They say that success brings its own rewards and for the irrepressible Jim Johns it has given him the reward of giving back.
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On December 1, Jim celebrated 35 years as a McDonald’s licensee, 16 of them in Batemans Bay.
Along the way he has broken new ground for kids with cancer and their families, a project that is now starting to spread world-wide.
His story really begins in his childhood, tough times for his single mother and her four children in South Melbourne.
“I come from a humble beginning,” he said.
“My mother worked three jobs – she cleaned in the morning, caught a tram to work in a sandwich shop, and then caught a tram back to her waitressing job.
“She set a fine example for hard work; I’m inspired by her.”
In the Vietnam War years, Jim worked for the Department Of Army, and followed that with four years as a liaison officer with the United Nations in Sydney.
It was with the UN that Jim first heard about McDonald’s.
“During my time with the United Nations nearly every visitor from the US spoke highly of the McDonald’s success story in the USA,” he said.
He took the step to join the company, and the huge financial risk it entailed, when he was managing a computer company.
“I sold a computer system to a franchisee in Bondi and the minute I walked in the door, I fell in love with it; I vividly remember that moment,” he said.
It was 1979, he was just 28, and he had a wife and four kids.
“I put everything on the line, even sold our house in Blacktown,” he said.
“I was used to working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and felt that working with, rather than for, a successful organisation would reap its rewards.”
His first franchise, at Westfield Parramatta, was the first in Australia to be opened at a shopping centre.
The restaurant grew at a phenomenal rate – and was one of the fastest growing McDonald’s in Australia for several years - and in 1994 Jim received the Greater Western Sydney Businessman of the Year award.
By 1996, Jim owned five franchises in the Parramatta region, but he and his partner Rachael Sweeney were ready for a sea change.
He sold all the restaurants and bought the McDonald’s franchise in Batemans Bay, which appealed because it is equidistant between family in Sydney and Melbourne.
They moved here committed to making an investment in the community, and Rachael had an idea to build a house by the sea where kids with cancer and their families could take precious holidays.
The result – Fiona Lodge - was replicated throughout the country.
Every six months Jim and Rachael gather up 15 kids, most with a disability, from an orphanage in China and take them on a fun family holiday.
The chances of adoption for a Chinese orphan with a disability are slim, but, Jim says, they are often adopted simply because they have been included in the holiday group.
Just before Christmas every year, Jim and Rachael head to Corrigans Cove in Batehaven to host the annual Arches Christmas party, a tradition that was started by Rachael’s late grandfather in Victoria, for retirement village residents in Batemans Bay.
As a member of McElders – a group of 30 licensees each with more than 30 years on the board - he meets McDonald’s CEO in Melbourne every three months to talk about ways to improve the business, and of the Batemans Bay Cohort – a group of about 20 senior business people in the Bay’s CBD - he has a regular working lunch with the shire’s mayor to share ideas and wisdom.
Jim Johns moved to Batemans Bay with his family committed to making an investment in the community.
Partner Rachael had an idea to build a house by the sea where kids with cancer and their families could take precious holidays.
“One day in 1998, Des Phillips came in and asked if he could do some signwriting,” Jim said.
“He told me about his dream to build a place for kids and families to have holidays by the sea – it was such a coincidence – and he was dying of cancer.”
Their shared dream was surely meant to be.
Between that year and 2001, $1.2 million was raised and Fiona Lodge opened its doors at Rosedale.
“It was all done by support from the community,” Jim said.
“The fundraising was mostly done in Batemans Bay, and, for example, businesses like Alvanex donated $100,000 of steel framing for the house.”
Sadly, Des saw the first sod turned but died just before the house opened.
Fiona Lodge wasn’t just a one-off, it was the beginning of better things to come.
It was the first Ronald McDonald Family Retreat in the world and since then six more have been built in Australia and New Zealand and there are plans to build them further afield.
Jim says the system works well - city people visit the family retreats in the country, and country people use Ronald McDonald houses in the cities.
“I have always believed for people to be truly happy they need something to do, someone to love and something to look forward to,” he said.
“The lodge was designed to give families in need something to look forward to, a holiday escape by the sea.”