HOSPITALITY
Dedicated – Dean pictured with his wife Melissa and daughters Maci and Ava, who provided the inspiration for the company name, Mavas Foods.
“ We support 29,000 farmers across the UK and in the supply chain, and we’ re really proud of the products we serve, our customer service and how much we invest in our people.”
Endurance – Dean took part in the‘ World’ s Toughest Row’, across the Atlantic Ocean.
After nine months of training –“ I did every job, from cleaning toilets to running a restaurant” – he worked with an existing franchisee in Sunderland before taking the reins at Linthorpe Road, just as Covid hit.
Since then, he’ s become an adopted Teessider, with daughters Maci and Ava – hence the name of his business, Mavas Foods – schooled locally.
Earlier this year, he and three pals competed in the“ World’ s Toughest Row” event, rowing from the Canaries to Antigua for 39 days, 16 hours and 27 minutes to raise £ 250,000 for Ronald McDonald House Charities.
But back on dry land, he’ s now fully focused on his latest adventure – welcoming the Yarm Road McDonald’ s into the firm’ s Teesside family.
One of only two“ net zero build” McDonald’ s in the country so far, it’ s been sustainably built with the environment in mind, with landscaping, recycling and green initiatives galore – even the toilet signs are made of compressed coffee.
And with 640 employees across his six McDonald’ s, Dean is acutely aware of his staff’ s importance.
He said:“ We are part of the community. Our employees’ kids go to school in the community and in turn, those kids come here to work really hard and do a fantastic job.
“ Globally, we are the biggest first-time employer, and in the UK, the biggest employer of young people of any business, so we are many people’ s first taste of the workplace.
“ We’ ve got three generations in the workplace, so how do you get Gen Z and baby boomers to work together as one team? But somehow it works, which is a real tribute to all involved.
“ Like everyone, we have challenges, so it’ s about overcoming those challenges and creating a strategy to be even more customer-centric. We’ ve a phrase in McDonald’ s,“ Q, S and C”, which stands for quality, service and cleanliness.”
There are currently more than 1,400 McDonald’ s, with plans for 200 more by 2027. Around 94 % of its restaurants are franchised to people like Dean, who has big plans for his other Teesside outlets.
He said:“ Thornaby will be closed next year for five weeks and completely gutted. I’ ll spend three quarters of a million pounds on it, just like I did at Middlesbrough Leisure Park last year, because we continually invest in our estate and the community.”
And he gives short shrift to anyone dismissing McDonald’ s as just another fastfood joint.
He said:“ There are lots of misconceptions. For example, we use 100 % British and Irish beef, and the only thing that goes into it is a pinch of salt and pepper, that’ s it.
“ Also, we invest in farms through our‘ Farm Forward’ project, we’ ve done organic milk since before it became a‘ thing’ and we’ ve used free-range eggs since before it became cool to eat them.
“ Our food is really good quality. We support 29,000 farmers across the UK and in the supply chain, and we’ re really proud of the products we serve, our customer service and how much we invest in our people.”
Locally, Dean’ s a trustee with the Teesside Family Foundation and sponsors grassroots sports teams.
He explained:“ We constantly invest in the community because we appreciate them. They come here to purchase our food, so it’ s only right that we give back.”
And he’ s confident Mavas Foods’ sixth McDonald’ s, which will open from 6am to midnight daily, will have a big impact.
“ It’ s a real investment in Stockton – £ 2.5m is not a small figure, especially in this difficult economic climate.
“ It’ s been a challenging year for business, so being able to invest and open a brand-new restaurant and bring 100 more new jobs to market is a privilege.
“ But I wouldn’ t buy into anything I didn’ t believe in and I love being a McDonald’ s franchisee and being part of the brand. I love coming in to work and working with my team every day.
“ And I feel incredibly proud to employ all these people and to see how hard they work on a daily basis.”
The voice of business in the Tees region | 107