Not everyone who studies the MPharm goes on to become a pharmacist, but the dedication it takes to complete the degree leaves aspiring pharmacists with skills for life.

For Chirag Pandya, it’s helped him pivot from working as a community pharmacist to becoming McDonald’s’ youngest franchisee in the UK at the age of 30.

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Growing up, Pandya’s ambition was focused on pharmacy more than fast food though, as he pursued the profession after seeing how his grandmother was supported by doctors growing up.

“She was on a concoction of about 25 medications a day, so seeing the difference that the doctor was able to make on her life with explaining the medication and that type of involvement, I wanted to mirror that,” he says.

Career moves via finance and NHS

But rather than just looking for work experience in pharmacies during his MPharm at the University of Reading, Pandya completed finance internships at the professional services giants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Ernst & Young (EY).

He then did his pre-reg at Boots and decided to locum, revealing that “pharmacy taught me how to perform under pressure”.

But Pandya opted to go back to PwC where he worked in finance in London and Chennai, finishing up leading a team of 25. He was then head-hunted to work as a systems project management director for Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust in 2022.

There, he led a team of 72 and managed a £3m budget across four sites, but he still had a lingering desire to have his own business after working in these different roles.

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“I thought during COVID, things are just scary, so I thought it'd be interesting to go and pursue different business interests.”

After popping into the local McDonald’s where he spoke to the franchisee who explained “how great the system, the scalability and the support” was, he applied and was successful.

“Before all this, I had hair!”

He began his year-long training to be a franchisee at the London campus of the McDonald’s Hamburger University, one of just over half a dozen campuses around the world. Pandya now has a degree in “Hamburgerology”, which is awarded to successful trainees.

During this time, he moved from London to Birmingham with his pharmacist wife and quickly after completing his training, he was offered the chance to become a franchisee in Nottingham at the Castle Bridge Road store.

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“I thought, I've never been to Nottingham, don't know anyone in Nottingham, but let's give it a go, so I rolled my sleeves up.”

Pandya now manages 130 staff at McDonald’s as they welcome 10,000 customers a week. Becoming a new business owner in July 2024 was quickly followed with becoming a dad in November, and Pandya admits “it’s been wild – before all this, I had hair!”.

Pharmacy education is “elite”

He says the MPharm is an “underappreciated qualification” considering how transferable the skills he learned have been for his diverse career.

It’s still one of his biggest achievements to date because of the “elite calibre of education that comes with the prize of becoming a pharmacist”.

“The skills I honed during my time as a pharmacist have seamlessly translated into running the business that I do today.

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“My journey from community pharmacy to finance to McDonald’s seems unconventional, but both professions centre through service leadership and operational excellence so at their core, they both require commitment to people.

“In pharmacy, my focus was directly on patient care [and] ensuring the right medication. [At] McDonald’s, a customer comes first and they’re the heart of the business.”

The attention to detail and management at McDonald’s has a “very similar dynamic” to pharmacy according to Pandya, as well as “building trust and delivering value” which is “paramount”.

The future, and Maccies menu tips

Pandya is happy to have ticked off a few bucket list items in a “whirlwind” 2024 that saw him move three times, become a dad and start running his own business. But he remembers his roots of how he got there.

“This entire journey started off in community pharmacy. I speak to a lot of people who say, ‘the only thing I can do is pharmacy’. There’s a whole world out there that you can be doing differently if that’s what you want to do.

“Growth comes from embracing the unpredictable, leaning into challenges you never thought were possible, but also celebrating the small wins.”

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For 2025, Pandya wants to “carry on growing” and have “another few businesses under my belt”.

“I’ve got the t-shirt of the youngest, but I want to be the biggest, the best, within McDonald's.”

And for those who want an inside hack on how to elevate their McDonald’s meal, Pandya suggests an intriguing combo.

“It’s a bit out there, but don’t knock it before you try it! Dip the fries in ketchup and then into a [milk]shake or McFlurry. It's the perfect balance between sweet and salty!”