Four Korean McDonald's Store Managers Receive Global McDonald's 'Ray Kroc Award'

Four Korean McDonald's store managers have been selected as recipients of the 'Ray Kroc Award,' given to the most outstanding managers among McDonald's stores worldwide. (From left ▲ Busan Jeonggwan DT Store Manager Lee Sang-kwon ▲ Changwon Sapa DT Store Manager Kim Jeong-sook ▲ Daejeon KAIST DT Store Manager Jeong In-gyu ▲ Gimpo Janggi DT Store Manager Kang Ja-young)

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] McDonald's Korea announced on the 8th that four store managers have been selected as recipients of the 'Ray Kroc Award,' given to the most outstanding store managers among McDonald's locations worldwide.

The Ray Kroc Award is presented to the top 1% of store managers among more than 38,000 McDonald's stores across over 100 countries worldwide. Established in 1999, it is named after Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's. For McDonald's employees, the Ray Kroc Award symbolizes great honor and is regarded as a prestigious award that carries on the founder's philosophy.

This year's Korean recipients of the Ray Kroc Award are Store Manager Ja-young Kang of Gimpo Janggi DT, Store Manager Jeong-sook Kim of Changwon Sapa DT, Store Manager Sang-kwon Lee of Busan Jeonggwan DT, and Store Manager In-gyu Jeong of Daejeon KAIST DT, totaling four store managers honored with the award. The recipients were recognized for their leadership in providing differentiated customer experiences and realizing McDonald's five core values (People-Centered, Inclusion, Integrity, Community, Family), playing a key role in the growth of McDonald's Korea.

The four awardees will be invited to the 'Ray Kroc Award Gala' held in April next year in Orlando, Florida, USA. They will also receive a prize equivalent to one month's salary, a trophy, round-trip airfare to the United States, and hotel accommodations.

Ja-young Kang, Store Manager of Gimpo Janggi DT, said, “I was able to receive this honor thanks to McDonald's inclusive work environment, a corporate culture that recognizes effort, and systematic training programs. As a top 1% store manager worldwide, I will strive to provide the best service to customers and create a work environment where employees can enjoy their work.”

Meanwhile, McDonald's is providing equal growth opportunities to all employees based on a 'people-centered' corporate culture. About half of the headquarters staff at McDonald's Korea started their careers in stores. Despite the employment challenges caused by COVID-19 last year, McDonald's Korea hired the largest number of full-time employees since its entry into the domestic market. They also introduced the shift manager position, increasing the full-time conversion rate by 3.4 times compared to 2019. This year, McDonald's plans to continue contributing to job creation by conducting large-scale full-time hiring, including converting hourly wage employees to full-time positions.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.