By David S. Jackson
for The New Orleans Tribune
Chris Bardell was at a crossroads in life. In the early 1980’s, he caught the ferry each day from Reserve, Louisiana to college in Thibodaux, where he majored in business at Nicholls State University. Then, he went to work at a LaPlace McDonald’s during the evening shift. One day his boss wanted to promote him to assistant manager, which would have meant more money, more responsibility, but less time to go to school.
When he asked his father for advice, his father told him to make the decision on his own. Bardell chose the promotion, but he didn’t stop there. Today, he is one of the top Black McDonald’s owners in the entire region.
“I started off as a crew person in 1980,” said Bardell. “That was my first job. From there I became a shift manager, an assistant manager, a restaurant manager and even a Regional Manager to handle the profitability margins of hundreds of McDonald’s across the country.”
Bardell now owns and operates 13 McDonald’s in the Greater New Orleans area and believes that his experience as a successful franchisee can be duplicated by hard-working students in the community. He is worked to create an entrepreneurial program to help teach young people about the franchise ownership, highlighting every aspect from real estate development to architecture, inventory, hiring, food management and taxes.
“This is big business. When I pass my restaurants, sometimes I can’t believe that I actually own these things,” said Bardell. “My dad didn’t give me a lot of money. But my dad gave me a heck of a work ethic.”
Bardell is part of an exclusive club of only 186 Black McDonald’s franchise owners in America. That number is actually down from the late 1980’s when there were 224 Black franchise owners that accounted for six percent of the total amount of restaurants. He is also president of the Southern Louisiana Black McDonald’s Operator Association and served on committees with the Audubon Nature Institute.
The Bardell Company has partnered with the Warren Easton Charter High School’s Career Pathway Summer Program to mentor three rising seniors and one recent graduate on their budding journey to becoming business owners. Chris Bardell says there are too many impediments stopping kids from reaching the fullest potential, and he wants to be a part of changing that.
From Fries to Franchise
“If I can do it, anyone can,” says Bardell, admitting that he was not an exceptionally good student in school. “It took a lot of hard work. That willingness to go over and above. That’s what we’re trying to do with our employees. You can’t be afraid of making a lot of mistakes. When you learn from them it makes you that much better.”
Bardell took his first McDonald’s job in 1980. He quickly became shift manager but complained to his father about the differences between management and regular wage employees. Instead of indulging the complaints, his dad challenged him to become management so that he could change the company from the inside.
“So, I supervised all of the restaurants, and I became a business consultant. My job was to make sure that struggling McDonald’s would become profitable. I learned why locations were losing money and how to fix it.”
But after two decades of rising in management, Bardell still hit a ceiling. He was told by many executives inside the McDonald’s organization to give up on his dream of actually owning a franchise.
“I’ve had more naysayers than anything,” says Bardell. “One of my bosses told me that the aspirations of being a McDonald’s owner is like a book. Take the book and put it on the shelf. But in order to do seemingly impossible tasks, you have to be strong willed. That’s the thing that our kids have to do.”
In 2001 a newly married Bardell borrowed $35,000 from his brother and money from his dad along with a second mortgage on his home to purchase the McDonald’s on Bullard Avenue. After revitalizing the store, he was able to pay his brother $47,000 in approximately six months.
The profitability of that store allowed him to purchase and revamp more McDonald’s restaurants, but not without challenges. He lost five stores after Hurricane Katrina. Tapping into his strong will that led him to prove wrong those naysayers who thought he could never become a franchisee, he rebuilt the storm-damaged and destroyed stores and purchased others.
Furthering His Legacy
Before COVID struck, Bardell held fundraiser nights at several locations to give a percentage of the profits to area schools. After teachers and administrators saw the work in action, they gained respect for the fast food workers.
“We would have teachers say ‘OMG, what happens behind these counters? Most people are looking at their phones or at the menu,” said Bardell. “But I would challenge anyone the next time they go into a McDonald’s, close your eyes and just listen to all of the beeps and buzzers. Each beep and buzz corresponds to a particular action and machine. It would be overwhelming if you don’t have the training. They know say, ‘I have a totally different appreciation for the people working in this restaurant.’
Recently, the Bardell Company has partnered with the Warren Easton Charter High School’s Career Pathway Summer Program to mentor three rising seniors and one recent graduate on their budding journey to becoming business owners. Bardell says there are too many impediments stopping kids from reaching the fullest potential, and he wants to be a part of changing that.
“The things that I do right now, it has provided me the opportunity to provide a legacy,” says Bardell. “We’re not hiring them to work french fries. We’re doing this to show the inner working of a McDonald’s restaurant. I want to show kids that look like me where they can end up. My company wants to enrich our youth with the truth; hard work, responsibility, and a solid K-12 education can still create prosperity in their lives and our communities. That’s my story, and if it can be of value to the next generation then we will continue to share it.”
Those who know Bardell say that giving back and reaching back are not new for the local businessman.
“Since I’ve known Chris Bardell, he has committed to his ‘people-first’ mantra that has allowed him to positively impact all those around him,” said Director of Operations Kaschelle Manning. “He is a leader within the McDonald’s system and a mentor and inspiration in his community.”
