For Joshua ‘Josh’ Sidaros, McDonald’s Family Restaurants really does run in the family.

He was nine years old when his father, local McDonald’s mogul Hani Sidaros, bought his first in a long line of restaurants.

“I first learnt about McDonald’s just by listening to his conversations.” As a young boy, Josh would do his best to help out in the stores on public holidays.

“I’d make cup trays and Big Mac collars, back when those were a thing,” he smiles.

He even cashiered a couple of orders. It was an early start into the workforce, even by Macca’s standards.

“I was 13 when we moved to Canberra. We lived in Red Hill, so when I turned 14, I started working at McDonald’s Manuka for a different owner. Started as a crew person, then became a crew coach.”

After a brief hiatus to finish Year 12, an 18-year-old Josh applied to work with Hani at McDonald’s Weston – where he started as a crew person once more.

“One of our family values is high standards,” says Josh. “That’s what I’ve always enjoyed about my dad. His values are replicated across the restaurants.”

Josh studied Commerce at the Australian National University while working at Macca’s.

“In my third year of uni, I worked out that McDonald’s is what I wanted to do.

“I enjoyed the training aspect, and my dad’s story.”

In 1970, Josh’s father immigrated from Egypt to Australia. He first started working at McDonald’s as a 15-year-old in Western Sydney. Today, Hani is a self-made millionaire.

At 26 years old, Josh is now Systems Advisor across their 15 McDonald’s restaurants, 11 of which are based in the ACT.

He looks after everything from food safety, to HR, to management planning. But that doesn’t stop him from getting his hands dirty, as he still looks after the very first McDonald’s he was appointed manager of – Gold Creek Nicholls.

“I ran [Gold Creek] for a year,” he says. At that very restaurant, Josh won the silver spatula award in 2019, placing him in the top five per cent of restaurant managers in the country.

He would go on to get McDonald’s Yass up and running, and do the same for McDonald’s Cooma, before moving back to Canberra to manage McDonald’s Belconnen.

Josh had always shown a knack for training – which is the ketchup and mustard of the Macca’s workforce.

Deeply inspired by his father’s success, Josh also hungers to become a leader in his own right.

“Our styles are a bit different. He’s more old school,” Josh smiles.

“From age nine, I learnt how much of a family McDonald’s can be. The way people moved from Sydney to Canberra with my dad to continue working under him – that’s how much he made them feel included.

“I want to be a leader who inspires people to come to work every day.”

Whether that means taking over the family franchise, or moving towards which ever restaurants need him the most, Josh says he’s open to anything.

“I want to be one of the best licensees in the country.

“Once upon a time, the goal was to own as many stores as [Hani], but after doing this role for a bit, I think 15 stores would cause me to lose all my hair a lot quicker than I already am,” he laughs.

Sitting in the Party Room at Gold Creek McDonald’s, he looks around fondly. “This is the first store I ever ran. A lot of the employees, the 14-year-olds that I hired, are now managers. It feels like family.”

“Macca’s has always felt like family to me.”

Throughout the years, it was the moments that he got to witness his teams grow and develop that really “clicked” for Josh.

“I want people to know that you don’t need a degree, you don’t need to study, or be the smartest guy at school to succeed in this business.

“A lot of licensees aren’t uni graduates; they don’t have business degrees. They are people who have worked from the age of 14, learnt McDonald’s standards, and built their foundation on that.”

Among the many employees who have ascended the McDonald’s career ladder under Josh’s training are his two younger brothers.

“Training is the main benefit of a Macca’s career,” he says.

“Ask any employer in the country; if they find out that someone has worked at McDonald’s, they know they’re getting an employee who understands work ethic, attention to detail, punctuality.

“It puts people in a good place regardless of which industry they’re going into.”

To find out more about career opportunities at McDonald’s, visit careers.mcdonalds.com.au