Atul Pathak is making money out of the explosion in fast food, writes Jonathan Moules . He approached McDonald’s about buying a franchise six years ago, and the company made him flip hamburgers and scrub the floors for nine months before giving him the keys to his first restaurant.
“I was thinking, bloody hell, why do you want to do this?” he recalls.
But the experience gave him an intimate knowledge of the workings of his business, Mr Pathak says – and respect from his frontline staff on the occasions when he has to muck in behind the counter. He employs 900 people and holds licences for 15 McDonald’s restaurants across London, having paid between £200,000 and £300,000 for each. McDonald’s decided which restaurants he could have, but Mr Pathak says that such controls have not stifled his entrepreneurial spirit.
“The Big Mac was invented by a franchisee,” he notes.
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