“We so often hear about building wealth, real wealth which transfers from one generation to the next. My father’s vision has been just that. He owns six stores and I always knew that McDonald’s was more than hamburgers and fries, it was a career,” adds the forward-thinking owner of two McDonald’s stores in the Detroit metropolitan area.
Being a next generation owner-operator and having grown up in the business afforded Thrower the advantage of expediting the McDonald’s two-year training program at its state-of-the art Hamburger University facility just outside of Chicago, completing the program in one year.
“I had an opportunity to run the Detroit airport location which is the No. 1 store in the state of Michigan and the No. 7 store in the country. At that point it wasn’t known that that’s what the airport restaurant would become. But it was my coming out. The restaurant was slated to do 2.5 million dollars in business in its first year of business, but we did 4.8 million. It was just a really great situation,” he beams proudly. Thrower’s father has since opened a second McDonald’s airport location in the North Terminal of Detroit’s Metropolitan Airport.
The enterprising entrepreneur says that the beauty of the family owned and operated McDonald’s concern is being able to rely on people that share the same business and personal principles. He compares his own family operations to the bigger picture — the commitment and support from the McDonald’s brand overall.
“At the end of the day, one thing I love about McDonald’s and what ultimately made me want to be a part of the brand, is all of the support from the McDonald’s corporation to its operators and its employees. They evolve with time and they continue to build the brand with new menu selections that offer something for everyone. They are not a stagnant brand,” he says.
Thrower extends his philosophy of service beyond the business to his philanthropic support for local organizations throughout the city of Detroit. He works closely with the Miller Foundation, the Derrick Coleman Foundation, the Ronald McDonald House, and the COTS Homeless Shelter. –roz edward
