A family dines under a blown-glass chandelier while small children play tag outside on the brick patio, being careful to steer clear of the stacked-stone walls as they round the corner. Happy-faced cooks move quickly to get food out to the customers, who are busy watching any of several flat-panel televisions.
Though Ooltewah’s newest family restaurant could pass for a Starbucks or Panera Bread, it’s a McDonald’s.
“We wanted it to be special for the community,” said Carrie Goodwin, who designed the restaurant, including a wall made of Aruba glass.
Her husband, Rob, owns seven McDonald’s franchises in the Chattanooga area, including their newest on Ooltewah-Ringgold Road, the first he’s built from the ground up.
He started flipping burgers in 1978 at age 16, and worked his way up through the company’s ranks before getting “the fever” to become an owner seven years ago.
“I started as a crew person at the old East Ridge McDonald’s; now I own the East Ridge McDonald’s,” Goodwin said.
For many years he worked as a trainer for other operators, so he knows the mistakes that lead to becoming a stereotypical fast-food restaurant, and he said he knows how to avoid them.
The challenge in an industry with traditionally high turnover is to have the right people in leadership positions, especially store manager, Goodwin said,
“If a store is performing poorly, you can change out the store manager, keep the other employees and turn the store around immediately,” he said.
Two store employees he probably won’t fire anytime soon are his son and daughter, Ashley and A.J.
Growing up, the children were initially embarrassed by their parents’ yellow McDonald’s shirts and disliked being anywhere near the store.
Now, Ashley Goodwin, 19, helps keep an eye on the restaurant when her parents aren’t around. Her longtime boyfriend, Steven Overby, is a shift manager.
“It’s their life, and I’m at the age where I finally understand that McDonald’s can be a good thing,” she said.
The college student formerly got upset when her parents talked about McDonald’s around the house. Now, “that’s all Ashley and Steven ever talk about,” said her mother.
A.J. Goodwin, 17, still finds it challenging to work at a job with his mother, father and sister.
“It’s difficult, because anything I do wrong, they know about it right away,” he said, though he added that he enjoys the employee discount.
Rob Goodwin’s keys to success1. Keep the drive-through moving. If the drive-through is running well, that means the rest of the restaurant is running well.2. Employees should greet customers before they get to the counter, look them in the eye, and smile.3. Keep the restaurant clean and well staffed.4. Teach employees to work quickly.5. Visit each store at least once per week.
He started when he was 10, handing food out the window to customers, until someone complained and called the Department of Labor, the story goes.
“He could barely see over the ledge,” his dad chimed in.
In the end, far from creating an environment of favoritism and insulation, the family-centric atmosphere appeared to please the numerous customers crowded into the restaurant during its grand opening.
“We love it, we love the people and the patio,” said Tammy Jackson, who lives nearby.
Elaine Hodge, sitting nearby, added that the Goodwin McDonald’s wasn’t even in the same ballpark as most fast-food restaurants.
“I’ve been to some that were just nasty,” Hodge said. “The employees here are very nice, and clean too.”
It’s no accident, said Rob Goodwin, that customers are enjoying themselves. He’s just following the rules in his own store that he taught to others for decades after graduating from Hamburger University in Illinois.
His goal is for his newly appreciative children to take over for him when he retires, but that probably won’t be anytime soon.
“People ask me how many more stores I want,” he said, pausing to smile. “There’s not a number.”