a range of qualifications such as GCSEs, Apprenticeship schemes, basic shift management and foundation degrees, which are all credited by the Manchester Metropolitan. It’s a two-year course offering a variety of training that is not offered by other companies.”
As impressive as the training is, one cannot help but wonder how this will be an improvement from the old-fashioned learning on the job. But Atul assures that the lessons are merely part of the learning as you work method.
“This course is complimentary to on the job training and will give staff members thinking space and time.” he explains, “Working in a restaurant is very faced paced as there are so many customers, so it is vital that our staff get the best training they can get.”
But every business plan has goals, both in the short and long term and Atul is certain that this training centre will worth the investment and time.
“In the short term, we hope this training will improve performance and the confidence of our staff. We have many staff members without any qualifications or GCSEs, so our training will help them learn basic skills in Maths and English. Overall, they will gain a better understanding of the work they do.
Long term, this should be good preparation for a position in management. The average manager must manage 56 or 60 staff, so it is a very responsible job.”
The former hotel owner was working with organisations that deal with a number of businesses, McDonalds being one of them, when he decided to become a franchisee for the iconic take-out.
“Once a week, I would visit customers, particularly in McDonalds and what struck me about the restaurant was that it was very clean and the staff were very motivated and full of energy. Their work ethic was a positive and hardworking one and that inspired me to find out more.”
After doing his homework and realising that it utilised his passion for looking after staff and customers, he applied for the position of franchisee.
“Once I got selected, I did 9 months of unpaid training and eventually set up the franchise in 2003, owning 20 McDonald branches and looking after 5000 staff,” he enthuses.
And he certainly is good at what he does, for he was a runner-up in the British 
Franchise Association (BFA) Franchisee of the Year Awards, as well as winning the ‘Asian Who’s Who International Asian Leadership in Franchise’. So what makes a great franchisee?
“It’s all about learning from mistakes and improving and enhancing an organisation
in ways that it benefits the community. The best way to achieve that is through team work. It is not just about bouncing ideas from one another; it’s also about listening and not dismissing good suggestions.
The other great thing about McDonalds is that we give our staff the freedom to express their concerns and ideas. If there is something not right about the franchise, they can challenge the franchisee. We also encourage constructive criticism if there are any disagreements”
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