PATRICIA WILLIAMS

Patricia Williams is a successful entrepreneur who owns and operates 14 McDonald’s restaurants in the Los Angeles area.

Owning a McDonald’s restaurant was nowhere on Patricia Williams’ radar in 1962 when she left her native New Orleans and headed for college in California.

But today Williams, of Inglewood, Calif., is a successful entrepreneur who owns and operates 14 McDonald’s restaurants in the Los Angeles area with her daughter, Nicole Enearu. Williams cites not being afraid to work hard among factors contributing to her success.

“I believe in working,” Williams said during a telephone interview. “I saw something the other day that said a lot of times people miss opportunities because they come dressed in overalls.”

Williams, who has a bachelor’s degree in recreational therapy from California State University and a master’s degree in counseling from the same school, first became an owner/operator of a McDonald’s restaurant in 1984. Indirectly, the seed for Williams to own/ operate a McDonald’s restaurant was planted while she attended California State University.

“It was during my senior year … and as things happen one of my sister’s friends was a young man named Reggie Webb who the corporation had brought in as a general manager,” Williams said. “For about three years after I had finished college and gotten married he encouraged my husband and me to get involved in McDonald’s, but I said ‘Man, who wants to do hamburgers?’ ”

Webb was persistent, and eventually Williams thought perhaps owning a McDonalds wasn’t such a bad idea.

So she and her former husband used part of their retirement savings to purchase a McDonald’s restaurant. McDonald’s is the leading global food service retailer with more than 33,000 restaurants serving more than 64 million people in 119 countries daily, according to the fast-food chain’s Web site. More than 80 percent of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local men and women – like Williams.

“The opportunity was there,” Williams recalled. “I was at the right place at the right time. I came into the McDonalds system when corporate America was realizing it was good to have people owning businesses in communities who looked like the people in those communities, so I was very fortuitous. It was an opportunity that was just too good to pass up.”

Williams faced many challenges with her first venture but handled them all professionally, in a noteworthy way.

“Our first restaurant … wasn’t the best restaurant in the world which was fine with us because I saw immediately some changes we could implement,” she said. “We went in, rolled up our sleeves and turned the restaurant around in less than six months financially and aesthetically. We added a drive thru and brought new equipment that made the employees better. Less than 18 months later we were offered a brand-new restaurant.”

The years passed and Williams became owner/operator of more McDonald’s restaurants. Before too long she owned 14 of them.

Williams said her parents have always been her inspiration.

“Growing up we were extremely poor,” Williams explains. “My mother was a maid and my father was a longshoreman. They instilled in us doing the right thing, and it wasn’t about money because God knows we didn’t have any I would never want to do anything that would disappoint either of them. When I’m involved in anything … what my mother would think of me or not think of me has always been my yard stick.”

Williams, who said she has had some “very good role models in the McDonald’s system” including Fran Jones, Lonear Herd and Joan Clark, said owning restaurants with her daughter has been very rewarding.

“It’s absolutely wonderful,” she said. “The opportunity to pass on this type of adventure to my daughter has been very exciting. Today’s young people are really into technology, and McDonald’s is becoming more technological for this new generation so it has really been a rewarding experience for me.”

Williams said her daughter has brought a welcomed, different perspective to the business.

“I’ve been here for a while so I’m probably used to doing things the old way,” she said. “Since she’s been with our organization we’ve gotten more actively involved in the community and done some strategic planning. Her way has allowed us to be more successful than we were previously.”

Enearu was a social worker for 10 years before joining the family business. She hasn’t regretted her decision.

“It hit me that my mom was going to retire at some point, and I don’t want all of her hard work to be for nothing,” Enearu said. “I decided to try and see if I liked it. She was immediately excited about my decision but never pushed me to get into the business. Working with my mom has been a great experience. She has very high standards, but she gives me a lot of leeway to bring in new ideas … and has been very supportive. She was insistent that I learn all the positions so that I’d be a well-rounded operator. We make a good team.”

Steve Norby is a Vice President and General Manager for McDonald’s USA, Southern California Region. He speaks well of Williams and what she has accomplished with the company.

“For 27 years, Patricia has been an outstanding McDonald’s owner/operator in Southern California,” Norby said in a prepared statement. “Her dedication to restaurant operations, personnel and local community service is valued not only by McDonald’s but by the communities in which she serves. Patricia embodies the essence of the McDonald’s brand and what we stand for. Her passion for philanthropy and selfless dedication to the community are shining examples of how each of us has the power to inspire and improve the lives of those around us.”

Williams offers “McTeacher’s Night” at her restaurants, which allows schools to come into her businesses and raise money for different initiatives they have. She was also chairwoman of the Los Angeles Ronald McDonald House Board of Trustees for two years.

“I got involved in a lot of the Mc-Donald’s committees … and people would give me ideas on how to better operate the restaurant, always with the idea that McDonald’s was part of the community,” she said.

Williams, a member of The National Black McDonald’s Operators Association, is proud to work for a company that she feels “puts its money where its mouth is” in terms of diversity.

McDonald’s sponors “The Little Know Black History Fact,” which is announced Monday through Friday as part of the Tom Joyner Morning Show, which has millions of viewers, mostly African-American.

“I think McDonald’s has provided me and my family as well as numerous African-Americans that I know with an opportunity that wasn’t dreamed of by our parents,” Williams said. “Ray Croc, McDonald’s founder, was a genius. If he could come back today to see what he started he would be amazed.”.