New Orleans is youngest McDonald franchisee

23rd July 2018   ·   0 Comments

By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer

New Orleans native Jade Colin is the youngest Black woman ever to own a McDonald’s franchise, but she didn’t achieve that distinction by herself, something for which she is both grateful and thrilled.

Her inspiration and support came from two crucial resources. The first was her family – in 2010, her parents, Louis and Joyce Colin, purchased their first McDonald’s restaurant and in the ensuing several years expanded their business to six franchises across the Westbank of New Orleans.

That familial network made it only natural that, almost immediately after earning her bachelor’s in business management from UL-Lafayette in 2012, Colin leapt feet-first into the family operation, taking rigorous training programs that led to her milestone move in 2016, when she was just 26.

Without family, Colin says, her youthful entrepreneurial success just wouldn’t have been the same.

“The generational wealth was started by my parents for me and my siblings,” says Colin, now 28. “It’s great to be in business with my family.”

The second source of her strength is just as divine.

“I give God all the glory,” she says.

Meanwhile, while Colin was at UL, she worked the night shift at a nearby McDonald’s. With that experience and her degree in hand, she decided to enter the company’s Next Generation program, a rigorous course that trains and prepares children of existing franchise owners.

While in the program, Colin earned the Outstanding Restaurant Manager of the Year award for her region during her first year of training. She followed that up a year later by receiving the prestigious Ray Kroc Award, an honor named after the famed founder of McDonald’s and bestowed upon the top 1 percent of restaurant managers in the country.

After completing the training program, Colin became a manager in her family’s McDonald’s operation in New Orleans, a tenure that inspired her to purchase her own franchise and, in the process, make company history as a trailblazer.

Now, as the newest successful part of her family business – in addition to owner of her own franchise, she also manages much of the operations for her parents’ franchises – Colin is excited to continue building her family’s generational wealth and eventually pass on the tradition to those even younger than her.

“It’s a blessing to be able to be back [in New Orleans] to make it great for everyone who comes up underneath me – the next generation,” she says.

Plus, for the Colin enterprise, “family” also means their employees, their customers and the local community as a whole.

“It’s a blessing to be able to give back to the community and to be able to provide jobs for people,” Colin says.

As of now, the Colin operation boasts roughly 300 employees, for whom the Colins throw an annual company cookout. The business also sponsors several community events and programs, such as Coffee for Cops and a McTeacher’s Night.

However, she’s also keenly aware that the road ahead won’t always be easy. Every business has to weather a few storms as it sails along, but Colin is ready.

“The biggest challenge is to stay motivated and not fail,” says Colin, who is single. “Things aren’t going to be perfect every single day. But you always have to get back up and keep working. Everyone is depending on you, counting on you, and they want to see you make it.”

Colin isn’t all work – still in her 20s, she tries to work in a social life and some leisure activities. “You have to be able to balance business and social life,” she says.

This article originally published in the July 23, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.