CEOs Love Talking About Their Fast-Food Jobs

A stint in fast food is a badge of honor for business leaders who want to be viewed as humble and relatable—and proof that they worked to get where they are

But what does flipping burgers or rolling burritos have to do with running a company?

A lot, say high-level managers who’ve done those jobs. Sweating in cramped kitchens and taking orders from hangry diners teach you how to handle pressure and deal with all kinds of people, executives say. Some are eager to find employees who hustled like they did, figuring someone who boxed McNuggets for minimum wage early on isn’t likely to be a quiet quitter.

“Any job where you’re on the lowest tier is a really good job to have done in your life because it shows your character,” says Heather McLean, who worked at McDonald’s in high school and is CEO of McLean Forrester, a technology consulting firm in Illinois. “I always took the attitude to bloom where you’re planted so, yeah, I was just taking orders at McDonald’s—but I was really good at it.”

Being a model employee is easier when you’ve got bigger and better career prospects ahead. Executives who worked in fast food say they learned empathy and gratitude by toiling alongside colleagues who didn’t have other opportunities and were trying to make a living at or near minimum wage.

Fast-food kitchens were long among the few places where future CEOs and low-wage lifers mingled and learned from one another. And because just about everyone orders a burger or pizza now and then, the customer base is a cross section of the American public.