When Kwame Onwuachi was promoted to work the drive-thru at his McDonald’s, he felt a sense of pride like he never had before. In a way, he felt like he had made it. What he didn’t know at the time was that this was just the beginning of his success in the food industry, and it’s greatly thanks to his experience as a McDonald’s Crew member. Like many others, Onwuachi credits McDonald’s with teaching him valuable career and life skills. In fact, more than 70% of former and current McDonald’s employees, known as the “1 in 8,” say that they learned career skills during their time working at the fast food chain. Beyond learning transferable life and career skills, employees are also able to be a part of a unique and rewarding community of like-minded individuals.
To celebrate these talented and hardworking individuals, McDonald’s has launched Employees Only, an exclusive event for both past and current McDonald’s Crew members. During this series, there will be networking opportunities, exclusive access to limited-edition merch, and opportunities to get inspired by fellow McDonald’s community members, including notable alumni such as Onwuachi, a James Beard award-winning chef and Top Chef contestant.
Onwuachi’s cooking career started at a young age, when he started helping out his mother’s catering business that ran out of the family’s house. It wasn’t until he was 15 years old that he got his first job in the food industry — as a McDonald’s employee in New York City at the 34th St Herald Square location.
“It’s one of the busiest McDonald’s, so it was a crash course into the restaurant industry,” Onwuachi said. “It just set standards like really, really early on, whether that’s cleanliness, organization, or consistency.”
Onwuachi actually credits McDonald’s influence and success as a chain to its consistency over the years.
Like many other McDonald’s Crew alumni, Onwuachi picked up skills that he utilizes in his career today, especially in his own restaurants. It’s not just cooking skills that he picked up though — he credits McDonald’s with teaching him how to properly keep a restaurant clean.
“McDonald’s taught me how to mop and sweep, but also how to organize the walk-in, which is a huge part of keeping the kitchen really clean and tight,” Onwuachi said.
Despite the obvious hard work that comes with working at a fast food restaurant, Onwuachi describes his time as a crew member as a lot of fun.
As an employee at his neighborhood’s local McDonald’s, Onwuachi felt that that establishment functioned as an anchor of his community. His friends and neighbors would frequent the restaurant just to visit him.
Despite having moved on from the Golden Arches career-wise, Onwuachi is still a loyal customer. His go-to meal is a Big Mac, six-piece nuggets, fries, a Sprite, and sweet and sour and barbecue sauce. Sometimes, he’ll switch out the Big Mac for a Filet-O-Fish.
His love for the restaurant as a customer is part of why he decided to partner with McDonald’s for Employees Only — along with the fact that his career began there.
“I’m someone that started at McDonald’s,” Onwuachi said. “I’ve opened up a plethora of restaurants since then, but have always been a cheerleader for the brand.”
Onwuachi is the owner of Tatiana, an Afro-Caribbean restaurant in the heart of New York City. He also recently opened a new restaurant, called Dōgon, in Washington D.C. The name pays homage to the West African tribe that DC Surveyor Benjamin Banneker descended from. Banneker is responsible for drawing the border of what we now know as Washington D.C.
Onwuachi is also the author of a Bon Appetit Best Book of the Year, titled My America: Recipes from a Young Black Chef: A Cookbook. In 2019, his memoir Notes from a Young Black Chef made waves in the cooking world.
Employees Only kicked off in Chicago on September 24 and featured McDonald’s Crew alumni, including comedian and former SNL cast member Chris Redd and actress and Univision host Clarissa Molina.