General manager of Harrison McDonald's receives company's top award

For Laurie Naugle, just to be nominated for the prestigious Ray Kroc Award was an honor. But to win it was astonishing.

“It’s just mind-blowing,” Naugle, general manager of the McDonald’s in Harrison, said Thursday when she was honored with one of the corporation’s most prestigious awards.

The McDonald’s Corporation’s Ray Kroc Award recognizes the top restaurant managers across the globe.

“For the past 23 years, Laurie Naugle has worked hard to create a winning atmosphere for her customers, crew and community,” said Nick Delligatti, host of the event and great-grandson of Jim Delligatti, who invented the Big Mac and first served it in his Uniontown restaurant. “Under her leadership, this restaurant has achieved exceptionally high customer satisfaction scores and exceptionally low drive-thru times.”

The Ray Kroc Award, named after the corporation’s founder, recognizes exceptional managers for their achievements in team performance and operational excellence, the company said. Award recipients are nominated by franchises and regional management and then selected by a committee of representatives from McDonald’s operations, training and human resources teams.

Naugle said she was nominated for the award once before. She said her philosophy for managing the restaurant is simple.

“If you don’t love your job, you can’t keep your customers coming back,” she said. “You need to be able to work with your crew, shoulder to shoulder. They need to see you take pride in the job you do, so they can pay it forward to their customers.”

Delligatti said the award represents the “top 1% of general managers in the entire world.” Naugle achieved this award, he said, by going above and beyond for both her customers and her employees.

“There’s a really great environment that she creates for all of them, they all love her,” Delligatti said.

Naugle will receive a monetary prize and an all-expense-paid trip to Orlando, Fla., to celebrate with other Ray Kroc Award winners during the McDonald’s global convention in April.