Business Notebook: McDonald's uses Alexa to recruit employees, Rally's Drive-In to open in Jackson

I received a couple of interesting notes last week related to McDonald’s and specifically about McDonald’s franchise operations in this area.

McDonald’s announced last week Amazon’s Alexa can now assist with the first step of a McDonald’s restaurant job application as part of the company’s new “McDonald’s Apply Thru” skill for the Alexa voice-activated assistant.

The sign outside a McDonald's restaurant in Pittsburgh in June. On Wednesday, McDonald’s Corp. began letting job seekers start an application by using voice commands on their smartphones with Amazon’s Alexa or Google’s Assistant. By Gene J. Puskar ~ Associated Press file

The Alexa application is part of the company’s recently-launched “Made at McDonald’s” global hiring campaign that seeks to increase the number of job applications at franchises worldwide. People interested in applying for a job at McDonald’s can start a job application through an Amazon Alexa device by saying, “Alexa, help me get a job at McDonald’s.” They can also use devices equipped with the Google Assistant technology by saying “Hey Google, help me get a job at McDonalds.”

The technology is available on Alexa and Google Assistant devices in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. It is expected to roll out to other countries in the near future.

Shannon Davis, a second-generation McDonald’s franchisee who owns and operates 17 McDonald’s in Southeast Missouri said the “McDonald’s Apply Thru” technology helps “recruit employees more efficiently and in ways that make it fun and interesting.”

According to a company news release, the “Made at McDonald’s” campaign highlights the opportunities a first job, part-time job or lifelong career at the fast-food company can create. The release noted in the United States, 128,401 McDonald’s crew members have gone on to become nurses, 489,302 have embarked on teaching careers and just over 2.4 million have become entrepreneurs.

McDonald’s has also embarked on an “Archways to Opportunities” (ATO) education program, which provides tuition assistance to franchise employees.

“We are hiring nearly 6,900 restaurant employees in Missouri for the fall and holiday season, so we’re always looking for ways to keep our employees working at McDonald’s for the long term and also offering them valuable benefits to stay, like the Archways to Opportunities education program,” Davis said in an email to the Missourian. “In the restaurants we own and operate, we’ve awarded over $75,000 this year to employees for their college tuition through the Archways program.”

n

And while we’re on the subject of fast-food restaurants, I learned the other day Rally’s Drive-In is coming to Jackson.

A Rally’s fast-food outlet is being built at 113 W. Jackson Blvd near the intersection of South Hope Street on a lot formerly occupied by a Rhodes 101 convenience store.

The Rally’s will be operated by PAJCO Inc., the parent company of Rhodes 101.

PAJCO president Jeff Maurer told me Friday he expects the Jackson Rally’s to be up and running by November. “We’ll also be opening another one by the end of the year in Sikeston,” he said. The Sikeston Rally’s will be on North Main Street adjacent to the Rhodes 101.

Maurer said the restaurants will feature “big, hearty burgers, fries and shakes.” While there will be no indoor seating, the Rally’s locations will feature outdoor seating in a patio area and double drive-thru lanes.

The Rally’s chain, headquartered in Tampa, Florida, has more than 280 locations including outlets in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. The Jackson and Sikeston restaurants will be the 18th and 19th Rally’s locations in Missouri. The others are located in Arnold, Farmington, Florissant, Jennings, O’Fallon, St. Charles and St. Louis.

Opening dates for the Southeast Missouri Rally’s will be announced later this fall.

n

Kent Crider

After 40 years in radio and nearly 25 years with K103, morning show radio host Kent Crider has decided to hang up his headphones and retire, effective earlier this month.

Crider spent time in several radio markets including his home state of Kentucky, Carbondale, Illinois, St. Louis and the historic WSM in Nashville, Tennessee. Over the years he was recognized as a Country Music Association DJ of the Year and Missouri Broadcasting Association award winner. At K103, he was passionate about raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as well as Coats for Kids, Toys for Tots and programs of the Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department.

River Radio operations manager Mike Renick said River Radio is accepting applications for Crider’s vacated morning show position.

n

L. Taylor Bahn

Speaking of retirements, another notable one occurred recently with the retirement of Cape Girardeau periodontist L. Taylor Bahn, whose practice was at 1345 N. Mount Auburn Road.

Bahn specialized in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of periodontal disease in Southeast Missouri for 35 years.

n

Now on to the rest of this week’s Business Notebook ...

Awards and recognitions

Southeast Missouri State University was recognized earlier this month as one of the best regional universities in the Midwest, according to the 2020 U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges rankings.

Southeast was ranked 78th among the best regional colleges, up 12 places from its 2019 ranking. According to a news release from Southeast, schools classified as “regional universities” offer a broad scope of undergraduate degrees along with some graduate degree programs.

The U.S. News & World Report rankings also listed Southeast as the 16th best public school among Midwestern regional universities, up four places from the previous year.

In addition, Southeast was ranked 31st among top performers in the category of “social mobility” for regional Midwestern universities, making it the highest ranked Missouri public institution in this category. This ranking recognizes universities successful at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating large numbers of disadvantaged students who have been awarded Pell grants.

People on the Move

Chris Conroy

KFVS12 vice president and general manager Chris Conroy has been named to the Southeast Missouri Food Bank board of directors.

Conroy, a 30-year veteran of the broadcast industry, was named to his current position with KFVS/WQWQ in March 2018. He came to Cape Girardeau from Raycom Media sister station KAIT, an ABC affiliate, in Jonesboro, Arkansas. While there, he served on the board of the Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas.

“Not only is he an energetic leader in the broadcast media industry, he has experience serving on a food bank board,” noted Joey Keys, SEMO Food Bank chief executive officer.

In addition to Keys and Conroy, other members of the SEMO Food Bank board are Gary Elders, Marty Platz, Danielle Poyner, Frank Jones, Janey Foust, Roger Guilliams, Mark Avery and Julianna Montgomery Ford.

n

Ricardo Georges

Interventional pain medicine physician Ricardo A. Georges has joined Saint Francis Healthcare System and has become affiliated with the Saint Francis Pain Management Center.

Georges hails from Queens, New York, where he was born, raised and pursued his medical career. After completing his undergraduate degree at New York University, he earned his medical degree from the SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, New York, in 2008. He then completed an anesthesiology residency at Stony Brook University Hospital in Stony Brook, New York, in 2018 and became board certified in that specialty.

Georges has a niche in treating pain issues secondary to musculoskeletal disorders, spinal pathologies, central pain syndromes, cancer pain, migraine and entrapment neuropathies with a heavy emphasis on rehabilitative practices.

n

Krystle Smith

Registered nurse Krystle Smith has been promoted to manager of patient care resources at Saint Francis Healthcare System.

In her new position, Smith is responsible for shift administrators, the transfer center, staffing office, telemonitor technicians, patient care technicians, the float pool patient care associates and transporters.

Smith earned her licensed practice nurse degree in 2012, her associate degree in nursing in 2013 from Shawnee Community College, and her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Chamberlain College of Nursing in 2017. She is certified in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and advanced cardiovascular life support.

Chamber notes

The Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce wants to remind its members it’s not too late to sign up for the “Members on the Mic” activity at this week’s First Friday Coffee gathering. All chamber members have an opportunity to speak for one minute as long as they preregister and bring a prospective member to the event. Speakers will be randomly drawn during the program and will have one minute with the microphone to talk about their business or anything else on their minds.

For more information, call Dana Brune at the chamber, (573) 335-3312.

n

The Cape chamber has announced the newest member of its staff, Hayley Hutson, who is working this fall as a communications intern at the chamber office.

Hutson is a senior at Southeast Missouri State University, majoring in corporate communications and minoring in marketing management. She is a graduate of Kelly High School in Benton, Missouri and brings several years of work experience from previous jobs, including Boomland and Montgomery Bank.

Her duties with the chamber include content management for the chamber’s social media accounts, blog content creation, content and coordination of the chamber’s monthly newsletters and chamber event coordination.

n

A ribbon cutting hosted by the Cape chamber is set for 11 a.m. Thursday at Easy Money, 320 N. Kingshighway, to mark the business’s 20th anniversary.

n

The Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce will host a ribbon cutting at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Missouri Heritage Mutual Insurance, 192 Route Z in Gordonville, to mark the 150th anniversary of the business. The Jackson chamber will also host a ribbon cutting at 9:30 a.m. Friday at Heartland Harvest Market & Antiques, 3277 State Highway 72 to celebrate the business’s first anniversary.

n

The Jackson chamber’s next Women’s Impact Network lunch is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Oct. 10 at the Jackson Civic Center. Shari Elfrink of 1st Class Travel will talk about essential travel tips for safe vacations. A $20 registration fee includes lunch. Register online through the Jackson chamber website.

n

Business license applications

Bilfinger Industrial Services in Ballwin, Missouri, has submitted a business license application to operate Bilfinger Industrial Services, Inc. at 80 N. Broadview St. in Cape Girardeau. The company provides industrial maintenance services and has been operating in the area for some time now. According to Bilfinger chief operating officer John Herrion, Bilfinger’s satellite office in Cape Girardeau is expected to open around Nov. 1.

n

Rex Anthony Burney of East Prairie, Missouri, submitted a business license application last week to operate The Greener Days, a cannabidiol (CBD) outlet at 2112 William St. in Cape Girardeau. The business will offer CBD products for consumption by humans and pets. According to the application, the store is tentatively scheduled to open today.

Do you crave business news? Check out B Magazine, and the B Magazine email newsletter. Check it out at www.semissourian.com/newsletters to find out more.