, the career penny dropped when he was at his first job, selling printing and photocopying services to business customers.O’Malley, who grew up in Philadelphia, was invited to a sales conference in Washington DC. One of the sessions was a talk by a pair of motivational speakers, Brian Tracy and Jim Rohn, well known for the advice they dished out on goal-setting, time management, self-discipline and personal development.
O’Malley was appointed CEO of Collins Foods, the largest franchisee of KFC stores in Australia with about 270 outlets and a burgeoning European franchise, in July 2020. “As a general principle, we have tried to keep pricing at or below CPI historically. Over the last year, we’ve had to make some adjustments, as everybody has, but we’ve always started with, ‘what is affordable for the customer?’
O’Malley won’t comment other than to say, “I give Yum! Brands credit and we’ve been on board. Even with labour costs, energy [price rises], we’ve been aligned in saying, ‘what’s the right thing to do for the long term for this brand?’”O’Malley grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia with his mother, a teacher, and two older siblings. His father died when he was three. O’Malley recalls a sense of underlying uncertainty about the family finances, but says it was a “very happy childhood”.
Apart from a short break back in the US, O’Malley lived in Poland for the next 21 years, along the way meeting his wife and having two children, now aged 12 and nine. The photocopy business was a flop, but O’Malley’s boss switched to fast food and charged his young employee with the task of establishing a KFC restaurant.
Along the way, O’Malley and his wife holidayed in Australia, spending two months at Noosa Heads on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Australia seemed like a good place to live and so the restaurant executive made some inquiries.