McDonald’s is a registered training organisation, so it comes as no surprise the brand requires potential franchisees undertake a comprehensive training program.
McDonald’s provides its staff with the opportunity to complete their Certificate II in Retail Services, Certificate III in Retail Operations, Certificate IV in Front Line Management, as well as a Diploma of Management and Advanced Diploma of Management.
Lilian Tartaglia, national franchising manager at McDonald’s explains interested applicants must first be selected to take part in the training program.
“We place them in a restaurant on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday so they experience weekend trade and see and feel what it’s like working with a young crew. It gives them a taste for the business – a lot of them either love it or they know it’s not for them.”
If the applicant makes it through this initial stage, they will be interviewed by three different licensees and undergo a psychometric assessment. “If they are successful at the Board they then go through an intensive nine month training program,” says Tartaglia.
The training program is broken down into four key courses, and the registered applicant completes them at a number of company-owned and franchised restaurants. “The four courses would normally take years but it is a fast tracked, concentrated process and there is heavy follow up from a registered training advisor.
“The courses cover shift management, advanced shift management, effective management practices and restaurant leadership,” she says.
Each course encompasses a combination of theoretical and practical training and takes between six to eight weeks. “They are in a classroom between three and four days of each course – some of them may require a week of theoretical training – and they have practical assessments as well.”
Tartaglia explains McDonald’s does not retrain franchisees or their staff on a regular basis; however it does hold compulsory masterclasses each year. “If licensees work in the business and are involved daily then there is no need to constantly retrain.
“What we do now is hold masterclasses, where all of the changes and updates we have touched on in our training classes are presented to franchisees in a formal meeting that they must attend annually.”
Information about a new product or process is communicated to all staff via the brand’s online portal. “Franchisees and staff conduct all of their training using the online portal and then they practice it on the floor – it carries on with all our new procedures,” Tartaglia adds.
To ensure franchisees and their staff receive training that is both relevant and accurate, Tartaglia says McDonald’s revises its programs on a regular basis.
“We definitely keep updating it because our business keeps evolving – we are actually revising the training document as we speak to refer to new elements of our business such as dual lane drive through.”
From day one franchisees are assigned a consultant whose job it is to provide them with ongoing support. “They operate as the franchisees conduit to head office – it is where they receive feedback, guidance, training, tips for improving their business, cost improvement consultation – there are a whole range of areas that the franchisee and consultant look at together,” Tartaglia says.