September 18, 2023
During McDonald’s 2023 North American Supply Chain Summit in early September, three GSF leaders received “Elevating the Arches” awards on behalf of GSF for their valued contributions to the customer’s success. The prestigious awards recognize McDonald’s supplier partners for their stand-out actions over the past two years that have resulted in quantifiable and impactful results for McDonald’s business and its customers.
“Recognizing your contributions with this award not only gives us the opportunity to thank you, but also enables us to share your story so that others can learn from it,” explained Bob Stewart, McDonald’s Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer, North America, in his letter to each honoree. “Your impact on the System is thus magnified, and we are getting that much stronger in building McDonald’s competitive advantage.”
GSF’s Chief Technology Officer, Guilda Javaheri earned McDonald’s “Elevating the Arches” award for her “System-first” leadership and self-managed excellence to advance the “Back Room of the Future” initiative, as part of the customer’s Efficient Digital Supply Chain (EDSC) journey. At the forefront of driving and scaling innovative action, Guilda has spearheaded efforts to concept, pilot, refine, and commercialize EDSC innovations since McDonald’s “Back Room of the Future” began in 2018. McDonald’s remarks during the award presentation highlighted how Guilda has delivered incredible value to the development of EDSC and the digitization of McDonald’s supply chain, while demonstrating the value EDSC can bring to all three legs of the stool.
McDonald’s recognized Mariana Manole, GSF’s Group Vice President, Quality, Food Safety and Regulatory Affairs, for consistently demonstrating her commitment to Food Safety and Quality.
Since 2020, she has worked to strengthen GSF’s Food Safety Culture and to engage associates at all levels to commit to Food Safety and Quality by creating a behavior-based management system called the Golden Standard. According to McDonald’s, Mariana’s collaboration with other suppliers and global markets, along with her best-in-class impact across all plants, makes her a role model.
Aligned with this year’s Summit theme, “As ONE,” McDonald’s honored Golden State Foods with its “As ONE” recognition for GSF’s efforts in working together as one of four suppliers (including BRF, Flavor Reddy Foods, GSF and Newly Weds) that developed a collaborative relationship to consistently support one another during reformulations, demand spikes, and various crises. Jared Dunn, GSF’s Business Director, McDonald’s North America, accepted the award on GSF’s behalf.
“This is truly a team award, and we’re honored to receive this recognition of our four Liquid Products North America locations in City of Industry, Burleson, Conyers and Penn Yan,” said Jared. “Our leadership teams and hundreds of associates have successfully supported McDonald’s, working tirelessly through various challenges in recent years to assure supply and achieve our common goals.”
“It’s such an honor for our leaders and our Liquid Products teams to be recognized in this manner,” said GSF’s Eric Treon, Group Vice President, Global McDonald’s Business Unit. “Golden State Foods has enjoyed our long-term partnership with McDonald’s over many decades, and we’re proud and grateful for the opportunity to continually earn our customer’s business every day.”
Congratulations to all of the honorees on their well-deserved recognitions and successful support of McDonald’s!
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