Ottawa McDonald's franchisees win top global award for community impact

Paul Vernaleken and Tawnya Glandon picked up McDonald’s highest franchise honor at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas on May 31, a prize the company says goes to the top 1 percent of owner-operators. The Ottawa franchisees received the 2026 Fred L. Turner Golden Arch Award at McDonald’s Worldwide Convention, where the chain recognized 40 franchisees from 20 markets worldwide.

The award is presented every two years and is built around the same standards McDonald’s says it uses to judge strong operators: putting customers and people first, leading with integrity, promoting inclusion in the community, and championing the McDonald’s system. For crew members and managers, that list points to more than sales. It reflects whether a franchisee can keep restaurants staffed, build reliable management benches, and create stores where people stay long enough to learn the job well.

Vernaleken and Glandon run 13 restaurants in the Ottawa region, and their local footprint has included community fundraising that reached beyond the dining room. Their restaurants raised more than $50,000 on McHappy Day for Ronald McDonald House and other children’s charities. McHappy Day has been held since 1977, and Ronald McDonald House Ottawa says McDonald’s Canada, its franchisees and guests have contributed nearly $66 million for Ronald McDonald Houses and local Canadian children’s charities since then.

That local giving matters in Ottawa because Ronald McDonald House Ottawa is expanding its own capacity. The charity says its new house will add 22 suites and new family living spaces, increasing annual capacity from about 500 family-visits to 1,303 once complete. McDonald’s Canada said its 2025 McHappy Day campaign alone raised more than $11.3 million for Ronald McDonald House Charities and other local children’s charities.

The recognition also highlights the kind of leadership that tends to set a tone inside restaurants. One of the franchisees was credited with mentoring other operators and growing the market even when others were pulling back. In a system where franchisees often sit between corporate expectations and local labor pressures, that kind of steadiness can shape morale, retention and the way a McDonald’s is seen in its neighborhood.