Almost 5,000 apply for jobs at new fast food premises

Date Published: 10-Jun-2010

By Antoinette Giblin

ALMOST 5,000 applications were received by fast food restaurant company KFC for a total of 55 jobs when it initially announced its arrival in Galway.

The Kentucky Fried Chicken specialists who last month opened the 5,000 sq ft Briarhill outlet, the largest KFC in the country, were inundated with applicants from a wide variety of backgrounds.

“With Galway, the minute I put up the advert, I was inundated with CVs. They were coming from all sorts of backgrounds. I got architects and accountants, lawyers, electricians and even army people. You name it, I got it. The administration team had to help me for the best part of a week to sieve through all the CVs,” said Jenny Kenrick, Human Resources Manager with KFC.

The KFC employers, whose package is said to include good perks, began by recruiting the management team and quickly found that many of their applicants were over-qualified yet desperate to be considered for one of the roles.

“Many of the people applying were over qualified. People were coming from very different areas but all they wanted to do was work.

“These people were crying out for work. If you could, you’d give everyone a job. We all have friends or know people who are out of work so you can kind of understand from that perspective but I had to pick those who were the best fit for the job criteria,” Ms Kenrick explained.

In 2009, it is estimated that four Irish companies went to the wall every single day. As more up-market “slow food” eateries continue to bear the brunt of the downturn, the “faster food” industry appears to be one of the few to accelerate and speed past its higher end competitors as cash strapped families opt for and demand better value.

“Fast food always does well in a downturn. It’s simple, if you think about it. There are a lot of parents where one is out of work but they still want the family to have their treat as always. Naturally, they go somewhere where they can get good value for their money. They don’t have to break the bank but the kids are happy. They simply can’t afford a restaurant where they would have to pay €100 for a meal for two kids and themselves,” Jenny said.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune