Only 7 years ago, Jade Colin graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2012, and is now the youngest black Mcdonald’s owner in the country.
However, her path to success was not accidental, but intentional, as she worked in Mcdonald’s Next Generation program, which is a preparatory program for McDonald’s franchise owner’s children. Jade’s parents own six McDonald’s restaurants, and she sees them as her inspiration.
While she was a student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Jade worked in restaurants diligently learning how restaurants operate and received other vital business grooming.
Jade told Black Enterprise Magazine that, “I have been working since I was 14 years old. When I moved back to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina at the age of 16, I worked for Smoothie King. It was owned by five partners. They would teach me things I didn’t understand, like the importance of meeting yields on the products, counting inventory, making sure the money is deposited, and more. When I would get home from work I would speak to my parents about opening my own Smoothie King.”
While in the McDonald’s Next Generation program, Jade was awarded the Outstanding Restaurant Manager of the Year award. After that, more awards followed, including the Ray Krock award which is given to the top 1 percent of restaurant managers in the country.
Jade completed courses at Mcdonald’s 130,000-square-foot training facility, located in Chicago, Illinois. Not only a hardworker, Jade is unashamed about her faith and its role in her success. She also told Black Enterprise Magazine that, “When challenges arise, I face them head-on. I pray and ask God to lead and guide me to handle the challenges the way He sees fit. As an entrepreneur, challenges come daily. Being the boss means you are the leader of the team. Everyone looks to you to see how you will face challenges and adversity. To be successful, you have to know challenges comes with the territory.”
Looking forward to seeing new restaurants and hearing more business success stories from Jade.