“Motivating, supporting and inspiring women into business is something I will always do”
Reema Mavani, Wembley The former city slicker reveals how she found
the franchisee recruitment process and talks about her exciting first few months as the franchisee of McDonald’s Wembley High Road.
What did you do before you became a McDonald’s franchisee? I worked for hardware companies in the City for more than a decade on the commercial front. It involved selling complex cloud computing to media, financial institutions and consumer brands. It was definitely a big career change to become a McDonald’s franchisee.
Why did you decide to become a franchisee? I travelled abroad a lot and I have two young children – Kyle, who is five years old, and Luca, who is four years old. I wanted to see them more and missed being with my family. I got to a point in my life where I realised that I was missing out on seeing them grow up and knew something had to change.
You’re only a few months into being a McDonald’s franchisee. How did you find the recruitment process?
My husband and I both applied and we were both shortlisted. It was hard to decide which of us should stay in the City and which should become a franchisee. We’re both equally passionate about the brand. Once we made the decision, however, it didn’t matter who became a franchisee with McDonald’s. My husband has always supported my career throughout our marriage – he took care of our child Kyle when he was born and also when I was changing jobs to meet the family’s needs.
How did you find the variety of training? It was very different from what I was used to. Just when you think you know it all, you learn something new. McDonald’s is a people business and therefore it allows me to inspire individuals through both heart and mind. McDonald’s has many great processes and it can seem tough but, at the end of it, I was far more confident with my ability to hit the ground running due to the intense training I received. It is a very rigorous process but it was a fantastic experience.
McDonald’s is well-known for being engaged with the community. Have you managed to get to know your area well? My restaurant is in the Brent district, so I’ve started to become involved with the Wembley High Road Business Association. I’ve begun hosting their meetings and, in the future, I’m looking forward to helping them develop their marketing strategy for the area. I’ve also met with the local council to discuss unemployment in the area and to raise awareness of the opportunities that we offer at McDonald’s.
How does McDonald’s manage to keep the restaurant relevant and up to date? I’ve actually just launched McDelivery via UberEATS in my restaurant, which has gone incredibly well. It’s keeping the business current and relevant to our customers. At McDonald’s innovation is huge. In August my restaurant implemented EotF, which stands for Experience of the Future; this means customers can order from a kiosk. We’ve also launched our Signature Collection and the next stage is to bring table service to the Wembley High Road restaurant.
Will you be more involved with the community in 2018? Absolutely. I’ve been in talks with the Metropolitan police about joint litter picking and I’m going to be involved with local sports clubs. What’s more, I will be working closely with the recruitment of young people from youth centres, which is a topic very close to my heart.
In the past you have been passionate about promoting women in business. Can you tell us about this? Women and men face the same challenges in the workplace. These challenges include work-life balance, parenting and juggling many responsibilities. Having worked in the City, many women also face the challenges of not holding high positions in companies and the gender pay gap. I have been involved in a number of initiatives to help women back to work after having a baby, by getting companies to be flexible in work conditions, supporting firms in analysing data on pay grades and mentoring many women. It’s something I’m passionate about! Motivating, supporting and inspiring women into business is something I will always do.
Are you looking to open more restaurants in the future? Of course! I became a franchisee knowing wholeheartedly that I wanted to grow the franchise business. What’s more, I hope that there will be a point when my husband and, eventually, my children will join the business and help me. We want this to be our family business, which is the beauty of the franchising concept.
13
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220 |
Page 221 |
Page 222 |
Page 223 |
Page 224 |
Page 225 |
Page 226 |
Page 227 |
Page 228 |
Page 229 |
Page 230 |
Page 231 |
Page 232 |
Page 233 |
Page 234 |
Page 235 |
Page 236 |
Page 237 |
Page 238 |
Page 239 |
Page 240 |
Page 241 |
Page 242 |
Page 243 |
Page 244 |
Page 245 |
Page 246 |
Page 247 |
Page 248
