A Scottish takeaway owner has told how she became one of the country's youngest entrepreneurs after leaving school to work at McDonald's, a life choice that she is now entirely grateful for choosing.
Rebecca Cheuk, 21, from Buckhaven, Fife, has opened one of the country's 'quirkiest' fast food eateries, all while juggling her job as a nursing auxiliary at Victoria Hospital.
Rebecca used thousands of pounds that she had saved up and invested it into opening her self-named takeaway, based on Kirkcaldy's main street, standing out from the crowd with its pink exterior and rainbow resin floor.
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The Scottish Sun reports that although the business is technically a Chinese restaurant, it's not only the design of the building that spices it up from the competition. Rebecca serves up pink prawn crackers, a wide range of desserts, milkshakes and sweets.
Rebecca said: “I dropped out of high school after my first set of National 5 exams.
“I didn't know what to do so I tried out a college course and managed to gain a part time job at McDonald’s.
“During my time at McDonald’s I had experienced the rush and was always interested in how they could make so much money in a certain amount of time they were open.
“So I was determined, even though I didn't know what I wanted to do in life, that I was sure to open a food business of my own one day.
“So from there I worked hard. As I was only 16 at the time I was paid £4.90 an hour at McDonald’s and didn't enjoy the college course I was on, from there I made the big decision to drop out of college and gained my first ever position in the healthcare industry as a home care assistant.
“They paid £8.80 an hour at the time which was double the rate, so I thought this would help speed up the process of saving up for a business.
“So from there I picked up over time and would work from 7am to 11pm at night all in the one day’s work and would do it again the next day as in healthcare it is always short staffed.”
Rebecca adds: “I'd say the benefits and advantages of running a business at a young age is you get to experience all sorts of things, both positives and even the negatives as you learn from it.
“You will always learn something new every day, and running a business so young has helped me develop resilience, develop all kinds of life and workplace skills and experience actual real life.
“I have encountered so many situations where it has brought me joy and happiness and when you achieve these wee milestones it really does bring you the happiness of seeing what was an idea in your head come to life and the results of the hard work you put in behind the scenes.
“It has allowed me to realise I can go far and if I put my mind to it I can, it has helped me develop self-discipline and it has helped me to not care what others think anymore as long as I was happy in my own wee bubble.
“I want to emphasise running a business at a young age or any age can push you far, things you thought were impossible or self doubts you had, running a business can really help believe in yourself and make you realise you can definitely do whatever you want to do.”
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