Ting admits that he was truly fortunate to be chosen as one of the franchisee to join the world-famous McDonald’s franchise as McDonald’s was very selective on the franchisees that the company brings in.
KUCHING: Born and raised in Sarawak, entrepreneur Roger Ting has been regarded as one of the most promising McDonald’s Malaysia franchisees and his business acumen had propelled him to success in the business arena.
Being the franchisee for the McDonald’s Tabuan Jaya restaurant at Stutong, his journey with McDonald’s started way back when he was still pursuing his Bachelor of Accounting in Melbourne, Australia.
Recounting his interview for a part-time position with McDonald’s restaurant in Melbourne, he shared that the manager of the restaurant asked him the reason he chose McDonald’s to work with despite the availability of other fast food chains just across the street.
“I told him that (because) McDonald’s uniform looks much better!” he enthused in an interview recently.
After getting the job as a part-time crew at McDonald’s restaurant in Melbourne, Ting said that he remembered his boss as being a humble person who would personally get to know each of his employees.
According to Ting, his boss operates five to six McDonald’s restaurants in Melbourne and he greatly admired him and hoped that he could one day, be like him.
Years on, Ting achieved the unexpected by being the franchisee for McDonald’s Tabuan Jaya here.
How it all started
After completing his degree, Ting made the decision to apply for a franchise business in Melbourne. However, the application was rejected due to his lack of business experience.
Not long after, he decided to return to Sarawak as he wanted to raise his son in the state. It was at that time that he heard about the McDonald’s franchise business in Malaysia, and decided to go for the interview with the franchisor of the franchise here.
Before that, Ting said, he went through the gruelling process of analysing and studying the franchise business model before investing in it and McDonald’s was a franchise business that he had the full confidence in.
With the experience as part of the McDonald’s crew back in Melbourne, McDonald’s was a brand that was familiar to him and that was the reason that prompted him to take up the opportunity to invest in the McDonald’s franchise business here.
The interview process took him nearly a year as the process involved three stages. He shared that the waiting period took about three months after the first interview.
Ting admitted that he was truly fortunate to be chosen as one of the franchisee to join the world-famous McDonald’s franchise as McDonald’s was very selective on the franchisees that the company brings in.
“They (McDonald’s) will look into the candidates in different aspects. Not only based on financial factors but they also want someone who can take care of the employees, customers and local community around it,” he said, pointing out that McDonald’s is a very people-centric business.
Location was another factor that worried him as he was uncertain about where the restaurant will be based at.
However, he was very grateful to McDonalds’ headquarters for basing him in Kuching with his McDonald’s restaurant located at Stutong.
“I am very thankful to the human resource department (of McDonald’s) because I told them I want to come back to Sarawak to serve the people here, if possible. At least, I can create some job opportunities for them.”
Now, Ting said that the McDonald’s restaurant at Stutong employed a crew of 83 people and he is delighted to be able to create jobs for the local community.
“All these 70 crew members and 13 managers at my McDonald’s restaurant are Sarawakians. So, my McDonald’s restaurant is 100 per cent run by Sarawakians.”
Emerging International Franchisee of the Year
Organised by Malaysia Franchise Association, the Malaysia Franchise Awards 2018 aims to provide recognition and encouragement to the franchise fraternity for their contributions toward the franchise industry.
“For the past few months, I was truly blessed to be awarded the Emerging International Franchisee of the Year at the Malaysia Franchise Awards 2018 (MFA 2018),” Ting said.
The Emerging International Franchisee of the Year was awarded to franchisee registered with any Master Franchisee or International Franchisors with the franchise business in operation for a minimum of a year but no more than three years and it is to be the first outlet.
He said that he might be first person from Sarawak to be given the award for the past ten years and he was surprised that the community services he committed himself before was useful during the interview for the award.
He was also grateful to McDonald’s Malaysia local operating partner and managing director Azmir Jaafar for sending him to represent McDonald’s Malaysia in the MFA 2018.
“Most of the judges (for the Malaysia Franchise Awards 2018) were from the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation,” he said.
Ting shared that one of the questions asked was regarding the hiring of people for the restaurant business.
He admitted that the employee turnover rate was very high at the restaurant and he faced challenges in the operations of McDonald’s Tabuan Jaya restaurant for the first two years.
“During the first two years (of operation), I had to struggle with people retention skills because maybe I was young (back then). I do not know how to handle so many employees.”
However, things turned for the better as he had sharpened his people-skills which lead to a majority of his employees being employed at his restaurant for more than two years.
With the experience of being a part time crew at McDonald’s restaurant in Melbourne, he would try to understand the situation from the employees’ perspectives.
“I always tell my managers that if we want to expand our business, the people are going to be very valuable to the organisation.”
To ensure that the employees are happy and well-provided for, various perks and incentives such as ang pows (red packets), sales incentive, work performance bonus and even ‘punctual’ bonus are given to the employees.
Employees working for more than a year would be given ang pows. Ting joked that with more of his employees staying with him longer, he needed to hand out more ang pows every year.
Despite that, Ting felt that it was a good sign and he was glad that he was able to play part in lifting his employees standards of living.
Ample opportunities in Sarawak’s franchise industry
When asked on the prospects of the franchise industry in Sarawak, Ting opined that the franchise scene here offers plenty of opportunities as the state is a huge market which franchises can tap into.
He felt that most people had the misconception that joining the franchise business was about making more money. He pointed out it was more than that as the franchise business involves the local community as well.
He added that community service is a major part of being with the McDonald’s brand and it is really important for the franchisees to align themselves with the franchisors objectives.
On advise for would-be franchisees, Ting said: “For young people who wants to start a business, franchise will be a better idea because franchisor already do a lot of studies (on the business).”
On future plans for his McDonald’s Tabuan Jaya restaurant, following the good responses of two newly refurbished McDonald’s in Kuching, Ting said that he would be looking at having the self-ordering kiosks at his restaurant as well, in the very near future.
He also said the McDonald’s business has been evolving for the years to reflect the demands of the market.
“Before, the original McDonald’s (restaurant) only sold hamburgers, fries and coke but now there are more choices.”
He opined that McDonald’s wants to position itself as a family-go-to place where it caters to the needs of the parents as well as their children during their time in the restaurant.
As for the opening of more McDonald’s restaurants under his stewardship, he hoped that the McDonald’s headquarters would look into his case as he believed that his team and his performances fit the McDonald’s brand.
At the same time, he said he would be given a bigger platform to carry out community services if he is given the opportunities to expand to more McDonald’s restaurants.
On a last note, he said that he is planning a bigger scale community service with a group of teachers and it involves going to places to educate children from poor background besides providing them with food.
He said that many social ills that existed in the country stemmed from children not being given proper education guidance and he hoped that his actions can contribute to the betterment of the society.