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Rachel Shaw

Interview & Words Phadria Prendergast

Shaw always knew she wanted to be in business when at just 13 years old, she had a Saturday job at her local pizza place in the area she grew up in, which she was pretty much left to run on her own. WOTC sat down to speak with the franchisee to talk about her extensive resume, becoming a manager at just 17 years old and the community. 

When we talk about entreprenHERs, Rachel Shaw is the epitome of just that. In 1987, Shaw, then a business and finance student in college, walked into McDonalds in Croydon. She recalls “it was just chaotic behind the counter, absolutely going crazy.” At the time, it was the only McDonalds in the area. “I think there’s 9 now in Croydon alone,” she states. “I just thought I want to work here – this is where I need to work,” she goes on. 

At this point, I’m more than intrigued by what Shaw has to say next. She was only 16 at the time. Many 16-year olds would run from the kind of environment she had just described. Laughing a little, she went on to explain that she came back during her lunchtime break and spoke with a manager about wanting to apply. She was told to come back after lunch and was hired on the spot when she did. “I absolutely loved it. I just went home and said I got this part time job; I don’t think anyone believed me. I was doing crazy shifts - like double shifts, 18, 19 hours shifts. It was just like home away from home. I just loved the hustle and bustle, serving customers and I just loved the kitchen atmosphere, learning all the different procedures. Within 6 months I’d become a manager”. 

She had just passed her floor manager exam and had now begun working part-time. “I’d gotten my qualification in business and finance then, I broke my family’s heart by saying I want to stay at McDonalds,” she recalls whilst laughing. Shaw had been a scholarship student at a private school. Her father received the news quite calmly, her mother on the other hand brought her uncle along to have a conversation with her. “I can’t believe you’re going to give up your education to be flipping burgers,” he had said to her. She laughed again.

By 17, McDonalds were speaking about putting Shaw on a salary and making her an assistant manager. Her area manager at the time was opening the first UK based McDonalds franchise in Camberwell and transferred her there. As her 18thbirthday came along, so did a promotion as store manager. The restaurant at the time was earning £1.3 million in revenue. Shaw laughs as she remembers “I got given a company car, laptop, phone and I would say to my uncle, ‘you see I’m not flipping burgers anymore.’” 

Shaw loved it. By this time, 10 to 15 of her friends were now working for her. “My best friend met me there when she worked as a floor manager and I was the store manager, there’s about 6 months between us. She said I’m the bossiest person she’s ever met in her life but we’re still friends until today so that’s something.”

A month before her 16th birthday, Shaw had given birth to her first son who she states is her drive and the reason behind her ambition. “So that was my drive and my focus. I’ve always had a way where when I’m at work I’m at work, I’m very strict and firm. When we step out the door if we’re friends, we’re friends. No one knows how I do that because I could just tell you off at work and the minute we walk out of work, I’m just like let’s just forget that we’re friends now,” she laughs. “I think it’s really important to be able to have that balance.”

After that, Shaw took over from the manager at Streatham. She then went on to work for and open a number of McDonald's franchise locations – one of them being Brixton, London. “They introduced a new stick scheme which was general managers. So, it was a grade above a store manager. I think I was one of the first 8 general managers in the country for McDonald’s. I was promoted, and I ran Croydon too,” she stated. After serving in a management position for years, Shaw later became a business controls analyst for McDonald’s where she had 32 restaurants that she would go into and analyse their business controls, give speeches, speak with the managers, conduct training classes on how they can improve profitability and manage the profitability of their restaurant through their new computerised system. 

Secretly, Shaw couldn’t wait to get back into the field. “I went and I ran a Merton saver centre which was one of the first McDonalds inside a supermarket. That went really well, we picked up quite a few awards for lowest food costs in London. So, then I left there, and I went to Waddon McDonalds, took that restaurant and ran it for 2 years. We increased the sales about 40% before I’d left there. We picked up store of the year there as well,” she recollected. “Then they put me back (at Croydon) which was my ultimate goal. It was the first restaurant that I walked into when I was 16 which is the flagship store.” Again, she went on to win awards; manager of excellence and store of the year. “We became a training hub for other stores and just brought back the old flame to the store that it used to have when I first started. It was being recognised as one of the biggest, busiest McDonalds in the world.”

Adding even more titles to her extensive resume, Shaw also went on to become an area manager and operations consultant for McDonalds. Ironically, it was a work conference in Australia that she was flown out to by the company that allowed her to fall in love with Subway. “So, we were on this all-inclusive paid conference and I’d tagged a 2-week holiday onto the back of it out in Sydney Australia. I’d walked into a Subway store and I just loved it. I loved the fact that it was a transparent kitchen, I loved the menu, I loved everything about it. I fell in love with it. It was quite big in Australia back then. That was about 14, 15 years ago.”

She had always wanted to become a franchisee and upon falling in love with Subway, she saw her chance. “I’d opened up my first store in Thornton Heath. That went really, really well. In 2008, I opened up West Norwood. 2009 I opened up Wellington. Then I sold them in 2012.” Shaw admitted that the West Norwood franchise was not her best idea but that it taught her a lot about business. “I lost a lot of money; it was at a time of recession and I was stretching myself quite far.” She also revealed to WOTC that at 27, she also started another business which was a hair, nails and beauty salon. “In my spare time I trained to become a fully qualified beauty therapist. I wanted it to be for all people - whether you were black, white, mixed, Chinese. It was called Shiro hair, nails and beauty for all. I ran that as well as doing everything else that I was doing with McDonalds.” She successfully ran the salon for 8 years. 

Through Subway, Shaw created many opportunities. “We did a lot of sponsorship in terms of Thornton Heath. We used to do a local festival, so we paid for the lights and we paid for the stage there every year. We sponsored local children and we sponsored Taekwondo groups. So little things like that we used to do. Local boys and girls, if they had business ideas they used to come and say ‘miss can I sit down and go through this with you? I’ve got an idea.’ So, naturally things just grew and it’s not just about the Subway brand, it’s also about when you’re out there and networking, how else can you help the community and help the children of today?”  “It always comes back to me,” she went on. “I’ve had professional footballers that used to work with me who’ve come back to look for me and I’d sacked him (laughs) for clocking in his mate. They all come back and look for me ‘Rachel you taught me the biggest lesson of my life’ they would say.”

“I always say that people are my most important ingredient. Without them I wouldn’t be able to run a successful business. Yes, I believe in the brand. Yes, I believe in the product. Otherwise I wouldn’t be selling it and supporting it but it’s the people that make it happen. I’ve had young men working for me for 6/7 years. I think it’s people that made a big difference as well.”

it’s not just about the Subway brand, it’s also about when you’re out there and networking, how else can you help the community and help the children of today?” 

The biggest lesson Shaw has learned is not to spread herself too thin and she would advise anyone wanting to get into franchising to do their research. “Look at your demographics. With Subway you have to find your actual location and then they come down and they assess it. Your business plan is very, very important. Your cash flow is very, very important. You have to believe in the product. I have seen teachers, scientists, lecturers’, pharmacists fail in this business.” She continues “Yet I’ve seen the average Joe that’s willing to go into the store, work the shop floor, get to know the customers, build it up, succeed. I know personally 80% of my customers in any town that I’ve worked in, they know me. I serve them. I like to be on the shop floor twice a week. Before the Coronavirus, I was opening the store myself, not a member of staff, I would do it. My customers like that. Customers like to see that with this kind of franchise unit. Even McDonalds, they liked to do that. Obviously, I know there’s multiple unit holders and operators and I’ve been there, but sometimes people lose touch. I’ve been to certain sites where franchisees have said to me ‘This is my store Rachel.’ then they say this is the first or second time they’ve been there in two years. And I’m like ‘wow how do you do that, and wonder why your business is failing?’”