As we celebrate both National Ag Day and National Ag Week, we bring you the story of an Indiana McDonald’s owner-operator and his daughter who brought the importance of Hoosier farmers and Indiana agriculture directly to his team members by planning a company trip to a local dairy.
“It was just a great team building experience for us, as well as educational for our people,” said Stephanie Awad, whose father owns and operates a total of 14 McDonald’s restaurants. Eleven of their family’s restaurants are located in Elkhart, Goshen, Ligoneer, and across northern Indiana. The remaining three are in southern Michigan.
She and her father Estephan Awad partnered up with American Dairy Association Indiana (ADAI) to take their restaurant managers and team members on a tour of Crystal Springs Creamery in St. Joseph County.
Estephan said the purpose of their visit to the dairy farm was to educate their team about the importance of Indiana’s farmers and the value that their local dairy suppliers bring.
“You wouldn’t think that a McDonald’s would have similarities with the farm, but we deal with similar issues,” he said. “We count on technology to help us do better, more efficient jobs, and similar to us, farms sometimes struggle with the labor force. There were a lot of similarities, which made it a more engaging for us to better understand what we all deal with within the same community.”
Stephanie says McDonald’s has long been a supporter of Indiana’s farmers and the ag industry.
“McDonald’s purchases more than $29 million worth of quality ingredients in Indiana. That includes eight million gallons of milk, so we want to take the time to recognize this huge role that Indiana farmers and ag organizations like the American Dairy Association Indiana play in our communities and in our economy,” she said.
In addition, the McDonald’s system also purchases 1.9 million pounds of soybean oil, 12.4 million pounds of sugar, and nearly 13 million pounds of pork from Indiana producers.
Estephan also says that McDonald’s also shares a family connection with Indiana’s farms.
“There are 700 dairy farms in the state of Indiana and 95 percent of them are family-owned and operated. There are also 250 McDonald’s restaurants in Indiana and 95 percent of them are also family-owned and operated,” he said.
So, the next time you take a bite into a McRib or a Sausage Egg McMuffin, remember those Indiana farmers who work hard every day to supply their products to McDonald’s.
Click below to hear C.J. Miller’s full conversation with Estephan and Stephanie Awad, as they discuss their tour of Crystal Springs Creamy in St. Joseph County through American Dairy Association Indiana. Estephan and Stephanie also discuss their family dynamic as they work together to manage their 14 McDonald’s locations.
