How did McDonald's National Hiring Day come about; and how does it relate to your experiences with the company?

This event originated on the West Coast, in California.  It was successful there; so, McDonald’s decided to make it a national event.  It gives us a chance to showcase the company, as well as career and growth opportunities within the McDonald’s system, not just in the restaurants.  There are many more aspects of McDonald’s than just the departments involved with preparing and selling food.  On the corporate side, there are departments such as human resources, real estate construction and technology.  This event gives us the opportunity to tell people how they can grow with us -- from entry-level positions to positions up the ladder throughout our system.

I should note that advancement at McDonald's isn’t restricted to just the corporate ladder. I was never in corporate.  I worked for the very first African American franchisee, Herman Petty, for twelve years and advanced up his ladder from crew person in 1976, on up to his area supervisor.  In 1988, I left to become an owner-operator and have been an owner-operator for 23 years.  I’ve been with McDonald’s about 30 years, and my career is an example of the potential an individual can have with our company.

Can anyone become an owner-operator?

I come from the Englewood community (in Chicago) with some of the same challenges that people have today: single-parent household, low-income, public schools … and I don’t mean to say public schools are a negative.  My experiences in public schools were positive.  What I am saying is there are challenges but there are also opportunities to advance yourself and to become successful; not just as an athlete or an entertainer like Jennifer Hudson who grew up around my Englewood restaurant on 69^th and Lafayette.  You can become an entrepreneur, like I did.  I grew up on 73^rd and Aberdeen.  

This event today allows us to showcase possibilities as well as offer jobs that will enable us to continue to grow our business. We’re not looking to replace people; we’re looking to add on.  As the warm weather comes, we'll need people to meet our growth.  We have new products coming out soon, such as our frozen strawberry lemonade and our expanded oatmeal product line.  We need quality people to sell those products.

Before we talk about the product line, I'd like to go back to the history of black ownership at a McDonald’s franchise.  How long had the first black-owned restaurant been open when you first joined McDonald’s as an hourly employee?

Herman Petty became the first African American owner when he opened a McDonald’s store on this site in 1968.  There have been three stores on this site, including this one; and I have worked in every one of them, and now own this particular franchise.  I joined McDonald’s in 1976; so, Petty had already been in business eight years when I joined him.

I am very proud of the fact that I worked for Herman Petty; and him only.  He mentored me and helped me to become the success that I am today. 

What were your thoughts when you first joined the company in 1976?  Were you simply glad to have a job or were you thinking this could be the start of a career?

I never considered the possibility of owning a McDonald’s restaurant my first day.  I don’t think that was on my mind for the first ten years I worked for Herman Petty.  I was just happy to have been hired.  To tell the full story, it wasn’t the first McDonald’s where I applied.  I applied at a McDonald’s closer to my home located at 76^th and Vincennes.  I didn’t get hired there; but my best friend was an employee at the store over here on 65^th and Stony.  He helped me to get hired at the McDonald's that was here. It’s ironic that I had to take a bus to and from work because I wasn't hired at the McDonald’s close to my home where I had been a customer.  Little did I know that the two restaurants were owned by the same person.  Today, things have come full circle because I now own three of the four stores I supervised for Herman Petty. 

So, how many restaurants do you presently own?

I own and operate five McDonald's restaurants in Chicago.  Their locations are:

Which restaurant did you acquired first?

The first restaurant I acquired was in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I became an owner in 1988 and relocated to Grand Rapids.

Tell me about the process that enabled you to go from a entry-level position to a career and eventually to store owner.

I actually built the career as I progressed through the management ranks; but I never really envisioned myself as an owner.  That didn’t happen until a McDonald’s corporate field consultant told me I had the potential to be a good owner-operator.  I asked him about my age since I was twenty-seven at the time, and thought I was too young to be an owner-operator.  A year later, at age twenty-eight, I became one of McDonald’s youngest owner-operators.

What was it in you or about you that caused the consultant to see your potential?

The consultant saw my direction, coaching and leadership skills.  At that time I was an area supervisor; and I already felt that I had a successful career.  At the age of 21, I was managing a downtown store located at River Plaza, just behind the old Sun-Times building (now the site of Trump Tower).  That was big, and after several years there I was promoted to area supervisor.

In 1987 I won an outstanding area supervisor award for the Chicago region.  When I won that award, I was supervising four of Herman Petty’s eight stores.  The notion of becoming an owner-operator surfaced while we were undergoing a three-day field inspection.  The consultant who was leading the inspection raised the possibility of me becoming an store owner after observing my knowledge level, leadership skills, and my dedication and loyalty to the brand and to my people. 

His comments really stuck with me; and in January of 1988, I applied to become an owner-operator.  In April of that year, I received a call asking if I would like to go to Grand Rapids, Michigan.  I said, “Sure!”  I went to Grand Rapids and turned around a situation there by relying on my QSC skills.  Later, I was rewarded with an opportunity to go to Detroit and operate a brand new McDonald’s store.  I did that for ten, eleven years before returning back to Chicago in 2000. 

That’s an amazing story.  What is QSC?

QSC stands for Quality, Service and Cleanliness; it’s the foundation of McDonald’s. 

So, an individual needs to master QSC skills if he or she wants to become a McDonald’s owner-operator?

At a minimum.  QSC skills are required to be a good manager.  You can’t be a great manager at McDonald’s if you can’t deliver quality food, fast service and a clean restaurant.  To become an owner-operator, you have to go through the same classes as a manager, but that’s only the beginning.  There's much more. 

Does a young person applying today for an entry position at McDonald’s have the same kind of opportunities to become an owner-operator as you had when you started out some twenty-plus years ago?

They sure do! Absolutely!  In fact, I now have my son in the business and I’m hoping one-day he'll continue my legacy with these restaurants, if that’s his desire.

While there are many McDonald’s throughout African American communities, there’s also concern about our diets and the quality of the foods we consume.  Is McDonald’s addressing this issue; and if so, how? 

Absolutely!  We have many options when it comes to our menu and people certainly have choices.  We are aware of the situation and continue to bring on more healthy choices, such as our oatmeal.  We’re expanding our oatmeal offerings and adding new salads this summer; so, it’s really a matter of choice and moderation. 

What else should we know about McDonald’s and the urban market?

There are two things you should know.  First, we can be successful serving urban markets; and two, we uplift a lot of the people we employ in urban markets.  Not everyone can go to college and get a degree, but at McDonald’s, if you have the desire and passion, we can teach you skills necessary to become successful; and the sky’s the limit. I’m just one of the successes at McDonald’s.  Fifty percent of the franchisees started out in crew positions. The same is true for our president, Jan Fields.  She started out as a crew person.  

The food service industry is very large and strong.  Once you acquire a skill set, no one can take it away from you.  If you don’t build a career with McDonald’s, you can always apply your skills somewhere else.  The bottom line is this: if you are a motivated person, McDonald’s offers more than a job; it’s the entry point to a career.

Keith Allen, thank you for sharing your story with us.

Thank you.