From the landmark New Farm Deli to McDonald's, and Tanya Manteit-Mulcahy is loving it

FOODIE purists can snub their noses, but a former Brisbane deli owner has made what some may deem the unthinkable switch.

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FROM owning the iconic New Farm Deli to McDonalds, Tanya Manteit-Mulcahy is the first to admit it's an odd leap for a foodie.

While she still loves Italian food and plump olives, right now she is all about burgers and fries.

She admits to enjoying a cheeky cheeseburger every day.

Since selling the landmark New Farm Deli in November 2011, Tanya Manteit-Mulcahy has bought not one but three McDonald's franchises.

"The fact is the New Farm Deli was a family-owned business that couldn't be franchised. We tried to franchise the deli at Bulimba but it didn't work," said the 45-year-old, who previously spent 17 years working at Queensland Medical Laboratories.

She is now the owner and operator of McDonald's McWhirters and will very soon own the two McDonald's outlets in the Myer Centre.

"There are no days off at the moment. I like hard work and I am ready for the challenge. You can find me serving on the counter at any time of the day" she said.

"I love to serve and know all the stations."

Apparently there are universal 12 stations inside a Maccas kitchen, and Friday and Saturday nights make up half of the sales at her Fortitude Valley outlet.

"It's very expensive to buy a McDonald's franchise and my goal is to build up equity and own five or six outlets," she said.

"I have several friends who are McDonald's licensees and the more I learned about the business from them, the more I realised I needed McDonald's to achieve my goals for business expansion."

She applied to become a franchisee in 2007 but they were not taking in applications at that time. Two years later when the opportunity presented itself, Tanya and her husband Terry Mulcahy jumped straight in and were successful.

Although it did not take long for Tanya's application to be accepted, it took another two years to sell her business after being affected by the 2011 floods.

Following this, she completed a year of intensive training and then waited for a site to become available in Brisbane.