FORT FRANCES — The Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce has honoured their latest business woman of the year.
The chamber announced that Haley Trimble, the local general manager for McDonald's, has received the award for her outstanding dedication to her staff and community as part of their annual business awards.
Born in Fort Frances, Trimble started as a crew member in 2009. Throughout high school, she worked her way up from a swing manager before taking some time off to go to college. After returning to her hometown in 2017, she found herself working as a crew member once again, but it wouldn’t be for long. Shortly after taking maternity leave, Trimble's work ethic enabled her to quickly climb the golden arches back to swing manager, assistant manager, and finally the general manager of the fast-food franchise.
“I was shocked but very proud to receive the business woman of the year award. I take a lot of pride in serving our guests and supporting my crew. It is an honour to be recognized for my hard work and I look forward to many years to come at McDonald’s,” she said.
When asked how her management style helped motivate her crew to achieve goals, Trimble expressed that listening and understanding her staff's needs helps boost morale and said she has one of the lowest turnover rates in the restaurant.
“Like once they're in a management position with me, they don't leave for several years and then in comparison, if I get a kid that starts when they're in Grade 9, they're with me straight through to Grade 12 and then they go off to school,” said Trimble.
Outside of the restaurant, Tramble services her community through sponsorships for the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championships volunteer meals, local holiday toy & food drives and providing over 800 coupons for community hockey tournaments.
“I'm very big on community, especially because I'm raising my son in this community. I've raised my son by myself for a good portion of his life. So, the community is always giving back to me and I wanted to utilize McDonald's in my position and help as much as I could,” Tramble said.
As a parent, the McHappy Day fundraiser was an event she held close to her heart.
“It's really big in Fort Frances because we are a remote community. We don't have a children's hospital. So, any kids that get sick they get sent to Winnipeg and then their parents have to either pay for a hotel or whatever to stay with their children while they're getting treated at a nearby hospital. Many local people stay there so that they can afford to be near their chips,” explained Tramble.
“That's why we blow it up and we do so well every year because me personally, I know four or five different people that have had to use it when their kids were really sick. For the last four years, I've been out of all seven of our restaurants, I've been the leading fundraiser. I've always raised the most money out of all the restaurants,” Trimble continued.
Heather Johnson, the executive director of the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce, congratulated Trimble for her dedication to her staff and the community.
“We believe that this is an important aspect of recognizing the people, business people as well as the businesses in our community that do such a good job of taking care of our town. What we do when we go out and ask for these nominations is they come from people who truly have either had a great experience or have visited that place of business and had been treated exceptionally well,” said Johnson.
"It's really is an honour that comes not from the Chamber of Commerce, although we give the award, it comes from the citizens themselves,” Johnson added.
