What it does: Buys, develops and leases sites for McDonald's outlets in the Philippines.
Best known for: Golden Arches Development Corporation (GADC) is the Philippine franchise holder of America’s multinational fast-food chain, McDonald's. It is owned by Filipino-Chinese businessman George T. Yang who heads 16 different companies in the Philippines.
Staff stats: 60,000 regular employees in over 620 stores nationwide
The good bits: Employees praise the company's fringe benefits, 'supportive' management, training and a 'fun' and 'family-like’ atmosphere.
The not-so-good bits: Employees find the fast-paced nature of a quick-service restaurant to be taxing and often exhausting. Workers reported difficulties with time management.
Hiring grads with top marks in: A variety of entry-level jobs, especially for service crew roles, allow graduates from all fields. More specialized roles require graduates from business-related courses such as accountancy, financial management, administration, business studies, human resource management, protective services, and commerce, or IT-related courses such as computer programming.
George T. Yang, a Filipino-Chinese businessman, opened McDonald’s in the Philippines under the company Golden Arches Development Corporation. In 1981, McDonald's International partnered up with Yang's McGeorge Food Industries to enter the Philippine market, as it was prohibited for foreigners to take majority ownership of local businesses. Therefore, Yang's firm was offered exclusive rights to manage the operations of the fast-food chain in the Philippines, prompting Yang to open the first branch in Morayta, Manila during the same year.
The fast-food chain allowed independent Filipino entrepreneurs to franchise in 1985. In the 1990s, there were already around 375 McDonald's outlets in the Philippines with 150 local franchises. There are now around 100 franchisees accounting for around 44% of the stores in the Philippines.
GADC became 100% Filipino-owned in 2005 with 51% of the business owned by Yang and the remaining 49% by Alliance Global Inc. There are around 600 restaurants around the Philippines with over 60,000 employees. Their staff includes service crew members, an operations group, a management team, a marketing team, a human capital group, and site development experts.
In 2015, GADC reported a net sales revenue increase of 9.92%. A growth of 11.41% was also recorded in its total assets while its net profit margin decreased by 0.8%.
The hiring process varies from role to role, but the standard recruitment procedure begins with a written exam followed by an interview with an HR representative. Service crew roles will have to attend a one or two-day on-the-job evaluation that ends with an interview with the restaurant manager. The process takes anywhere between 2 days to 2 weeks.
According to reviews from major job sites, GADC offers an ‘average’ salary with a number of fringe benefits including free food, free uniform, health insurance, performance incentives, overtime pay, birthday treats, rice subsidy and government-mandated benefits.
Reviews from major job sites often praise the company’s ‘great’ management team coupled with colleagues who ‘treat you like family’. Though peak hours may be chaotic, a ‘fun’ and ‘casual’ working environment helps crew members get by.
GADC employs its corporate social responsibility programs under Ronald McDonald House Charities Philippines (RHMC), an international organization. The Philippine chapter aims to help Filipino children through various programs that help them acquire education, shelter, and happiness. The charity was developed in 1995 and it has currently raised over 215 million pesos and helped over 13 million children locally.
To reach its goals, RHMC has partnered up with various local institutions including St. Luke's Expanded Program of Immunization, Tuloy Foundation, Resources for the Blind, Tuloy Foundation, and Welcome Home Foundation, among others. In 2007, the charity launched Ronald McDonald Bigay Tulong to help Filipino families during a disaster. McDonald's restaurants nationwide were turned into donation drop-off points.
The charity has since won multiple awards including the CSR Excellence Award from the American Chamber of Commerce, the PaNaTa Ko Sa Bayan Award from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Best Corporate Social Responsibility Award from The Philippine Franchise Association and the Department of Trade and Industry.
If you’re aiming to work in a quick-service restaurant, it’s normal to expect regular burnout from a high-pressure work environment. Reviews from major job sites say this isn’t quite the case for GADC. A ‘supportive’ work culture and ‘approachable’ managers value fresh graduates, helping them easily adapt to the new environment.