Ricky Wade, the J’can who is McDonald’s franchise king
Published:Thursday | June 29, 2023 | 1:11 AMLester Hinds/Gleaner Writer
He is a product of St Theresa Prep and Excelsior High schools who used to race go-carts along Palisades Road before migrating to the United States to pursue his dream of becoming a pilot, following in the footsteps of his father.
Today, Ricky Wade is the owner of 28 McDonald’s franchise stores across three counties in the state of Florida.
Seeking to follow in his father’s footsteps to become a pilot, Wade left Jamaica at age 18 in 1979 to attend flight school in Florida, United States. But he was to get cold feet and quit flight school following the death of his father in a plane crash over Caymanas Estate. He went to work for a McDonald franchise in Miami, which would change his life and career path.
Two years after joining the store, the franchise was taken over by the McDonald’s Corporation, and Wade was transferred to North Carolina to the company’s headquarters, where he rose through the ranks during his four-year career with the company.
But his life was to take a dramatic change in 2001 when he was offered the opportunity to become a McDonald’s franchisee. While preferring to remain in the US corporate world, he was encouraged by his wife, Lisette, to grasp the opportunity of becoming a franchise owner. So he liquidated his assets, mortgaged his home, and purchased seven franchises in Palm Beach county.
28 MCDONALD’S STORES
Today, he is the owner of 28 McDonald’s stores across three counties in Florida. He also went back and got his pilot licence and is the owner of his own private plane, which he uses to travel wherever he needs to go, including Jamaica, which he visits about four to five times a year.
Wade told The Gleaner in a telephone interview that he had 31 franchises but closed three after the COVID-19 pandemic because they no longer made economic sense.
“Two were situated in Walmart stores, and the other was in a mall that had to be closed because the traffic to the stores had fallen off, and it did not make sense to keep operating them,” he said.
A McDonald’s franchise costs an average of US$2 million to own.
A proud Jamaican who is strongly committed to his homeland, Wade acknowledged that he was offered the McDonald’s franchise in Jamaica when the corporation was closing its locations on the island but passed on the opportunity because the business model and financial returns did not make sense.
“Jamaicans have unique taste, and McDonald’s offer standard products from which there are no deviations,” he said.
Wade does, however, have other interests in Jamaica, which he did not want to disclose, but pointed to possible investment opportunities in the island, including ownership of a boutique hotel, among other areas.
He remains committed to his homeland. A significant portion of his employees are Jamaicans, not only at the store level, but also at the corporate level.
“I was raised Jamaican. I am 100 per cent Jamaican. I live and breathe Jamaica, so I have a vested interested in the development of Jamaica,” he said.