Across Caroline Ting’s three McDonalds franchises, she employs 180 staff.
She knows their names, because she hired all of them herself.
Ms Ting has owned and managed McDonalds stores for 23 years. She’s been employed by the global brand for more than 30 years. And she wouldn’t have it any other way.
She’s been able to share the nostalgia with families who’ve grown up with Big Macs and Quarter Pounders through the generations, learning ditties, collecting the toys and embracing the marketing gimmicks.
Ms Ting was employed at the Loganholme “1” store when it was at a site across the highway from Hyperdome. That same site now hosts a business selling caravans.
She opened the Hyperdome Maccas on Boxing Day 1995 when it became a drive-through and recalls setting up on Christmas Day. That was before the piazza was built at Hyperdome – it too, embracing the need for change.
The Maccas store was the first in Queensland to have a McCafe and Ms Ting recalls cappuccinos being $1. The store moved to the building between the cinema and foodcourt, but is now exactly where Ms Ting says she prefers it – inside the foodcourt.
While it’s been a long career standing under the golden arches, Ms Ting is still active in the operations and doesn’t shy away from serving customers or frying the odd chip.
“I consider myself to be hands on,” she said.
As a manager for the man who sold her the three stores she owns, Ms Ting opened the Beenleigh store and the Meadowbrook store. She now owns franchises at Loganholme, Hyperdome and Meadowbrook.
She was 32 when she owned her first.
Being a franchise owner wasn’t always the goal. Ms Ting applied for jobs after studying a bachelor of business, but an alternative career would have meant moving to Sydney.
“Owning a franchise has its advantages,” she said. “The support structures are great. If we need legal, accounting or operational support, it’s there to call on. There are not a lot of decisions to make aside from the micro-level operational matters.”
Ms Ting sponsors sporting teams and is active in the community, keen to give back.
“I am still a local businessperson,” she said.
She believes McDonalds is an ideal first job for the right young people. Finding workers during Covid-19 has been tough with many people preferring to stay on jobkeeper. Barristers are particularly scarce, she said.
Son Dylan, now 19 and studying his first year of medicine, was an early starter. He got his McDonalds training wheels on aged just 12, helping his mother with some of the duties.
“People see me and say, ‘Are you still here?'” Ms Ting said. “Yes, I am.”
