Kings Meadows McDonalds stalwart celebrates three decades in role

The imposing 64-year-old with the undertones of a rich New Jersey accent has had a connection to Launceston's first McDonalds since the day it opened in 1991.

Thirty years later, Mr Magliarditi has just notched up three decades working with the North and North-West Tasmania branch of the global corporation but his link to the golden arches extends well beyond that.

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Though he likes to keep it under his hat, Mr Magliarditi was first swept up by the McDonalds craze in 1974 when he started flipping burgers at a New Jersey franchise as a 17-year-old.

His time with that franchise came to an end when he joined the United States Marines but it was a twist of fate Mr Magliarditi compared to the growth of a tree that saw his Maccas connection renewed before being sustained for 30 years.

As a burly Marine, Mr Magliarditi was sent to Tasmania - 16500 kilometres from New Jersey.

After hopping off the boat he soon bumped into a Tasmanian woman who caught his eye.

"It was love at first sight," he said.

Being a Marine, Mr Maliarditi lived a transient life and soon after arriving in Tasmania had to leave again. But the woman he fell in love with soon brought him back.

Now the pair are married and have four sons.

Though their love story was one for the ages, how it led him to becoming a Tasmanian McDonalds stalwart captured the essence of what Mr Magliarditi meant in describing life as a tree.

"At the end of the day as you grow you don't know which branch you're going to take, and you don't know where that plant stops," he said.

As it happened, Mr Magliarditi's tree grew in a way that led him back to Tasmania at a time when the huge global conglomerate of McDonalds was branching out itself into Tasmania.

Already having a link with the golden arches Mr Magliarditi ended up becoming one of the first employees of the very first McDonalds established in the Apple Isle - in Moonah 1989.

When the Kings Meadows store was about to be opened just two years later, franchise owners Steven and Kim Nicholas had to look no further than New Jerseyite and apparent Maccas magic man Mr Magliarditi.

Not resting on their laurels having opened the first northern Tasmanian McDonalds, the Nicholas' opened up a further six stores across the North and North-West - with Mr Magliarditi applying his touch throughout the empire within an empire.

One the empire was established, Mr Magliarditi settled back into his role as operations manager within the Kings Meadows store.

Reflecting on his three decade tenure at the location, Mr Magliarditi said being around for so long had afforded him the chance to form lasting relationships with staff members and customers.

"We've got a lot of people through here that are regular customers that we know," he said.

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"And I think we've shaped a lot of people's careers as well over the years, which is fantastic. You hear about business owners and they make a reference saying, 'I used to work for Jim and I wouldn't be where I was if it wasn't for him', that's motivating."

Mr Magliarditi said another thing he was proud of was being able to help raise money for McHappy Day, something he enthusiastically rallied behind whenever he could.

While he said his career was rich with positives, his biggest challenge had started in 2020 when COVID-19 hit. He said adapting the workplace to the pandemic was the first challenge but that pain had reverberated to the point he was still struggling to attract staff to the store.

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Though Mr Magliarditi was incredulous when he said he was confident he had served hundreds of thousands of customers and dishes out an equal amount of Big Macs, he admitted it was something hindsight brought into 20-20 vision.

"In the early days when Kings Meadows was the only store in Launceston, you had people lining up to come in," he said.

"The amount of lines there were from the drive through and people wanting to come inside was just unbelievable."

From the days of queues running out of the doors to having to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Magliarditi said it took something special to take it all in his stride.

"Ketchup's in the veins. It's something you definitely have to acquire over the years," he said.

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