Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue I, 2013 | Page 37

MEGA

degree in chemical engineering from
Stanford University.
These days, his Las Vegas-based
Glencoe Management company boasts
a diversified portfolio that also includes
8 Panera Bread restaurants in Northern Orange County and 3 Fazoli’s
locations. Most recently, he added TMobile Premium Retail dealership
outlets (not franchised), including an
11-store acquisition from a Southern
California operator in November.
When T-Mobile first approached
McDonald about diversifying into
telecommunications, he was unsure
about the proposition—until he soon
discovered that when it comes to phones,
“Everyone loves to upgrade.” The retail stores, run by his son and son-inlaw, have brought a new element to
the company business, with a lower
cost of entry and shorter-term leases.
Today, “You have to be more nimble,
quicker on your feet,” says McDonald,
who is conservative when it comes
to borrowing money and leveraging
his business, and flexible in operating
plans. This is just the latest revelation

At 66, McDonald
is an adventurous,
family man who
loves to hunt, hike,
golf, and scuba
dive. Eventually he
will turn over more
of the day-to-day
responsibilities to
family members.
for McDonald, who learned early on
(when the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak changed Americans’ attitude
about fast food) that he “shouldn’t have
all my eggs in one basket.”
What hasn’t changed through the
years is his loyalty to those who “do
what they say they are going to do.”
McDonald grew up in a farming community in Illinois where, he says, your
handshake is your word, and he still
lives by that today. “Everybody who

works for me knows that if you say
you are going to do something, you
have to do everything you can to do
it,” he says. “And if you can’t do it,
you have to tell the person you made
a commitment to, ‘I can’t do this and
here is why.’”
At 66, McDonald is an adventurous,
family man who loves to hunt, hike,
golf, and scuba dive. Eventually, he
says, he will work less and turn over
more of the day-to-day responsibilities to family members. But don’t look
for him to slow down any time soon.
Looking ahead, he plans to continue to grow his portfolio as part of
an “If you are not growing, you are
shrinking” operating strategy that
must provide value (and, of