Pair of LA sisters own McDonald's franchise empire
LOS ANGELES - A pair of sisters own a McDonald's franchise empire in Los Angeles and shared their inspiring story with FOX 11.
Nicole Harper-Rawlins and Kerri Harper-Howie own a total of 21 McDonald's restaurants throughout Los Angeles County, with their most recent acquisitions in March 2023.
"We are in South Los Angeles, Compton, Lynwood, Carson so really areas primarily of people of color and where sometimes there are a lack of resources. So, it's a great opportunity for us to be able to provide employment and other resources to those communities," said Harper-Rawlins.
The empire started 40 years ago when their parents, Patricia Williams and Richard Harper bought their first McDonald's. The first location was on La Cienega and Washington, which no longer has a McDonald's location.
"My mom [Patricia] and dad [Richard] got into it in the 80s, early 80s and then they unfortunately got divorced and my mom actually bought my dad out of the business and went on to become an independent African American female owner-operator here in Los Angeles," she explained.
It was not an easy task for Patricia to become a franchise owner at the time.
"Her name wasn't even on the franchise agreement because it was like it's just the husband, that's what they do, but she was very involved in the operations. It was very difficult for her to get financing, so it was quite a challenge for her to figure out who is going to take a chance on this single woman and provide money," said recalled
However, her mother found a way to get financing and went on to build a legacy. Kerri said her mom has always been a courageous woman, starting with her upbringing.
"She's so proud of her story that she tells anyone who will listen. She was born to a maid and a longshoreman, and neither graduated from high school. So, the sheer fact that she made it out of the segregated South in the 1940s [is incredible]. She got her college degree, got her master's degree, had a great career and even then still took a chance on herself, taking the ultimate risk to leave a stable job in the 80s to try this thing called becoming a McDonald's franchisee. She is unflappable and just incredibly courageous," said Harper-Howie.
Nicole and Kerri now run their successful businesses with a team of majority female leaders.
"We are very lucky obviously, to have been started by an amazing woman and when I entered the business at that time my mom and my sister were running the business and they were phenomenal women leaders. So, I don't think it's really much of a surprise that the vast majority of our leadership team is women. I'm a mom and most of the women in our organization, 99%, are mom," said Harper-Howie .
She continued to say, "When we think about women and mothers and what it means for our communities, moms lead the way, so I really think of it as an opportunity to provide opportunities to entire communities because we are employing and giving opportunities to moms, to women, to leaders, to the people who nurture and cultivate the great things in our communities."
Becoming McDonald's franchise owners wasn't the original dream for either of the sisters though.
"Having grown up with my mom being an operator, she never pushed it on my sister and I to become operators. I went to college and started a career in social work," said Harper-Rawlins.
However, she said she always had it in the back of her mind to join the family business.
"I had a conversation with my mom and I'll never forget it. I'm like mom, you know I think I'm ready to join the business and she said 'well ok that's fine but let me tell you, if you think you work hard now, you have no idea what hard work is,'" said Harper-Rawlins.
The career change to a franchisee took longer for Kerri.
"I actually never thought that I would become a McDonald's franchisee. I knew since 10th grade, I wanted to be a lawyer so that's what I did," said Harper-Howie.
Kerri, who is now a mom of two boys, worked in law firms and corporations as a lawyer, but the birth of her first son inspired her to join the family business.
"As the cliché goes, I had my first son and that changed everything for me. Who knows if he'll choose to come into the business, but to have the opportunity to create that chance for him as my mom created for me was something that crystallized when he was born," said Harper-Howie.
The sisters have become integrated into the communities they serve.
"Through the restaurants, we are able to participate in a variety of local events whether it's supporting sports teams or local churches, local schools through fundraisers or on the personal side, we both have various charitable organizations that we're involved in on different boards, community boards and different organizations we participate in," said Nicole.
Their story has become an inspiration.
"When I speak or present myself at different events, people say 'oh I didn't know Black people owned Mcdonald's' or 'I didn't know women owned McDonald's', so just having the example that it's possible and if I can do it, anyone can do it," said Nicole.
Their mom, Patricia, has since retired, but the women will continue the legacy for years to come.
"For us, it's always family first so no matter what is happening whatever the answer to the question is, we make sure our family is first before everything else," said Harper-Howie.