BUSINESS
McDonald’s Owner Ron Lofton is Enhancing Customers’ Experience with McCafé
Ron Lofton’s journey with the McDonald’s family started when he was a kid growing up in Erie, Pa. Lofton remembers when the popular “golden arches” arrived in his town and customers spent less than a dollar for an entire hamburger meal. Today, as the owner and operator of the McDonald’s located on Roosevelt and Kedzie, the outgoing business leader understands that times have changed, but his company’s penchant for fiscal-friendly menus hasn’t.
“McDonald’s [has] embarked on a program that will enhance the experience of our everyday customer at an everyday affordable price,” Lofton says, speaking about the company’s recent introduction of the McCafé line of premium coffees. “You know about the Starbucks of the world, but McDonald’s offers the service, the quality and the type of product that’s affordable for the average Joe.”
Lofton estimates that his location serves 35,000–80,000 customers a month. An advocate of community organization, Lofton enjoys the chance to engage so many people.
“[My job] allows me to talk to high school kids; it allows me to deal in a neighborhood and perpetuate the black dollar in our neighborhood,” he says.
Lofton, a member of Chicago’s Black McDonald’s Operators Association, hopes that by recycling dollars back into the community, the entire neighborhood will be able to share in his profitability.
“If we don’t invest in our community, we don’t have a tax base to work from — we need that tax base back in our communities,” he says. “[In doing that,] I think America will start to understand that there is business to be had in the black community.” –gavin philip godfrey
