{"id":73137,"date":"2025-10-11T04:09:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T04:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/73137\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T04:09:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T04:09:12","slug":"im-lovin-it-busy-annmarie-combines-farming-with-manager-role-in-mcdonalds-in-limerick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/73137\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I’m lovin’ it’: Busy Annmarie combines farming with manager role in McDonald\u2019s in Limerick"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANNMARIE Naughton is a busy lady as she combines farming in Limerick<\/a> with working in McDonald\u2019s but she\u2019s \u201clovin’ it\u201d!<\/p>\n

Most head home from work to put their feet up but not Annmarie who puts on her wellies to tend to her 15 Cross Angus cows.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT:\u00a0Three farms of land in Limerick go under the hammer in a week for close to \u20ac2m<\/a><\/p>\n

The 39-year-old business manager at McDonald\u2019s in the Crescent Shopping Centre\u00a0 has spent the last eight years managing one of the busiest fast-food restaurants in the city.<\/p>\n

But when her shift ends, her other job begins – running a 40-acre beef farm in Ballysteen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a busy life but I\u2019m healthy, life is good, and I feel very positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo two days are the same – on the farm or at McDonald\u2019s – and that\u2019s what I love.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Annmarie\u2019s roots in farming run deep as she grew up around cattle.<\/p>\n

In 2016, her late father David Naughton, well-known former Cathaoirleach of Limerick County Council, transferred a section of his 100-acre farm to her. Sixty acres were planted for forestry – part of a project David began when he wound down beef farming after the sad passing of wife Geraldine, in 2009.<\/p>\n

A few years later Annmarie was asked if she would like to build the herd up again and she jumped at the opportunity.<\/p>\n

Annmarie now juggles her two careers with the help of her wife Marie, who works full time in payroll but still pitches in on the farm when she can – despite not coming from a farming background.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s brilliant. It\u2019s definitely not something she was used to, but she\u2019s not afraid to get stuck in.\u201d<\/p>\n

A typical week sees Annmarie work up to 38 hours at McDonald\u2019s and another 30\u201335 hours on the farm, especially in the winter months when the cows need extra feed and care.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a long day, it\u2019s nice to go out in the fresh air. At least the cows don\u2019t talk back!\u201d she joked.<\/p>\n

Her journey with McDonald\u2019s began in 2004, when she joined the Crescent team for the first time. She stayed for six years before taking off on her travels to Thailand and Australia.<\/p>\n

In 2014, she returned to Ireland and rejoined McDonald\u2019s part-time while studying for her Green Cert.<\/p>\n

By 2016, she was a shift manager, later progressing to first assistant and eventually business manager.<\/p>\n

She credits McDonald\u2019s with giving her not only the time and flexibility to follow her passion for farming, but also the business skills to run a working farm.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great place to learn. You don\u2019t just flip burgers \u2014 you learn to manage people, stock, operations. All of those things carry over to the farm.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Annmarie also recognises the strong ties between McDonald\u2019s and Irish agriculture, even if she doesn\u2019t personally supply the chain.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great that McDonald\u2019s is so supportive of Irish beef,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey source 40,000 tonnes of it every year. That\u2019s really valuable for local farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Franchisee Aaron Byrne, who owns McDonald\u2019s Limerick, praised Annmarie\u2019s work ethic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very lucky to have her on the team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has a stunning work ethic and an enthusiasm for everything she does. If she\u2019s not at the restaurant, she\u2019s out on the farm at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a breath of fresh air \u2013 and a fantastic role model.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for what\u2019s next, Annmarie is keeping her options open. \u201cMaybe general manager – or whatever else the future holds,\u201d she said, adding that, in the meantime, she\u2019s got cows to feed!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANNMARIE Naughton is a busy lady as she combines farming in Limerick with working in McDonald\u2019s but she\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,2177,61,60,4856],"class_list":["post-73137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-county-limerick","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mcdonalds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}