Black-owned McDonald's celebrates grand reopening
WOODLAWN | Updated version of historic restaurant debuts

January 22, 2008
BY CHERYL V. JACKSON
Still relatively new to working with McDonald's Corp., Yolanda Travis was quick to seize a piece of the restaurant chain's history when she learned its first black-owned store was up for sale.

She bought the operation, at 6560 S. Stony Island, in late October 2006.

"And I bulldozed it in August,'' Travis said, noting the corporation had slated it for remodeling before she took over.

Blacks own 13.5 percent
On Monday, on the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, she hosted the grand opening of an updated version of the store -- with a fireplace, a flat-screen television and leather chairs.

The outlet is both a nod to economic advances of blacks and a tribute to first black Mickey D's franchisee Herman Petty. Social unrest that followed the April 1968 assassination of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. spurred McDonald's Corp. to believe black owners could better serve in predominantly black neighborhoods, and Petty acquired the operation in December 1968, according to the National Black McDonald's Operators Association.

Today, African Americans account for about 13.5 percent of McDonald's restaurant ownership, and their 1,200 stores ring up about $2.4 billion in sales annually.

The retired Petty joined McDonald's USA president Don Thompson, the first black in that post, in Monday's program.

The Petty store was the 29th in McDonald's system and one of four restaurants later owned by Herb Bias, a leader of the Black McDonald's Operators Association of Chicago until his March 2007 death.

Herb Bias locations
Travis, in the McDonald's system for five years, moved to get the Stony Island franchise and a Bias store at 95th and Jeffery that showcases inventions of blacks.

"It makes a good match," she said, noting she already owned two nearby stores, a gospel music-themed spot at 740 E. 47th and a store at 5220 S. Lake Park that made news in 2005 when police handcuffed and removed a high school student as she protested the restaurant's adults-only section seating.

100 franchisees in area
Another of the Bias stores went to first-time franchise buyer Lance Jones, 48, who got a store with a Pullman railroad car theme at 600 E. 115th.

Derrick Taylor bought the fourth Bias operation at 29 E. 87th.

About 100 franchisees are in the Chicago area; about 18 of them black.

"Those operators performing at the highest standards are in line to open up additional restaurants," he said.


Black-owned McDonald's celebrates grand reopening :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State