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McD, Panda Express go for the gold via Olympics recognition for crew members

McD, Panda Express go for the gold via Olympics recognition for crew members

NORCO CALIF. —Jeremy Jacobi’s friends teased him when he was named Employee of the Year at a McDonald’s branch here, but the 18-year-old was the one smiling as he prepared to depart this month for the Beijing Olympics.

“They are just jealous, I think,” said Jacobi, who has worked at the McDonald’s in this rural Riverside County town since he was 16, and was picked for the trip for being an outstanding crew member. “I’m very excited to be able to go all the way to China. This will be the first time I’ve left the country.” —Jeremy Jacobi’s friends teased him when he was named Employee of the Year at a McDonald’s branch here, but the 18-year-old was the one smiling as he prepared to depart this month for the Beijing Olympics.

Jacobi is one of only three American McDonald’s workers and more than 60 international employees who’ve joined hundreds of Chinese colleagues on the McDonald’s Olympic Champion Crew to run four restaurants in and around the Olympic Village. —Jeremy Jacobi’s friends teased him when he was named Employee of the Year at a McDonald’s branch here, but the 18-year-old was the one smiling as he prepared to depart this month for the Beijing Olympics.

But McDonald’s isn’t the only American chain to recognize outstanding workers who’ll be involved in the Olympics. Chinese quick-service segment leader Panda Express also is doing that by paying the wages of a chef at one of its Hawaii restaurants while he actually competes in the Games for the Republic of the Marshall Islands. —Jeremy Jacobi’s friends teased him when he was named Employee of the Year at a McDonald’s branch here, but the 18-year-old was the one smiling as he prepared to depart this month for the Beijing Olympics.

Anju Jason, who cooks at a Moanalua, Oahu, branch of Panda Express, will be going for the gold on behalf of the western Pacific Ocean island nation where he was born, though he grew up in Hawaii. —Jeremy Jacobi’s friends teased him when he was named Employee of the Year at a McDonald’s branch here, but the 18-year-old was the one smiling as he prepared to depart this month for the Beijing Olympics.

Jason, who holds a black belt in taekwondo, is the first Marshallese athlete to qualify and compete in the Olympics and is among only a handful of Hawaii residents who’ll be competing in Beijing when the Games begin this week. —Jeremy Jacobi’s friends teased him when he was named Employee of the Year at a McDonald’s branch here, but the 18-year-old was the one smiling as he prepared to depart this month for the Beijing Olympics.

“I am extremely proud to have this opportunity to represent the Marshall Islands and the state of Hawaii in a sport I love so much, on such a major level,” said Jason, who began cooking for Panda Express after graduating from high school. —Jeremy Jacobi’s friends teased him when he was named Employee of the Year at a McDonald’s branch here, but the 18-year-old was the one smiling as he prepared to depart this month for the Beijing Olympics.

John Zhang, a Panda Express area operations coach, said the company is proud to help Jason, who is the only Olympic athlete in the 18,000-plus-member workforce of Rosemead, Calif.-based Panda Restaurant Group. —Jeremy Jacobi’s friends teased him when he was named Employee of the Year at a McDonald’s branch here, but the 18-year-old was the one smiling as he prepared to depart this month for the Beijing Olympics.

Panda, though it is gaining recognition for its support of a chef-athlete, won’t be able to match the attention McDonald’s will garner as organizer of its own large Olympics team and sponsor of the Games’ official restaurant. —Jeremy Jacobi’s friends teased him when he was named Employee of the Year at a McDonald’s branch here, but the 18-year-old was the one smiling as he prepared to depart this month for the Beijing Olympics.

In addition to promotional advantages, the Olympics have become an opportunity for American restaurant companies to showcase, reward, recognize and support employees, whether as athletes or as foodservice crew members. Human resources executives say the Games offer opportunities to build morale and improve a brand’s reputation in the eyes of employees and prospective employees. —Jeremy Jacobi’s friends teased him when he was named Employee of the Year at a McDonald’s branch here, but the 18-year-old was the one smiling as he prepared to depart this month for the Beijing Olympics.

For its part, McDonald’s will have more than 1,400 crew members working in Beijing. The majority will come from all over China and join peers from the United States, Canada, Europe and Latin America. The workers will run the four new Olympics venue restaurants, including one in the Olympic Village that’s serving athletes. Another is in the main press center to serve more than 30,000 media representatives, and two others will offer meals to spectators on the Olympic Green. —Jeremy Jacobi’s friends teased him when he was named Employee of the Year at a McDonald’s branch here, but the 18-year-old was the one smiling as he prepared to depart this month for the Beijing Olympics.

McDonald’s has been an Olympic sponsor for about 40 years, but only in the past six years has it used the Games to reward and recognize employees, said Richard Floersch, executive vice president and chief human resources officer for the Oak Brook, Ill.-based company. —Jeremy Jacobi’s friends teased him when he was named Employee of the Year at a McDonald’s branch here, but the 18-year-old was the one smiling as he prepared to depart this month for the Beijing Olympics.

Floersch anticipates positive buzz as a result of “the experience that people will have—when people like Jeremy talk to friends and family about their experience, it’s a strong message about the unique employee experience you get at McDonald’s.” —Jeremy Jacobi’s friends teased him when he was named Employee of the Year at a McDonald’s branch here, but the 18-year-old was the one smiling as he prepared to depart this month for the Beijing Olympics.

About half of the McDonald’s Olympic Champion Crew will come from franchised units, said Gayle Derringer, director of McDonald’s Global HR Design Group. Outlets in 36 countries are sending employees to Beijing this year, she said. Employees’ home restaurants pay the workers’ salaries while they are in China, and McDonald’s pays travel expenses. The crew members stay at a deluxe hotel, receive tickets to Olympic events, and can tour Beijing and visit the Great Wall. Some will compete in a Big Mac Building Competition. —Jeremy Jacobi’s friends teased him when he was named Employee of the Year at a McDonald’s branch here, but the 18-year-old was the one smiling as he prepared to depart this month for the Beijing Olympics.

“They are pumped up,” Derringer said. —Jeremy Jacobi’s friends teased him when he was named Employee of the Year at a McDonald’s branch here, but the 18-year-old was the one smiling as he prepared to depart this month for the Beijing Olympics.

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