Retford McDonald’s crew selected to go for gold at London 2012

A RETFORD man has been chosen by McDonalds to work at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Keelan Ward, 19, is one of a 2,000 strong squad of McDonald’s staff that have been chosen following a rigorous test of their speed, customer service and team work.

The crew will travel to London this summer to work across the four temporary McDonald’s restaurants in and around the Olympic park, serving an estimated 1.75 million meals in 29 days.

As well as working at the Games he’ll also have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of London 2012, see at least one Olympic or Paralympic event, go to cultural events and socialise with fellow McDonald’s crew members from across the UK and the world.

“I feel so lucky to have been selected. Being given the chance to work at the Games will be the biggest recognition of my hard work yet and it’s a great feeling knowing how proud my family is of my achievement,” he said.

“I think the most challenging thing will be keeping up with the volume of customers, but I am really excited to be working at the Olympics and meeting new people from all over the world.”

“I love hockey, so if I have the chance to watch that I will be happy. I am really excited about coming to London as I haven’t been before.”

Last year 12,000 staff from McDonald’s across the UK were involved in more than 100 events to select the crew needed to work at the Games.

Staff were shortlisted from over 87,500 who work for McDonald’s in the UK after being nominated by their restaurant managers throughout the year.

Local McDonald’s franchisee, Walter Wright, said: “I’m delighted that Keelan has been chosen to take part in this fantastic opportunity.”

“McDonald’s was looking for its very best people. They will have to step up their performance to meet the challenges of the Games.”

“They’ll need to be able to make split second decisions; epitomise McDonald’s team spirit; adapt to new environments quickly and deliver the best possible customer service at a time when the world’s eyes will be on Great Britain – a challenge I’m sure Keelan will more than rise to.”

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