BedfordBID supporter Ismail Anilmis started his McDonald’s franchise group in the High Street, Bedford. Now he is celebrating opening his 15th. A former member of the BID board, Ismail and team are great supporters of Love Bedford.

Ismail Anilmis is opening his 15th McDonald’s franchise this month - a very BIG Mac deal for a man who started flipping burgers at the Bedford High Street restaurant when it first opened in January 1981.

Ismail rose up the promotion ladder within McDonald’s and eventually decided to go down the business owner pathway. He bought his own first franchise at Hockliffe near Leighton Buzzard in 2000 creating I&A Restaurants Ltd. He is now among the only a handful of individuals who own 15 or more of the 1,270 McDonald’s restaurants in the UK.

“Back in 1981 I started as crew member at the newly opened Bedford High Street restaurant and after six months I was promoted to a manager,” said Ismail, a delightfully modest man who has to be persuaded to talk about himself and not his team,

“Now we employ 1,500 people and have a really good management team. It’s all about that team working and training people to progress through the company.”

He bought the franchise for the Bedford High Street restaurant in July 2006. Something of a sentimental acquisition, but the popular restaurant is well supported by 1,000s of students from the town centre Bedford College.

Always keeping up with customer demands and McDonald’s commitment to service, Home Deliveries are now available from some of Ismail’s restaurants including Bedford, and Bedford High Street pioneered the brand’s Signature burgers which compete with the gourmet outlets.

“We are very keen to make the most of the national branding and marketing initiatives which an international company like McDonald’s makes available, whilst maintaining our relationship with our local community,” added Ismail.

I & A Restaurants support a wide range of charity and community events around each outlet - including regular clean-up campaigns, fund-raising for football and much more. In 2018 the team took part for the fourth time in the McDonald’s annual Oxford to Holland cycle ride bringing the total they have raised to £100,000 for Ronald McDonald House Charities.