Robert Pyles, a successful entrepreneur that owns 12 McDonald’s franchises in Wisconsin, would have never thought that he would be as successful as he is now when he was a child growing up with 9 siblings being raised by a single mother. But now, he is one of the largest African-American employers in Wisconsin and he is using his past experiences as his motivation..
Started from the bottom
Pyles started in the service industry as a part-time employee at a McDonald’s in Wyoming to earn extra income while serving at the Air Force. Since then, he realized that he loved serving customers and that’s what he wanted to do.
He completed a McDonald’s ownership training program within two and a half years. He then took the opportunity to open a McDonald’s location in Milwaukee, as suggested by the former CEO of McDonald’s Corp., Don Thompson.
He opened his first McDonald’s on February 14, 1998. He admitted that it wasn’t easy at first with all the demands of fast service. But stopping isn’t one of his options. “I told myself ‘never let ’em see you sweat.’ I knew I had to hold true to what I believed,” he told Black Enterprise.