Tony and Luita Aichinger - McDonald’s Family Restaurants
If you’re involved in a sporting club or charity in Wagga Wagga, there’s a good chance you’ve benefited from the generosity of Tony and Luita Aichinger.
McDonald’s franchisees for the past 20 years, Tony and Luita have won a raft of awards, including Australia’s top gong – The Ronald Award – twice and The Ray Kroc Award, an international prize given out once every two years to the top 0.01% of operators in the world.
We caught up with Tony to discuss his McDonald’s success story and why it’s important to give back.
Meet with Tony Aichinger and three things quickly become clear: he loves his family, he values his staff and he cares for his community.
Growing up in the western suburbs of Sydney, Tony spent 10 years as a plumber before becoming an officer in the NSW Police Force.
A transfer brought Tony and his family to the Riverina, and he’s never looked back.
“About 30 years ago, I transferred from Liverpool to Gundagai in the NSW Police Force.
“I worked there for about six years and then eventually entered McDonald’s opening up the Gundagai restaurant, which we had for a few years before we sold it and came over to Wagga.
“I was drawn to McDonald’s because it is a very strong, successful company and brand.
“We now have six restaurants with market capitalisation of $25-30 million, and our staff sits around 550 people ranging from those on the frontline to supervisors, store managers and administration staff.
“We employ people of all ages and that diversity is important to us. Our people make our business. Without our staff doing their jobs on a daily basis, we wouldn’t be here.”
That staff includes the couple’s four children. Jade and Jessica work in administration, while Cherell and Blake work in the restaurants.
Tony and Luita support many local events and sporting clubs, including the annual Tolland Open Cycling Race.
“They’ve all chosen to be part of the business. They all just started to come and work when they were 15 or 16. Some have gone out and tried other things and have come back, but mostly they’ve been involved in the business for the last 15-20 years.”
Tony said another key reason he was drawn to McDonald’s was its focus on community.
“The community supports the business, so the McDonald’s business model is to give some of that support and assistance back to the community.”
Tony and Luita sponsor a range of sporting clubs, right across the Riverina including but not limited to AFL, NRL, McDonalds Park, cycling, Softball, Referees, Umpires, gulf days, Community groups, along with events such as Gears & Beers, and community facilities, such as a painting commissioned for the Wagga Wagga Rural Referral Hospital by renowned Australian artist John Olsen.
“It’s probably easier to tell you the people we don’t sponsor than the people we do!
Over the past 20 years we have pumped around $3 million back into our great community by way of social, sporting and scholastic support. And well over $100M back into the Riverina’s economy.
Tony said he loves supporting Ronald McDonald House here in Wagga.
“We’ve been involved since day one. I’m on the board and Luita is on the fundraising committee. It’s been going for over 15 years now and we’re recently opened the family room at the hospital, which is another great asset for the community.” If anyone out there would like to volunteer we would love to hear from you.
Over many years Tony and Luita have hosted a fundraising ball for the charity, the most recent in 2019 raising $150K for the local charity. Another milestone was Tony’s big bike ride across Australia raising $300K for both Sydney and local RMHC chapters.
In 2019 Tony rode across Australia, raising $150,000 for the local Ronald McDonald House Charity.
“It’s important to me to be able to do something for those families and children that use a Ronald McDonald House in their time of need. If providing accommodation for them at that difficult time is what we can do, we’re all happy to be part of that.”
You can follow Tony’s fundraising efforts on Facebook (T at The BIG M) or Instagram (@t_at_thebigm).
Most recently we, like everyone else have been through some tough times with the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout this crisis we have ensured that all staff were protected and their jobs secure. We have vowed to use these tough times to come out the other side stronger, with the plan to grow the local business bigger than ever.
We have called upon the traditional values that have grown our brand to what it is today. We are a local business employing local staff.
We at Macca’s in Wagga and the Riverina are there for our customers and the community, providing a safe place to come and eat with great food fast. I like to think we are there for our customers when they need us.