Mike Luna’s story is an American dream come true, for him and his hundreds of employees that got a start in one of his four McDonald’s franchises (he has sold all but two as of 2011). He spoke to my 29 students yesterday on the 3rd floor of McMichael Academic and gave the advice, “listen your mentors who have been successful”. Like other teenagers looking for some extra spending cash, Mike started in the Galesburg McDonald’s flipping burgers for Connie Miller Sr. in 1960. “I wasn’t any good on the front counter, so I found a home “getting orders filled in the back”. I was a condiment expert, but I did not know what the word condiment meant at the time. Mike got so good at what he did he trained hundreds of employees for the Miller Family over a 20 year career. Connie Miller was a personal friend of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc.
Mike learned the business he dreamed to own by working for someone else until he got his break. “I borrowed $18,000 to get my first store. Today it would take over a million.” Luna was asked to open up a series of new stores all around Western Illinois and helped open one of the first drive-thrus for McDonalds. He gained a great reputation and that led to his big break-an offer to purchase his first franchise in Monmouth.
Later Luna invested in three other franchises. He now maintains the highest standards in his Monmouth location and in Aledo, where his son leads the team there. You can find Mike filling orders today alongside teenage workers if you come in during a busy time. He realizes that being there (in the store) instills confidence and a little fear factor 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 also met Ray Kroc (McDonald’s Founder) and Fred Turner (McDonald’s Original President) on several occations and his relationship with Turner was key to obtaining his first franchise. “Your reputation and integrity are so valuable.
The McDonalds founders were genuine heroes for people like Luna. “I can tell you countless stories of people who became rich from following the lead of these everyday heroes. These men that changed people’s lives for good. Now Luna gives young people a start, experience in management, and training that becomes the foundation for success in a variety of fields. “My former employees are doctors, lawyers and actuaries.”
“In the 1960′s we could get a franchise location if you had a good reputation as a hard worker and a few thousand dollars. That isn’t true anymore”. But he believes there are great opportunities for young people today. If you can find a great boss, you should be patient and good things can happen. I worked to earn that level of trust under the steady management of Connie Miller.
Miller was the key contact for Mike Luna that secured 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 today at Midwest Entrepreneurs at Monmouth College, Luna will be more than ready for the next challenge.
