Some of us have dreams of going to med school, law school, maybe pursuing a Master’s degree, but who ever thought Hamburger University was an option? Gianna Funkhouser, a sophomore of Delta Delta Delta, is working towards admittance to a “Second Generation Program” in which she will be the successor of the three McDonalds restaurants her father owns! Not many can say they get free McDonalds for life, so we sat down with Gianna to learn more!
Her Campus: Give us a little background about being an heir to McDonalds!
Gianna Funkhouser: My dad has owned three McDonalds restaurants in the suburbs for about 13 years now. He didn’t have very much growing up, and working for the park district wasn’t giving my mom, brother and myself the comfortable life that he wanted us to have. He decided he was going to buy a franchise of some sort, and after researching a bit he decided that McDonalds would be the most organized and profitable options, so he chose it!
HC: So, do you get free food?
GF: Yes, but my dad always tells me its technically not free. This is because we are the ones purchasing the frozen food to cook and sell to the public. He always says that if we paid for it when it was cooked too, it would be like paying twice! But yes, when I go to McDonalds with my friends, we always get it for free.
HC: That’s any college kids dream! Do the cashiers know you by now?
GF: Well, when we do get free food, the cashier has to do something called “promo the order.” This makes the amount to pay $0, and every time this happens, the cash register sends a text to my dads phone telling him that someone just got food for free somewhere! I have gotten many calls from my dad at 3 a.m. asking how could I possibly order $40 worth of McDonalds!
HC: Too funny! Do you ever get sick of it?
GF: To be honest, I don’t really get sick of it. I actually don’t eat it very much at school, but during the summers I am around the stores helping my dad a lot, so I tend to eat it one-two times per week. Not good! It’s mostly convenient for little things like bottled water, and my dad was actually able to donate bottles of water and paper goods from McDonalds to my sorority’s philanthropy event, “Greeks at Bat.”
HC: How generous. What kind of work do you do?
GF: Actually, I’m trying to be accepted into the second-generation program, which will allow me to take over the McDonalds in my family. I am doing this by basically interning or shadowing my dad during the summer and logging my hours. I’ll also start taking some online classes and seminars through Hamburger University soon! Through the University I will learn McDonalds’ training curriculum, which is a combo of classroom instruction and online modules, hands-on activities and real-world scenarios. I’m really excited!