Franchise entrepreneur in £2.6m Star City development
ENTREPRENEUR Tony Sealey has made a £2.6m joint investment with burger chain MacDonalds to open a new restaurant in the city’s Star City development, creating 80 new jobs.
Mr Sealy, a former small business advisor for the DTI and board member of AWM, runs several MacDonalds franchises, and has been an outspoken advocate of the value of the jobs created in areas with high unemployment.
The latest franchise in Star City comes on top of his original sites in Perry Bar and Newtown. He employs 250 mainly young, people in his five-restaurant empire, and offers training programmes. “We are a conveyor belt. Kids will leave here and go and work for anybody – in good jobs,” he said.
“It’s really exciting to open a new restaurant in the local area and what’s more, the first McDonald’s in StarCity. I’m sure it will be a big hit with the local community as an inviting and comfortable place to eat out or pass through.”
Star City is in the Ladywood constituency, the area with the highest level of unemployment in Birmingham.
The opening of the new restaurant is a joint investment£2.6m from McDonald’s and Mr Sealey. Jobs range from part-time crew membersto full-time trainee business . McDonald’s says it invests more than £30 million in its training in the UK.
Mr Sealy has been chair of the local Enterprise Agency Black Business in Birmingham, a member of the West Midlands Ethnic Minority Business Forum and a past chair of Sandwell African Caribbean Development Agency and HAMAC Housing.
“As a local businessman I’m keen to ensure steady investment in the area and I’m pleased to be able to provide a significant number of new jobs. Investing in the development of my people is also important – I want to ensure they have a good learning ladder of opportunities ahead of them to benefit their career but also because it will ultimately help us deliver consistently high levels of customer service.”
McDonald’s will continue to invest in the West Midlands throughout 2011 through the ongoing refurbishment of existing restaurants. It’s the aim of McDonald’s and franchisees within the West Midlands to continue improving and enhancing customer experience through ongoing investment and creation of jobs across the country.
