Mike Luna’s story is an American dream come true, for him and his hundreds of employees that got a start in one of four McDonald’s franchises (he has sold all but two as of 2011). He spoke to my 20 students yesterday in McMichael Academic and gave the advice, “listen your mentors who have been successful”. Like those teenagers looking for spending cash, Mike started in the Galesburg McDonald’s flipping burgers for Connie Miller Sr. in 1960. “I wasn’t good on the front counter, so I found a home “getting orders filled in the back”. He got so good at what he did he trained hundreds of employees for the Miller Family. Mike was asked to help open up a series of new stores all around Western Illinois. Luna went on to own four franchises of his own and now maintains the highest standards in his Monmouth location working alongside his son. You can find Mike filling orders today alongside a 17 year old Monmouth girl if you come in during a busy time. He realizes that being there in the store instills confidence and a little fear in the average McDonald’s employee. “They see I can do every job in this place and I expect the same from any of my managers”.
Luna explained the power of a great entrepreneur. I was inspired by Connie Miller Sr. my boss even though he rarely said a kind word. Mike knew Ray Kroc (McDonald’s Founder) and Fred Turner (McDonald’s Original President) personally. They were genuine heroes for people like Luna. I can tell you countless stories of people who became rich from following these everyday heroes. These are the men that changed people’s lives, gave them a start, experience in management that became a foundation for success in a variety of fields. “I dreamed a dream of owning my my store because I respected the men in front of me”, said Luna
“In the 1960’s we could get a franchise location if you had a good reputation and a few thousand dollars. That isn’t true anymore”. But the level of trust he earned under the steady hand of Miller was key for Mike Luna in securing his first franchise. “It was an incredible opportunity I earned because I had worked under Connie Miller Sr., a man Ray Kroc and Fred Turner respected. Plus I had the patience and stamina to wade through the process of getting a great location like Monmouth”.
How did he know he would be successful? He had a “hunch” Monmouth needed a quality, inexpensive place to eat. “I waited in lines outside of the local Hardees (the competition) for 30 minutes one day”. He said “Monmouth was exactly the kind of place he had dreamed about owning”. He opened on highway 34 in 1980 and knew after the first day, it was going to be a great ride. One young employee left for college telling Luna, “I am going to college so I don’t have to work like this anymore”. She came back the next summer and apologized telling Luna, “I learned how to work, how to take instruction, how to succeed from you. I am so sorry for what I said last year. Its people like you that make success possible for a lot of us” She is now a successful lawyer in Washington D.C. area.
What happens for Mike now? “I keep learning” , says Luna. I spent an hour studying In and Out Burger in California. “They are doing great things with training, plus the product is stellar”. “They push what we considered management decisions down to the staff level. Their staff is a cohesive, capable group of young people. We need to be ready for that kind of competition”. From what we heard yesterday at his discussion at Monmouth College, Luna will be more than ready.
