Rice Enterprises CEO says largest minority-owned McDonald's franchisee is family-oriented

Michele Rice always knew her career would be at McDonald's.

The Baldwin resident knows her way around the fast-food restaurant — she's held every job from cashier to cook to drive-through worker — but she set her sights on ownership when she began working at her father's McDonald's in Boston in 1987 when she was 15.

“I love working in the business. I love the people I come across and interact with,” said Rice, who in 2012 became chief executive officer of Baldwin-based Rice Enterprises LLC, a McDonald's franchisee that is African-American-owned and one of the largest minority-owned businesses in the Pittsburgh area.

Rice Enterprises is the largest minority-owned and operated franchisee in McDonald's Pittsburgh region. The area, which has 450 franchised and company-owned McDonald's, spans from western New York to southern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky, according to Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald's Corp. Rice Enterprises has 13 locations and about 650 employees in the Pittsburgh area, mostly in the South Hills.

A mother of two adult children who has a bachelor's degree in business management from the University of Akron, Rice discusses the family business' evolution and how it is responding to a corporate turnaround plan.

Trib: Where did your father start in the McDonald's business?

Rice: He started in Ohio when he was working for another franchisee. He bought his first McDonald's in Boston in 1987. My mother, Edith, did the back office work. McDonald's requires its franchise owners to live in the area where their businesses are. My dad sold the Boston location when my family moved to Buffalo in the early 1990s. We had four McDonald's in Buffalo. Then, when we moved to Pittsburgh in 2000, we sold those four and bought the ones here.

Trib: Who is in leadership at Rice Enterprises now?

Rice: Each member of the family is an owner of Rice Enterprises. The owners are my parents, Edith and James; my siblings, Melissa and James Rice II; and me. But my sister, who is chief operating officer, and I primarily run the business now. My dad does have some involvement but not as much as in the past. My daughter is running one of the restaurants. I have a nephew who is working through the management program now.

Trib: What made you want to continue in the family business?

Rice: Well, for one, I've always wanted to be in my family's business. I grew up doing this. My parents' vision was always to pass this on to the new generation. … I've never actually wanted to do anything else.

Trib: How was Rice able to grow to be one of the largest minority-owned businesses in the Pittsburgh region?

Rice: Opportunities just came up. When we first moved here, we were supposed to buy nine over a period of time, and then other opportunities came up and we added to that. At one point, we had grown to 16. Over the last few years, we sold a couple.

Trib: What business challenges has Rice Enterprises faced?

Rice: I would say it's with people. There are so many options and businesses in the marketplace that we're always competing for the same labor pool. So, that's a challenge — just making sure that we're staffed and that we're employing people to take care of customers and things of that nature.

Trib: What sets Rice Enterprises apart from other McDonald's franchisees?

Rice: Well, I think we have a good team of people as far as our general managers and our supervisors. And we're a family. We're more than just a team. We're family. ... And we operate on that premise. We have people that have worked for us pretty much the whole time that we've been here.

Trib: McDonald's is undergoing a turnaround under new CEO Steve Easterbrook. What do you think of all-day breakfast, which was introduced in October and is credited with helping sales in the fourth quarter?

Rice: All-day breakfast gives our customers more options. It's something that they've been asking for for quite some time. … So, now the challenge is going to be continuing to build from that and keep the momentum.

Trib: What are your thoughts on Easterbrook's leadership?

Rice: He has come with some very creative ideas. We'll see what comes down the pike. They've done some restructuring and they're working their plan as we speak; 2015 was just getting the foundation laid, and we'll see things happen in 2016 and beyond.

Trib: There's been a lot of talk and debate nationwide over whether the minimum wage should be raised to $15. Do you think it should?

Rice: McDonald's has opportunities for growth. So, we don't start at the minimum wage ($7.25 in Pennsylvania), but we offer entry level positions and the ability to move up. So, if you want to make more, there is opportunity to do so. I don't see how that would happen, the $15 minimum wage … .I've had people that came in at an entry-level position and worked their way to an assistant manager or a general manager in a couple of years.

Tory N. Parrish is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 412-380-5662 or tparrish@tribweb.com.