Business: President & Managing Director
Business
Veronica Kaneko: President & Managing Director
By Mike Yoshiura
Veronica Kaneko started out working the counter, and in her 31 years with McDonald’s Restaurants of Hawai‘i Inc., she climbed the food chain to become president and managing director—the region’s top corporate position.
IN RETROSPECT
At age 17, Veronica started working at the old Pearlridge McDonald’s for $2.40 an hour. Looking back, accepting the position and bypassing college was the most lucrative career move she has made with the Illinois-based corporation.
“I don’t advocate skipping college. If I could go back, I probably would go to college. But back then, I had to pay for it myself,” Veronica says. “Work was just so rewarding that I didn’t want to go to college.”
But, she did attend Hamburger University—McDonald’s Center of Training Excellence. Hamburger University is an accredited facility, training employees in restaurant operations, procedures, service, quality and cleanliness. Employees also earn credits that they can apply toward a college degree.
A SMALL FRY
After three months at the counter, Veronica became a hostess—a position that no longer exists. She spent the next four years talking to customers, pouring coffee and assisting in birthday celebrations.
After she graduated from high school, Veronica got a full-time job at Hawaiian Telecom, which was previously known as Hawaiian Telephone. According to Veronica, it was “the job to have” at the time. “Back then, if you got hired by the telephone company, you were set for life.”
However, she kept working weekends and on-call at McDonald’s.
Financial stability is enticing for some 18-year-olds, but it wasn’t enough to keep Veronica in the phone business. “For me, money wasn’t a problem. Not because I had any, but because I was young and I had to do what I really loved doing,” she says. “I could see a path for myself at McDonald’s. It was an opportunity for me to be whatever I wanted to be. I thought they had so much to offer. It’s not what most people think.”
THE MAKING OF A BIG MAC
Veronica returned to the golden arches full time, and tried her hand in the marketing department. In 1994, Veronica got promoted to operations manager, and it wasn’t long before she found herself managing her own store. “They kept asking me to go into the management training program, but I said no for two years. I really liked the marketing side, but I decided to give management a chance. I thought, What do I have to lose?”
In 1999, Veronica was named senior operations manager, and she was a recipient of the President’s Award (a prestigious corporate honor given to the top 1 percent of employees).
“The decisions you make today are what shape your future,” she says. “When I look back today, I would still take those same risks. You can’t be afraid to take risks because you can get caught up in that mind-set.”
Taking risks built a foundation for Veronica, now the leader of one of the company’s 22 regional divisions. She is already the Big Mac of McDonald’s Hawai‘i, and the next promotion would make her a franchisee.
“I would have to move to the Mainland for the next position, and that would be a real life-changing decision,” she says. “I don’t block it out 100 percent, but if you were to ask me today, I would say, no.”
McDonald’s is the largest global foodservice retailer with more than 30,000 restaurants, serving 52 million people in more than 100 countries each day. Veronica may be a small fry in the international company, but it is her local way of doing business that garners her success here in the Islands.