The newest McDonald’s restaurant in the Canberra region opened its doors on Friday 17 November, providing employment and convenience for locals. The Phillip store, conveniently located on Hindmarsh Drive, provides drivers on the busy thoroughfare a fast food and coffee option that doesn’t see them having to detour from their route.

“It’s going to allow our customers who are in a rush, which we are in our normal day-to-day life, to go through drive-through or call in and use our restrooms. At the same time, the new residents who are moving in around here will be able to have McDelivery at home,” says Brad Carroll, owner and operator of The Brate Group, McDonald’s.

Built with solar panels, a heat recovery system, LED lighting, and wheel stops containing recycled materials, Mr Carroll says sustainability is a must for new McDonald’s establishments.

“I put as many solar panels on the roof as we could fit, and I think it’s the right thing to do. We’re going to continue to evolve as a business and a brand to make sure that we are at that cutting-edge sustainability perspective as we move forward.”

The store boasts the first dual-lane drive-through in the Woden Valley. Mr Carroll says that with people in a rush to get from A to B, drive-through orders make up 80 per cent of their business.

“Drive-through gives our customers that easy way of getting a snack on the run while they’re going to many different activities and venues.”

“We are convenience; McDonald’s is convenience. We’re all so busy in a hurry these days that convenience is key; this is definitely set up around convenience.”

Continuing with the theme of convenience, the brand-new store is equipped with a dedicated ‘partner delivery room’. Rather than having to wait in the drive-through or enter the store, food delivery couriers can enter a room on the side of the building to pick up their orders.

“It’s to help our customers who want a dining experience,” Mr Carroll says. “You don’t want couriers having to transit through the store; it allows them a direct access point to get in and out as well, so everyone really wins.”

While it is expected most of the business will be done via drive-through, the new Maccas is equipped with comfortable modern furnishings, a McCafé and PlayPlace for those who want a dine-in experience.

The construction of the new establishment has already injected $14 million into the local economy through contractors, builders, development, and land purchase. Opening the store meant that 130 locals have now gained employment – and that number is set to grow as they’re actively recruiting new team members.

The Brate Group runs five McDonald’s across the Canberra region – Manuka Plaza, Molonglo Valley, Weston, Westfield Woden, and now Phillip. Mr Carroll says the most important aspects of their business are the people, the team, and the family orientation that runs deep through their values.  

Employing team members from all backgrounds, abilities and age groups, he says they even have employees from the same families – siblings, uncles, aunts, and parents. This inclusive approach has been recognised before with The Brate Group winning the Inclusion in Employment Award at the ACT Chief Minister’s Inclusion Awards last year. They have again been nominated as a finalist this year.

“It just shows it doesn’t matter where you are in life, if you’re willing to have a go and you want to have an employment opportunity, we will look at you, it doesn’t matter where you come from,” he says.

“Canberra is community, we are a large city but we also are a very small regional place where most people know each other, they’re interconnected and they are there to support each other.”

According to Mr Carroll, along with the sense of community among their team, the impact of McDonald’s values is felt throughout the broader community. There is an extended community of suppliers from the ACT region, plus technicians, builders, electricians, and even the Canberra Milk supplier. 

“It’s the community outside of that as well, the community groups we support like Ronald McDonald House in Canberra, we give back and help families with seriously ill kids.”

Beginning his McDonald’s journey as a crew person in Wagga Wagga, Mr Carroll thought a career in the building industry or as an electrician was on the cards. As he neared the end of Year 10, he had two apprenticeships lined up, however, a conversation with his Maccas manager changed his trajectory.

“He said, ‘have you thought about McDonald’s as a career opportunity post-school?’ And I hadn’t but I loved Maccas, and you know what, I’m going to stick around and see where it takes me – then I started my first management course and haven’t looked back.”

Mr Carroll went on to run the Wagga restaurant for 10 years before opening his own branch in Leeton, NSW. Moving to Canberra in 2015, he continued to open branches and now employs over 650 people across the region and helps them undertake further education and find a career path.

“Seeing our people grow and achieve their own personal goals, whether they are in our business or going off into the greater Canberra community in other careers when they finish university, gives me a real sense of achievement and buzz of giving back,” he says.

The McDonald’s franchise invests millions of dollars every year into the training and development of its employees, says Mr Carroll. At the very base level, those entering the team while still in school are met with flexibility and a starting block in life. 

“This gives our young employees a touch of the real world; going to work, being to work on time, having a uniform on, interacting with customers, suppliers, having a manager with expectations,” he says.

“It’s developing them up; they start on their first day and they’re very nervous like I was, I remember my legs were shaking.”

From their first role as a crew person, they can be trained into a crew coach, senior crew member before stepping into a management position. Mr Carroll says Maccas offer Certificates II, III and IV in retail that can help team members grow and be prepared for senior leadership roles within their organisation or elsewhere.

“If they are studying at university at the same time, going off to be doctors, lawyers, IT specialists, teachers, we’ve had so many different people go into different walks of life who are also still working here because they are so passionate about it as well,” he smiles.

Those not at the start of their career are also offered these opportunities, as well as the flexibility to meet their employment needs.

“Might be someone who’s had a career who’s just looking for two days’ worth of work a week, one day, four hours – we accommodate that. We are a 24/7 operation, we have flexibility for mums, dads, people who have semi-retired, school students, university students, you name it. Our business has a place for the right person,” Mr Carroll says.

With multiple stores around the ACT region, The Brate Group is always hiring – and you don’t need experience! According to Mr Carroll, the main thing they are looking for are people skills; everything else can be taught.

“That can-do attitude, they want to turn up to work, and they want to learn – that’s all I ask the people who are looking to work at our organisation have.”

The newly opened McDonald’s is located at 103 Hindmarsh Drive, Phillip.