Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / The Long View: How JC Gonzalez-Mendez's 20-Year Vision Led Him from Mexico to McDonald's Executive Suite | Restaurants & Franchises Series

Transcript

The Long View: How JC Gonzalez-Mendez's 20-Year Vision Led Him from Mexico to McDonald's Executive Suite | Restaurants & Franchises Series · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. My name is Anthony Kotaspodi,
0:17
and today's guest is JC Gonzalez Mendez, partner and CEO at Bien
0:23
Trucha Group. They were founded in 2016 and
0:26
headquartered in Geneva, IL. They're a restaurant group known
0:30
for their innovative concepts and exceptional culinary
0:33
experiences. They focus on creating memorable
0:36
dining moments through their passion and dedication to world
0:39
class hospitality. Now, JC himself brings over 3
0:43
decades of leadership experience from his time at McDonald's,
0:47
where he was McDonald's very first employee ever in Mexico
0:52
and served as President of Latin America and Chief Supply Chain
0:56
Officer for North America. He also played leading roles in
1:00
social responsibility and global sustainability initiatives.
1:04
Among his many honors, JC was named as one of the Top 10
1:08
Leaders by Hispanic Executive in 2016 and earned an honorary
1:14
doctorate from Loyola University Chicago.
1:17
He has also been recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential
1:21
Hispanics by Hispanic Magazine. JC is committed developing
1:26
strong teams and uplifting communities wherever he goes.
1:30
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1:59
All right, back to our guest today, President and CEO of BN
2:02
Truja Group. JCI appreciate you making the
2:05
time to Share your story today. Thanks for the opportunity,
2:08
Anthony. It's a it's a pleasure, really.
2:11
Andre Well, let's go back to your time at McDonald's.
2:15
You had a very long and storied career there.
2:18
I'm curious to hear, going to the beginning, how did that
2:21
first opportunity come about? I was 24 years old at the time,
2:28
working on a for our research and development lab for the
2:31
Mexican government, developing food products that derive from
2:36
the from the ocean. How did that opportunity came
2:40
about? I believe I was very lucky.
2:43
Now, one of my definitions of luck is the intersection of
2:47
opportunity with preparation. At the time, McDonald's was
2:51
looking for somebody that had a food tech background, which I
2:54
did. I knew a little bit of English,
2:56
which I did not, but my boss was Cuban and we faked it for a few
3:01
months. My mom was a translator for Pete
3:04
Marbach at the time, and she would help me translate my
3:08
reports and send them back to the US So I said that I I, I
3:13
fell on McDonald's by pure luck, really.
3:20
And So what was that very first position like?
3:24
It was exhilarating when I was invited to interview in Old
3:31
Brook, Illinois, where the offices, the corporate offices
3:34
were at the time. That was the second time I ever
3:39
took a plane ride. And they hosted me at the
3:43
McDonald's Lodge hotel operated by Hyatt at the at the time, and
3:48
they showed me Hammer University of the Global Headquarters.
3:51
And I was in awe. I remember that I had an
3:57
interview with three different individuals and when they asked
4:03
the first question for me, he says, do you have any questions?
4:06
And I remember gesturing with my hand.
4:08
Where do I sign? They said, well, but you haven't
4:12
even told us what your expectations are.
4:14
I said my only expectation is that you will treat me right.
4:18
Where do I sign? An offer did not come that day.
4:24
I remember calling Deborah, my wife and she, she asked me how
4:28
did it go. I said, well, I, I really don't
4:30
know because these people are really looking for, these are
4:33
the big leagues and I don't think I have a chance.
4:38
I mean, this was just too big for me to, to surreal.
4:41
Well, long behold, a couple of weeks later they made an offer
4:46
and I started as the very first employee of McDonald's Mexico.
4:49
My job was to develop the sources of supply for the first
4:53
restaurant that opened in 1985. So I used my food tech
4:58
background and Mexico was the very first country that had to
5:01
open with 100% locally produced items, which was a challenge
5:08
because the McDonald's standards around the globe are set and it
5:12
doesn't matter if suppliers are providing for one restaurant or
5:16
10,000 restaurants. But it was a a, a, a great time
5:21
for me to be associated with the company because haven't been the
5:24
first employee. Not only did I learn about the
5:28
supply chamber because I was the only conduit at McDonald's, I
5:33
dealt with construction, dealt with real estate, dealt with
5:37
equipment purchasing, dealt with other things that eventually
5:41
people were hired to do. So I got exposed to a lot of
5:45
different things within the business.
5:47
They threw you into the deep end right away.
5:50
Yeah, I was 24, so I was, I was a sponge.
5:55
I I was working 60 hour weeks without really having any
6:00
problem. The office was our very first
6:05
apt A580 square feet apartment in Mexico City where if I went
6:13
back on my chair, I would fall in my bed.
6:18
So you're this young guy, you've got a good background in food
6:23
tech, but no experience in supply chain, which is really
6:26
the position that they hired you for.
6:29
And then since, like you said, you're the conduit, like you're
6:33
handling construction teams and, you know, real estate concerns.
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And I mean, you become the guy for all kinds of things that you
6:40
didn't have any prior background in.
6:43
So yeah, but I, I had tremendous mentors along the way.
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The very first one, my boss, Mike Brito, who was a Cuban
6:55
American, actually Cuban born American citizen that moved from
7:00
Cuba at the age of 15. He was a tremendous boss, a
7:07
great teacher. He is the godfather of my first
7:10
child. So we became very, very close.
7:16
He taught me early on how to go about time management, how to be
7:23
assertive, how to be able to prioritize things, how it didn't
7:27
matter what position you had, it was important to treat anybody
7:31
and everybody with respect. She, he told me you have to
7:35
always talk to the number one guy or lady so that the
7:41
likelihood of success of your meeting is higher.
7:44
So I, I learned a lot from her and I was a sponge of the time.
7:47
I because I didn't know anything.
7:50
I took everything at heart. I'm a good student.
7:54
I, I, I and I, I was very fortunate to have an incredible
7:59
boss. I got to tell you an anecdote
8:02
which shows his how driven he was after the six months my
8:08
first performance review was happening and I picked him up at
8:12
the airport and the company car. That was worth more than my
8:16
annual salary in Mexico, by the way.
8:19
And I remember having a, a, a binder with a lot of information
8:25
about all of the accomplishments that I had I got over the last
8:29
six years, I mean, six months. And I got samples of cheese and
8:33
samples of buns. And as soon as he jumped in the
8:37
car, I gave him the binder. This is Mike.
8:39
This is everything that we have accomplished.
8:43
He didn't even open the binder. He threw it in the back and he
8:47
said, Jose Carlos, that's my name.
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He says, tell me what you can do, what you haven't been able
8:56
to accomplish so I can help you. That's why I'm here.
9:00
I'm not interested in what you have accomplished.
9:04
That's what you're getting paid for.
9:06
Make use of my time. That afternoon was my
9:11
performance review. I didn't know what to expect
9:14
after that comment. Obviously the 1st 15 minutes, he
9:17
couldn't stop raving about me. He gave me the greatest
9:21
increase. He said that he was, he had
9:23
never done given that particular increase to anybody that young
9:28
that quick. But then the next hour and a
9:31
half, he talked about time management, about assertiveness,
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about you need to strategize, you need to stratify all of your
9:42
suppliers. Only very few, about 20% of
9:45
them. You have to spend an hour with
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the majority of them. I mean, maybe 50% of them, 30
9:52
minutes, 70. I mean 30 to 40% of them, maybe
9:57
15 minutes. And that's it.
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So I was lucky enough to have a great teacher, and because I
10:06
didn't have any preconceived notions of what needed to be
10:09
done, I was assimilating as much as I could.
10:13
Like you said, you were in sponge mode.
10:15
Correct. I'm curious to hear in, in those
10:18
early days when you were setting up the supply chain for
10:22
McDonald's and everything has to be domestically sourced, what
10:26
was what was the most interesting or challenging thing
10:30
you ran into when you were trying to set up that supply
10:32
chain? That's a really good question.
10:34
So when McDonald's center in Mexico, there was no free trade
10:40
agreement, there was no Gatt. At the time, the hourly work
10:47
mode did not exist. There was only full time
10:49
employees. Franchising didn't exist.
10:52
Mexico had to sign a joint venture partnership in which
10:55
Mexican JV was the owner of 51% and 49% was McDonald's.
11:03
As part of the original deal, McDonald's could import the
11:08
first equipment packages for the 1st 5 restaurants, but we had to
11:15
pay 150% duty and the commitment was that we will generate 7
11:20
times that in exports. Didn't matter what it was, you
11:24
just needed to generate exports. Sounds easy, but when you know
11:29
that an equipment package at the time was 800,000 * 1 1/2, that's
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a couple of million times 5. That's 10 million * 7.
11:40
That's 70 million. What's McDonald's supposed to
11:44
have to generate on, on exports? So I, I became an expert on
11:48
sesame seeds, on strawberries, on coffee beans.
11:52
So I was dealing with things that I probably wouldn't have to
11:57
deal with in the past, but it made me very proud eventually to
12:01
know that 60 to 70% of sesame seeds had been bought from
12:05
Mexico, that a lot of strawberries were being used on
12:08
the strawberry topping, The coffee beans were being
12:11
exported. It's like I felt very honored to
12:14
have had the opportunity to generate that kind of business
12:17
relationship to comply with the Mexican government but also help
12:21
the Mexican industry, right? So that's interesting.
12:26
So is it McDonald's who was actually exporting the sesame
12:29
seeds and the strawberries? Generating them, right, because
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McDonald's had suppliers in the US and McDonald said, hey,
12:35
listen, I need you to buy this many tons of sesame seed from
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Mexico. I need you to buy this from
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there. So it was a symbiotic
12:44
relationship. Obviously the specifications
12:47
needed to be complied with, but but that was really a a very
12:51
fascinating part of the business that I did not understand.
12:55
But I had to meet with AUS ambassador to Mexico, which at
12:58
the time was John Gavin, a former actor who put me in
13:02
contact with his commercial attache, who I gave them a list
13:06
of the suppliers that we had in the US and I said, just tell me
13:08
who's who has a footprint in Mexico.
13:12
But I thought it would be easier for me if Kraft was supplying
13:15
cheese in the US for me to go to Kraft Mexico and see if they
13:18
could do the same. And that's how we started.
13:21
But it's a, it's a rather clever idea on the part of the Mexican
13:26
government to work that into the deal, right, to help open up
13:30
some doors, to have business kind of flow the other
13:32
direction. I mean, they, they, they, they,
13:35
they knew McDonald's could do it.
13:38
And by doing, it generated incredible business
13:40
opportunities for a lot of people, right?
13:42
Yeah. So, OK.
13:45
So you worked in this position, very first employee in Mexico.
13:49
How did that position unfold over the next several years?
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So I was hired by McDonald's Corporation and once we had five
13:58
restaurants and we had four partners, joint venture
14:01
partners, McDonald's decided that they were going to open a
14:05
subsidiary, but it was going to be owned and operated by the
14:08
partners. It was no longer going to be a
14:12
McDonald's owned company. And I wrote my letter of
14:16
resignation and I talked to Mike and I told him Mike, I, I, I
14:22
joined this company because I wanted the opportunity to grow.
14:25
I told you that I, I was interested in moving to the USII
14:29
joined my grants corporation because of the opportunities
14:33
that he could afford me. I can't stay in Mexico.
14:37
I, I can't report to four different bosses.
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How am I going to prioritize? He let me talk.
14:45
Then I said I'm going to be giving my literal resignation to
14:48
Pat Flynn, the president of Latin America that had actually
14:51
been that was actually in Mexico at that time.
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I met with him, told him what I'm telling you and he read my
15:01
letter of resignation and said, but he let me talk about it and
15:05
then said how? How would you like to move to
15:07
the US and be the International Quality Assurance Manager for
15:10
Latin America? So he made sure you weren't
15:15
leaving, gave you an offer. You couldn't respond.
15:17
So so my lesson there was you. You just can't not speak up.
15:26
You have to let your, your wish is no.
15:29
Now I was very respectful and I said I'm going to give you 6
15:32
months because I really don't want all of this effort to go to
15:35
waste. But I am not staying.
15:39
And so they offered us to move to Chicago.
15:42
This is something that Deborah and I always wanted to because
15:45
at the time, Mexico was under a high inflationary economy, 180%
15:51
inflation. We had to change menu prices on
15:57
a weekly basis. I mean, it was just crazy.
16:00
You couldn't afford a house because there was no mortgage
16:05
business. So it was we always wanted to
16:07
move to the US and Deborah being a, an American, 4th generation
16:12
American born in Mexico, she had the opportunity to move to the
16:16
US. So we moved to the US with
16:20
$10,000 in her pocket that were our life savings and, and our
16:24
Cocker spaniel and I started travelling within a week of
16:28
moving here. And I was in charge of quality
16:31
assurance for Latin America for about two years when Mike
16:37
retired. And I thought this is my my
16:40
opportunity. Mike is the staff director of
16:44
Purchasing and Quality Control for Latin America.
16:48
You thought you were a shoe in for that role.
16:50
I said who else is going to, who else has the experience that I
16:53
have? I've been a purchasing manager
16:54
in Mexico. I'm a food tech.
16:56
I'm the QA manager for all of Latin.
16:59
At the time I had obviously proficiency in Spanish.
17:03
English was getting better and I had learned Portuguese.
17:07
So I said it's a slum dunk from Brazil.
17:11
I was told I was too young, that I needed to grow some white
17:15
hairs. At the time they could say that
17:17
today would get them in a little bit of a trouble, but they did.
17:21
I was only 27. So a gentleman was brought in, a
17:26
gentleman that had white hairs and had a lot more experience.
17:30
him and I just did not work together well and I had a hell
17:35
of a a year, year and a half. And I was about to put my
17:39
resignation again when he was let go when somebody else was
17:43
brought in. I thought it was my chance
17:45
again. And that didn't happen.
17:47
So that's when we took a lateral move and we we moved to Southern
17:51
California. They were looking for a Hispanic
17:54
purchasing manager that could handle purchasing for LA, San
17:57
Diego and Hawaii. I was it, quite frankly, I
18:03
wasn't too excited about being a purchasing manager for a region
18:07
after being the purchasing manager of a country.
18:10
Little did I know that it was very different.
18:15
First, I wish I had done it backwards.
18:17
I wish I had been a purchasing manager in the US and and a
18:22
region to understand the systems, the the availability of
18:29
talent that it says the the I would be able to draw on
18:34
experiences from different people that I didn't have when I
18:36
was in. The framework there was just
18:38
more. So I did that and I was managing
18:42
purchases for goods and services for about $1,000,000 a day for
18:47
about 1000 restaurants LA Sunday in Hawaii and I thought I had
18:50
arrived. Little did I know that I was
18:53
just really beginning. At that time is when I said I
18:59
really want to be an officer of the company.
19:03
Did not know what that was, what that meant, but I liked the cars
19:07
they drove and the clothes they wore.
19:11
So I, I set my my goal as I want to be an officer of the company
19:16
and I spoke to Mike and I spoke to Pat and I spoke to a lot of
19:19
people. And it was clear to me that if I
19:22
wanted to improve my chances, I needed to leave supply chain and
19:26
jump into operations. At the time, there were about 40
19:30
officers with an operations background and only one senior
19:34
VP in supply chain, so the writing was on the wall.
19:38
I needed to get the experience that comes.
19:41
I mean the Stars and stripes that come from working at the
19:43
restaurants. But I also knew that it would be
19:47
better if they asked me than if I asked them.
19:51
At the time, they were looking for minority leadership.
19:56
They were looking for women, Latinos, Asian Americans,
20:03
African Americans too. Get the experience in in
20:06
operations. So they asked me and I left
20:11
everything, put the short sleeve and went down a positions in the
20:17
org chart and started as a manager trainee.
20:20
Wow. 2nd. So you, you went from kind of
20:24
being, you know, in, in the ivory tower, so to speak.
20:28
Not really, but. I I felt so because I was
20:33
managing $1,000,000 so. And you went down 8 pay scales
20:37
now and you got the short sleeves and you're, you're on
20:40
the front line now. So, but let me be clear, my
20:43
salary was not touched, but I was not going to get a a
20:49
promotional increase until I got back to the department head
20:54
level that had that I had at the time.
20:56
OK. So they wanted you to work and
20:59
earn your way up through those ranks, the operational ranks.
21:03
They weren't going to make you take a financial hit to do that
21:05
because they saw the path that you were on.
21:07
They just they needed you to. Get that, I couldn't afford to
21:09
do that so I was a manager, trainee, second assistant, first
21:13
assistant manager. I ran a restaurant for over a
21:16
year, was a supervisor, an operations manager and
21:19
eventually was managing once I got back after 3 1/2 years.
21:25
I was a multi department head in charge of about 100 company
21:28
owned restaurants, training, HR and operations.
21:33
About a $200 million business. Just want to hit pause for a
21:38
second JC because I I want to ask how this move affected your
21:42
ego little bit. I I I laughed now because 3 1/2
21:54
years sounds very easy because if it's in one paragraph in a
21:58
book. Right, but that's over a. 1002
22:02
that I had to. Go on months, yeah.
22:04
So, So I'll give you a couple of things.
22:05
It was 11 Saturday evening, actually Sunday morning, 2:00
22:12
AM, when I was cleaning toilets at the restaurant that all of a
22:17
sudden I felt this funny feeling of doubt, What am I doing?
22:26
I remember calling Deborah at 2:00 in the morning.
22:30
I said, Deb, can you remind me what it is that I'm doing?
22:35
Why am I doing this? So she's very smart.
22:40
And she said, hey, this is you have to do this.
22:42
You're paying your dues, you're getting the experience.
22:45
It is important. My mom, God, this was tough.
22:50
I went to the best school in Mexico, Technologico and
22:54
Monterrey, which is an offshoot at the MIT, let's say, and they
22:58
made a lot of sacrifices for me to go there.
23:01
So for her to see me flick hamburgers after the education
23:06
they paid, it was just not comprehensible.
23:11
She chastised me more than once. She hung up the phone not once,
23:16
but twice. She I said, Mom, I need to learn
23:19
the business from the ground up. I remember her saying, well,
23:23
can't they just tell you how it is?
23:26
I mean, can't you just read about it?
23:28
It was not until I became president of McDonald's Mexico
23:32
years later that I was with a whole entourage and we had
23:37
guards and armed armored cars. And that she understood that the
23:43
sacrifices were finally the world were worth it.
23:46
But he was. It was very difficult on my ego,
23:50
but I doubted more than once that I was doing the right
23:54
thing. So it was 3 1/2 years after that
23:58
that you kind of got to a point where, I don't know, you felt
24:03
like you were more at a level that you had left before.
24:05
Correct. But now I have the stars and
24:07
strife that come from working at the restaurant level, right?
24:11
And I had, I happened to hit Los Angeles region at the right
24:15
time, but we're having difficulty hiring highly
24:24
educated Latinas for the same reason.
24:27
So we started an internship program and we succeeded and we
24:31
had 1995 was one of the best years, if not the best year in
24:35
the operation side for the company owned restaurants.
24:39
There were 138 profit centers around the country, 25
24:44
restaurants each and we had four of them in LA, actually 5.
24:51
And we ranked in the top 16 in sales, but we ranked number 1234
25:00
and five in profitability. So we had a tremendous good
25:05
year, mostly due to two things. One is that we were able to hire
25:11
highly educated people that had the opportunity to grow within
25:14
the system. And this is going to sound a
25:17
little self-serving, but the fact that I had just gone
25:20
through the restaurant training, my experience at the restaurant
25:24
level was so fresh that I knew I kept the log on frustrations for
25:29
restaurant managers because I knew I was going to be in a
25:32
position to save or solve them. But I know that if I didn't
25:35
write them, I would forget them. Very smart.
25:39
So that allowed me to make changes that I knew were
25:42
necessary but that people that had been at the restaurant level
25:46
20 years before couldn't see. It also allow me to identify
25:50
staff that had a lot of potential that was missed
25:55
because of language proficiency. LA had about 40 to 50% Latino
26:02
first generation employees that English was not their first
26:07
language. So while they were performing at
26:09
a high level, their opportunities for growth were
26:12
not given because nobody could communicate with them.
26:16
So did you put some sort of a language program in place to?
26:18
Help you My gosh, today has English under the Arches, which
26:23
has been given accolades. I did not create that, but the
26:28
need for giving the opportunity for our staff to learn the
26:32
language is important. So what came next at?
26:38
McDonald's, I was then managing this business of about $200
26:42
million worth of business and I felt a little uncomfortable
26:48
because I was making financial decisions of of great
26:52
importance, maybe reinvestments of 20 to $30 million a year and
26:56
I really did not have any financial training.
27:01
Well, I know how to read basic P&L information.
27:07
I needed some financial training.
27:09
So I I just said that I need to get an MBA.
27:14
And here's once again where luck is a dividend of sweat, but also
27:19
is intersection of preparation with opportunity.
27:25
I wanted to go to USC because my dad had gone to USC.
27:29
And when I saw the program that could allow me to keep on
27:32
working the executive MBA, it was $69,000 a year.
27:37
I couldn't afford it. And this is one in what year?
27:40
This is 1995. Wow.
27:42
Today is 90, by the way. I, I, I couldn't.
27:47
So I went reluctantly to UCLA. It was about the same.
27:52
And then I went to UC Northridge.
27:53
And then by the time I got to a place that, that I can afford, I
27:56
couldn't even understand which the university was.
28:02
So I, I, I, I felt I needed to wait until I could afford to pay
28:06
for it. Luck Once again, I was asked to
28:11
pick up a senior executive that had spent time in Europe that
28:17
wanted to come and help the company on restaurants do
28:21
better. And when I picked him up at the
28:24
airport, the very first thing he says is, JC, you need to help me
28:28
find a couple of Hispanic MBAs that we can take him through the
28:35
training program that we just got you through in three to five
28:38
years to be directors of operations.
28:42
And I remember asking, So what does an MBA bring that we don't
28:44
have? Well, the financial acumen, the
28:47
strategic thinking. And I said, well, but wouldn't
28:51
it be more difficult to find somebody that has those skill
28:54
sets and trying to madonalize them?
28:58
Wouldn't it be easier to have somebody that has ketchup in
29:01
their veins already and get them that training?
29:04
He said, what do you know of anybody?
29:06
Do I know of anybody? Yes, I do up here.
29:09
He says, well, what do you know about Nbas?
29:14
Luck would have it, I had my briefcase at the time.
29:16
I carry a briefcase and I had a pseudo spreadsheet that I put
29:21
together on all of the programs and he says which is the best 1?
29:25
So USC, this is what keeps you from going to USC $69,000 a
29:30
year, he says. Without hesitation, he says,
29:33
I'll tell you what, if you can get into USC, I'll sponsor you.
29:38
Wow. So I was.
29:40
How did you put it? Luck is the intersection of
29:43
preparation and opportunity, correct?
29:45
So you were prepared. Correct.
29:47
And the opportunity. This opportunity presented
29:49
itself. Yeah, but I could have also
29:51
said, OK, I'll hire two people. It would have been easy for me
29:57
to say that. Yeah.
29:58
And he would have. Hired them, but but this was a
30:00
way for you to kind of spin the the conversation around it's I
30:03
think it would be easier to remember.
30:04
I wanted to be a a an officer of the company because I had the
30:10
opportunity to put a goal so far out.
30:15
I was not blinded by paradigms of short term thinking.
30:19
I would not have gone into the operations training if I had not
30:24
set my goal to be an officer. It would have made no sense,
30:28
right? Getting an MBA would have been
30:30
OK, but he had much more meaning because I said, well, now I have
30:35
OPS, now I have international, now I have supply chain, now I
30:39
have QA. What if I have the financial
30:43
acumen that they're talking about?
30:46
I thought it was going to be another box to check, so to
30:50
speak, right? So I was actually at the
30:54
hospital right next to Deborah who was having contractions
30:58
because Carlos, her third child, was being born.
31:01
And I was filling out with the application for USC right at the
31:06
hospital bed. I was accepted and I did my MBA
31:12
at USC while I was the multi department head in charge of the
31:16
McDonald's company on restaurants.
31:17
In the middle of it, I was promoted to director of
31:20
operations, now the second in command in the region, just a
31:23
step below a officer. And they offered me the
31:27
opportunity to go back to Mexico.
31:30
But at the time they offered me to go as the second in command.
31:34
But they had just recently sent a Canadian as president.
31:39
But the Canadian did not speak a word of English, I mean of
31:42
Spanish. And I felt a little uneasy.
31:45
I said, I I'm going to become an interpreter and I don't think I
31:49
want to do that. I used my MBA that I was not
31:53
finished as of yet as a cushion and said let me finish the MBA
31:56
and then we can talk. So that gave him the opportunity
32:00
to either learn Spanish or get somebody else to do the
32:02
translation for him. When I finished, they came back
32:07
and they offered me the opportunity to go back to Mexico
32:10
as the second in command with a promise that within 12 to 18
32:16
months I would become President McDonald's Mexico.
32:20
So I went in February of two of 1998, and in May I became the
32:25
first Mexican president of the Mexican company, first employee.
32:30
And 12 years later, No 14 years later, I was the first Mexican
32:35
president, which allowed me to have a story of opportunity that
32:40
nobody told me. People didn't have to imagine
32:45
it, they were looking at it. I opened restaurant #1 and
32:48
restaurant #250 years later. You know, and one of the things
32:52
I really like about your story, JC, is that, you know, a lot of
32:55
times we think in life our our curve is just going to be kind
32:58
of up and to the right. And, you know, your story was
33:02
you were going up and to the right, but then you realized to
33:05
really get to where you wanted to, you were going to have to
33:08
kind of take, call it a backward step, right?
33:11
You were cleaning toilets at 1:00 AM.
33:14
And so I, you know, I think a lot of times people get wrapped
33:17
up in their heads like, oh, like, you know, I lost my job
33:20
here or this opportunity, this business didn't work out.
33:23
Feels like it would be taking a, a step backwards.
33:26
It's beneath me to do this thing here.
33:29
Sometimes just, you know, doing that thing is going to open up a
33:32
new set of doors for you. And like, that's clearly what
33:36
happened. In your not not question
33:38
answering, but I I really think that two factors were of great
33:42
influence 1 Deborah, that always kept me sane and always kept me
33:47
grounded and the fact that I was able to set my goals.
33:51
I want to be an office for the company because I was able to
33:55
dream big long term. Really my blinders were taking
34:00
off Anytime I talk to anybody that wants to be mentored, I
34:05
told us the very first thing you have to do is set your goals,
34:08
but not five years out there, 1020 years out there because
34:13
that will allow you to then really make the changes that you
34:16
need. The road to success is a toll
34:20
road. It's it's not a freeway and you
34:23
have to pay your dues. But at the end of the day, it is
34:28
well worth the sacrifice. But think about this Anthony.
34:32
What what is there to celebrate it?
34:34
There's nothing to accomplish if everything there's no.
34:38
Friction along the way it doesn't feel.
34:40
Like it just doesn't feel like anything right?
34:45
Also, I learned early on that it was OK to be happy with what you
34:50
had, but I can never be satisfied.
34:54
There's always something else to accomplish, always another
34:58
mountain to climb, always another step to take.
35:01
Right. How do you balance those two
35:03
things, JC? Because I agree with you 100%.
35:06
Like you, you want to be happy, right?
35:10
You want to be like, hey, I love what I'm doing with the things
35:13
I've accomplished. Like I feel good about those
35:15
things, but you never want to be fully satisfied with that.
35:18
You always want to be reaching for more.
35:20
So how are how are you kind of balancing those two things?
35:23
It's, it's, it's not easy. You, you have to have very clear
35:29
objectives and, and, and if you know that you want to be an
35:34
officer of the company, obviously I can't make that
35:37
decision by myself, Deborah. I had to be there.
35:43
I'm not a subscriber that behind a great man is a great woman.
35:48
My woman has never been behind me.
35:50
She's always been either in front of me or by my side.
35:55
Smart man. I'm listening.
35:58
We she's she was my girlfriend when she was 12, when I was 13.
36:02
So I, I know that's the only woman I've ever known that we've
36:08
been married. We were studying for 11 years
36:10
and being married for over 40. So, so the balance is, is
36:15
tricky, but you have to stay true to your values.
36:18
You have to stay true to your goals and then make sacrifices.
36:23
What are your values? I understand your.
36:26
Goals so very early on. Once again, this was another
36:33
mentor of mine, Pat Flynn, who was also a great executive with
36:37
McDonald's that I had the lecture of working for.
36:41
He said you need to define what your values are because if you
36:47
if you have values and you live by them, you are a lot easier to
36:54
forecast, a lot easy to read and people cannot follow people that
36:59
cannot be read. So turning on I have I, I wrote
37:05
them integrity, honesty, positive attitude, belief,
37:09
courage, excellence, persistence and responsibility.
37:13
But every place I went from the time that I became the president
37:18
of McDonald's Mexico to when I came to the US and was managing
37:23
a region or the chief supply chain officer or president of
37:26
Latin, I sent a memo. My very first memo ever in any
37:31
new position was what I expect from you and you're going to
37:34
expect from me. And it was a list of my values,
37:38
an explanation below those values, and an expectation that
37:43
that's what I expected people from having.
37:47
And the leaders that I learned the most from were not
37:52
necessarily the ones that lived by those values, were the ones
37:57
that talked about those values, who didn't live those values.
38:01
And to me, what you do is so loud that I can hear what you're
38:05
saying. Let me repeat that.
38:10
What you do is so loud that I can't hear what you're saying.
38:14
People that would talk but do something different.
38:19
See? And to me, well, integrity is #1
38:24
how strong are your values and principles that you are willing
38:29
to defend them at all costs? And hey, listen, I, I haven't
38:36
printed on a, on a little card that I, that I gave to
38:40
everybody. And I keep it handy because any
38:45
time that I had a decision that was requiring a little more
38:50
thought, I always use my values and principles as a screen.
38:56
Because the closer I could be to those values that I had
39:00
regurgitated so many times and people know that I had and
39:04
people were carrying out of their pockets.
39:05
Sometimes the more transparency I could project, the more
39:12
authenticity that people can't see in that leader, right?
39:18
Yeah, I like this message. It kind of reminds me of a
39:22
lesson that I try hard to tell teach my little boys, which is,
39:25
you know, there are going to be some people in our lives that
39:27
are examples of what to do, right?
39:30
They're going to be a good example of that's behavior I
39:32
want to follow. And there are some people that
39:34
we can still be grateful for as being a living example of what
39:38
we don't want to do. And it sounds like people who do
39:43
so loud that I, you know, I can't hear what you're saying.
39:46
Absolutely. And and I don't subscribe to the
39:48
notion that you have two sets of values.
39:51
One's are your personal values and the other one are your
39:53
professional values. Either you have values or you
39:57
don't. That's why one of the most
40:00
difficult things for me to do was to trust the leader when
40:05
they had broken their vows to their spouses.
40:09
Because to me, if you're willing to cheat on your spouse, what
40:14
are you not willing to do? So I I struggled a lot with a
40:22
lot of great leaders that I admired when they had those
40:27
mishaps and I would lose a lot of respect for them and I could
40:32
not longer follow them with the intensity that it that I did in
40:36
the past. Because if you don't think that
40:38
your personal values have anything to do with your
40:42
professional values, just ask Tiger Woods.
40:49
He couldn't win a tournament after his personal values were
40:52
violated, right? Because he messed up his mind.
40:56
Why? Because you either have him or
40:58
you don't have him. That's powerful.
41:02
So I want to get to Bintruccia on what you're doing kind of
41:06
modern day, but there's still a few more stops along the way
41:08
with McDonald's. Oh.
41:10
Absolutely. So I was still not an officer of
41:13
the company, but I happened to hit Mexico at the right time.
41:17
Mexico changed the power from 72 years of the ruling party into a
41:22
right wing party. A former Coca-Cola exec took the
41:27
reins and Mexico grew 7.8% GDP. So there was nothing we could do
41:34
wrong. We double sales in three years
41:37
and triple profits in Mexico. So people were talking about
41:42
Jay-Z like I had done something spectacular.
41:44
I really didn't. We had great economy and an
41:49
incredible team that we were able to put together that helped
41:52
us accomplish that. So I moved to the US now as an
41:59
officer of the company, my first role as an officer, and I was in
42:03
charge of eight countries in Latin America.
42:04
I had Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Uluai, Parawai, Venezuela, and
42:11
I'm missing one, I can't remember, a Chile.
42:16
And I did that for about a year. And then I was tired of
42:22
travelling and my kids were getting into high school, and I
42:28
really wanted to be there to stop missing some of the things
42:32
that I was missing. And I asked for a move.
42:36
And within two weeks, I was the regional vice president in
42:39
Chicago, managing a business of about a billion, four, 720
42:44
restaurants. And now in the backyard of
42:48
McDonald's, here was where you need to bring your dancing shoes
42:53
because I had come from Mexico, where I had a great trajectory.
42:59
But my boss visited me 3 * 1 to check the plan, 2, to give us
43:04
accolades, and 3rd to go hunting with our partners to go duck
43:08
hunting. So the oversight was very
43:11
minimal because things were great.
43:12
And in Chicago, I was running, I thought I was running the region
43:16
Monday through Friday, but over the weekend all of the officers
43:19
were running my region. So it was a great opportunity to
43:23
be on stage, but it was rather taxing.
43:27
But I was able to. Once again, I hit Chicago at a
43:31
really tough time. Chicago had had, well the entire
43:35
US had had a couple of years of negative comparable sales.
43:39
We set our goals. Our region was called the
43:42
Greater Chicago region. My goal was 10 / 10 = 1 greater
43:47
Chicago region. 10% come one year over 10% come the next
43:51
year. When your total sales are a
43:55
billion, 310%, it's a little stretch, but we got about 6 and
44:01
about 7 the next year. So we went from negative to
44:04
that. I called that a real success.
44:07
I knew that we're not going to get to the 10 / 10, but I knew
44:11
early on that sometimes leadership needs to be a little
44:14
irrational to rally the troops, to think out-of-the-box, right?
44:18
I told them we're going to close 100 competitors.
44:22
We closed 124, so I had that opportunity and then a real
44:31
struggle. They wanted me to go back to
44:34
supply chain. The franchisees were having
44:40
doubts about the value of supply chain.
44:43
They thought the suppliers were getting exorbitant profits.
44:49
There was not a lot of transparency, so they wanted me
44:51
to go back to supply chain. They thought that with the
44:54
experience that I had on the field, I would be able to to do
44:58
this. But they told me you can make
45:01
the decision. You want to stay in Chicago,
45:03
stay there, but we want you to do this.
45:06
The third time they asked me the same thing.
45:09
I said I'm in, let's go. I didn't want to leave the, I
45:16
mean, I have left the support department of supply chain to be
45:19
on the line to get the P&L responsibility.
45:21
So I really hesitated because I thought it would truncate my
45:24
potential growth. So I became the chief purchasing
45:28
officer of the US, eventually US and Canada.
45:31
Now I'm managing $11 billion a year, Probably the most
45:38
challenging position of all that I had, but the most rewarding
45:43
because there was a lot of responsibility.
45:48
But I was able to draw on a lot of my experiences from Supply
45:51
Chain International, I mean, in, in Mexico, in the US, from my
45:58
OPS training, from my closeness to the franchisees in LA, then
46:03
in Chicago to my recent experience in Mexico with high
46:07
inflationary economies that allow me to see things that
46:11
supply chain was not seen. We were not hedging commodities
46:17
at the time because at the end of the day it's not McDonald's
46:21
money that is buying this supplies, they're the
46:25
franchisees. So we, we put together programs
46:30
in which we open our, our, our some of our negotiations with
46:35
suppliers to some of the franchisees And we put together
46:38
a, a, a group of franchisees that saw more than they used to
46:42
see a group of suppliers that were involved and engaged in
46:46
other things that were impacting the system as a whole.
46:51
And we started hedging commodities.
46:57
You may recall that McDonald's was in the dollar menu for eight
47:01
years. Beef used to be priced on a
47:05
weekly basis. How can we expect franchisees to
47:10
vote on a program to have a plan for a dollar double cheeseburger
47:16
when you don't know what the meat, your number one item on
47:20
the food cost is going to be priced next week?
47:23
So we had to somehow protect it. So we started the very first
47:27
ever $254 million hedge on me. We had over 50 contracts because
47:34
we didn't want to shock the market.
47:36
We didn't do it to save money. We did it to be able to provide
47:41
predictable competitive pricing. But if franchisees know the
47:45
price of meat is now locked for the next year, now they said I'm
47:50
in, right? We were able to get on it for
47:54
eight years. Wendy's had to drop out because
47:58
they didn't have those protections.
48:00
Today, McDonald's has hedges on tomatoes, on fuel, on corn.
48:07
So it's pretty standard now, but back there it was.
48:11
But it was it was interesting. I remember talking to one of our
48:16
treasury folks that became a very good friend of mine, I
48:19
said. So tell me about our risks
48:22
strategy. They said, well, it's easy, we
48:24
don't take any risks. I said, coming from where I come
48:28
from in Mexico, if we don't protect the the fries that we
48:33
buy from Canada because eventually Mexico open to the
48:36
GAT and and and and the free trade agreement, I says we'll
48:41
hurt. We bring toys from China.
48:43
We don't protect against the EU on devaluation or evaluation on,
48:47
on the on what it costs our toys to be brought in.
48:51
We got a problem. So that experience allow me to
48:56
see the value of hedging to protect, not necessarily to
49:00
save, right. We're able to avoid as much as
49:06
$100 million a year, which for a franchise you're looking at 70,
49:16
100 million. I think the $1,000,000 was about
49:18
$73 a store for every $1,000,000.
49:21
So do the math. I can't.
49:23
That's pretty impressive. And there's a lot more stories
49:26
here that we could tell about you and the McDonald's days, but
49:29
I want to make sure that we give some voice to what you're doing
49:32
now today. So how did the the transition
49:36
from McDonald's into Bien Trucha and some of your consulting work
49:40
coming? So after what I did is supply
49:43
chain, I was president of Latin, and then I did my last dentist,
49:46
the chief global CSR, sustainability, diversity and
49:49
inclusion and philanthropy officer, and I ran Ronald
49:52
McDonald House Charities. When my boss, then CEO Don
49:57
Thompson, to whom I had reported directly for 10 years in
50:02
different positions, announced that he was retiring, I texted
50:06
Deborah and I said Don is retiring and so am I People quit
50:14
people. People don't quit companies.
50:17
And I couldn't see me reporting to anybody else other than Don.
50:23
Don Amanda, principal, very transparent leader, great family
50:26
man, faith man. I'm not a very religious man,
50:31
but I, I value people that have that conviction.
50:40
And I was 60. I was 55 by the time McDonald's
50:44
have been so good to us that I was able to to retire.
50:48
I announced my retirement in March and I retired in December
50:51
of 2015. I have no regrets.
50:55
McDonald's was great and they continue to to do great things
51:01
for us. I I set up a small consulting
51:04
firm helping minority owned businesses go through the
51:06
McDonald's gridlock and I was visiting a restaurant in Geneva.
51:11
I live in the western suburbs of Chicago in Saint Charles, and it
51:15
was called Bientrucci. Bientrucci, say somebody in
51:18
Mexican slang that is on top of his game.
51:21
And I was always impressed by the fact that the owners were
51:25
always in the back. The food was very authentic, the
51:28
flavors very unique. And the owners in the back,
51:32
because I was always looking at the kitchen, they came out and
51:35
said, say, can I help you? I introduced myself.
51:38
And because they're Mexican, I'm Mexican.
51:40
We we stroke a relationship. I told that I thought he needed
51:45
to expand. They were not they they really
51:49
didn't know how. I told him that they should
51:54
probably buy the property that was right next to it that was
51:58
empty. Unfortunately the lady wanted
52:00
too much money for it. But eventually they bought a
52:05
property right next door and they started a new concept.
52:08
And I was helping them just as a advisor without just as a
52:13
friend. When they heard that I was
52:15
leaving McDonald's, they approached me and they wanted to
52:19
create a new concept that was less labor intensive than these
52:24
two restaurants that they had at the time, full service
52:28
restaurants with with waiters and buzzers and dishwashers.
52:33
And all this to something that was more fast casual, less labor
52:38
intensive, that could be more replicatable.
52:41
And I convinced them to sell me a portion of what they had so
52:45
that we could start there and then see how this would
52:48
progress. I joined them in 2016.
52:50
When we started, we opened two more restaurants in Naperville,
52:55
and we just recently opened this new concept of more
52:59
replicatable. The pandemic got in in between.
53:02
That's why it took us as long as it did.
53:05
But now we have a commissary where we can produce most of the
53:09
ingredients in house, deliver on a daily basis and the kitchen
53:15
only needs to heat it up. We make tortillas in house on
53:21
the premises. So now this more replicatable
53:24
model, we think that we can grow a lot faster and now we have the
53:30
capacity on the commissary to supply maybe half a dozen
53:35
restaurants if need be. We're we signed a lease for a
53:40
second one and we're looking for others.
53:44
So the the. Advantage of the commissary is
53:47
that you can more efficiently prep food for the multiple
53:50
locations then you could if you were to try to set up all that
53:53
food prep at each of the individual locations.
53:56
However, it hasn't been easy, Anthony, because my partners are
54:01
really artists and when I came in, they had not a brand, but
54:07
several brands and they have kept that individuality.
54:14
I was coming from a single brand standardized menu.
54:19
It took us about three years to say, hey, we have 3 restaurants
54:23
that serve Mexican food. Can we at least get those three
54:28
to serve the same menu so that we can then have the economies
54:31
of scale and prepare some of those ingredients somewhere
54:34
else? Now we have that we didn't have
54:37
them. Now this new concept will have
54:39
the same name, the same menu, so that that definitely the the the
54:45
commissary serves several purposes. 1 is standardization
54:50
of purchases, standardization of quality and recipes.
54:56
And also then takes a lot of the initial investment out of the
55:00
restaurant because now you don't need to cook, you only need to
55:04
prep, right? And so which of the concepts
55:08
'cause you you have several, which of the concepts is the one
55:11
that you're sort of focusing on now that?
55:12
Is it is called sweet Chilango Chilango is a name that is given
55:18
to somebody that is born in Mexico City and we we did a
55:23
sweet Chilango sweet chill and go sort of AI like that play a
55:30
funny name. All of our names, I'm telling
55:32
you, one of our partners, all of them are very, I have a lot of
55:37
ingenuity, but the names are very whimsical.
55:39
Is Bientrucci Somebody's on top of his game.
55:42
The second one is Ato de Madre, which is freaking great.
55:46
The third one is Cubo. What's up?
55:49
And then Santos. Yeah, the good heavens.
55:51
And I'll swit Chilango. Swit Chilango.
55:53
So I. Like it and so what's the dining
55:57
experience at a swit Chilango and.
55:58
So Swit Chilango is more of a fast cashew.
56:01
So you order all on an app, which is a little difficult for
56:07
some of us all folks. So we need to train our older
56:11
consumers to do this because everything is done on an app
56:15
either on the front counter or from the table and the food is
56:20
brought to you and then you can order from the table.
56:24
A lot of our orders start to go obviously.
56:27
And now having the commissary is going to allow us to then maybe
56:31
do some retailing, starting at the restaurants.
56:35
We have frozen burritos. We have a virtual brand that we
56:40
came out of during the pandemic that is called Little Donkeys.
56:43
A little donkey is a burrito. That's a direct translation.
56:48
So we have those frozen you can take home.
56:51
We make salsas, now we're bottling them, you can take
56:54
home. So we think that the commissary
56:56
is definitely something that is going to give us much more
57:00
flexibility into the future. And do you see providing those
57:06
prepared foods at like grocery stores in the future?
57:10
So we we may, it's a little more complicated because you need to
57:13
have capacity right now. What we need is to fill it up
57:17
with our own restaurants and eventually think about expansion
57:20
and do that. Well, yeah, absolutely.
57:22
Why not? Well, we have some of our best
57:24
sellers. People ask for them when they
57:27
come to our restaurants, our esquitas, which is the chart,
57:34
corn kernels with some cream and some lime and it's just
57:39
phenomenal, which is a a dish that is very much consumed in
57:44
Mexico on the streets. They serve them on polystyrene
57:46
cups at night for you to keep warmth.
57:50
It's just people want it. You know, JC, you said something
57:56
earlier, I, I kind of want to go back to this success is a, a
57:59
toll road. It's not a freeway in.
58:01
In that spirit, one of my favorite questions to ask is
58:04
always about a serious challenge that you've overcome.
58:09
What was it? How'd you get through it?
58:11
What did you learn coming out the other side?
58:16
So one of them was my own internal fight, right with my
58:21
ego. We all have egos, some of us
58:25
bigger than others, and it was very difficult.
58:29
Not only that instance that I talked to you about, it was
58:33
three years that I was out there that I felt that I was under the
58:38
microscope, not only because the high-ranking officers were
58:44
looking at me for potential growth, but my peers were
58:48
looking at though why is he getting this special treatment?
58:53
So I had to ace all of the courses.
58:57
I had to ace Heimerger University.
59:00
I had to always excel. So I put a lot of pressure on
59:03
myself that I shouldn't have. I should have been more
59:09
vulnerable. I should have allowed others to
59:17
to see my weaknesses early on. It was easier for me to open up
59:23
once I had arrived because I had been exposed to so many
59:28
disciplines. I knew a a little bit about
59:32
everything, but not a lot of anything.
59:36
So that forced me to rely on my people, for me to delegate
59:42
responsibility with authority. I think that was a a transition
59:50
that was very easy for me. But that leadership style is
59:55
very much needed, is very much appreciated by people because it
1:00:00
allows you as the employee to grow not only as a professional
1:00:09
but also as a person. Because if the easiest thing to
1:00:13
do is to do what you're told, the most difficult thing to do
1:00:16
is to find somebody, tell them what needs to be done and get
1:00:19
away, and let them figure out how to do it and do it and do it
1:00:23
better than you did. Another challenge was I'm a
1:00:35
trust. I always trusted people
1:00:40
intrinsically and I've heard in the past that you need to trust
1:00:45
but verify. I learned the hard way.
1:00:53
I'll tell you what I can. In one of my positions, I had an
1:01:01
an employee that was extremely revered as you have to keep this
1:01:08
guy. This is the best that can
1:01:11
happen. Rely on him because he is your
1:01:15
right hand man. He was my CFO in one of my roles
1:01:20
and Long story short, we found out that he was embezzling money
1:01:28
and the tough lesson for me was that I had to suspend them
1:01:33
without letting anybody know. I took a lot of criticism, but
1:01:38
during the investigation, you can't say anything.
1:01:41
We ended up prosecuting and convicting.
1:01:47
I lost a lot of sleepless nights over this because I fell for the
1:01:54
employee. But I also thought that it was
1:01:58
important to set the to live by the values, right?
1:02:02
But I struggle with that. So I I had to grab this and read
1:02:08
it. Integrity, integrity, integrity.
1:02:13
What you, what you do is louder than what you say.
1:02:16
So I can't hear what you're saying.
1:02:19
So the struggle for you in that one, JC, was the impact that it
1:02:24
was having on this person as an individual well.
1:02:27
It was a friend of mine. Yeah.
1:02:30
You ruined his life. Well, he ruined his life.
1:02:35
I understand, but you feel like you're having a hand in that.
1:02:38
It's just not not easy to do, but if I had not had this, I
1:02:46
don't know what would have happened.
1:02:49
That gave you sort of the the the framework or the mold.
1:02:52
To I know what I had to do had to be early on, Yeah, I just
1:02:56
need to go through the process. Yeah, I didn't make it easy,
1:02:59
but. I I, I knew what needed to be
1:03:02
done. There was no doubt in my mind,
1:03:05
but it was a struggle nevertheless.
1:03:08
Yeah. The the first challenge that you
1:03:14
talked about, sort of struggling with the ego.
1:03:16
What kind of coming through that and looking back, what, what's
1:03:20
the advice that you would give to somebody else kind of looking
1:03:23
to make their way up in their own career right now kind of
1:03:26
based on those learnings and those experiences you had?
1:03:29
Always have a long term view. Know that while the shortest
1:03:38
distance between two points is a straight line, the road to
1:03:43
success is not a straight line. And you have to many times take
1:03:48
a step back to jump 2 steps up and and.
1:03:59
It's OK to be proud, but you need to be humble.
1:04:05
JC, I've just got one more question for you, but before I
1:04:07
ask it, I want to do 2 things. First of all, everyone listening
1:04:10
today, I'm going to invite you to hit the follow button on your
1:04:12
favorite podcast app. Continue to get more great
1:04:15
interviews like we've had here today with JC.
1:04:18
JC I also want to let people know the best way to either get
1:04:21
in touch with you directly or to continue to follow your story or
1:04:24
that of Bien Trucha and all the other things that you're working
1:04:27
on. Sure, I don't know if you have a
1:04:29
way to share my LinkedIn profile or am I sure do GM integrity
1:04:34
profile. I just recently published my
1:04:37
book which is my story. If you want to know more about
1:04:41
it, it just came out on Amazon, which is right here.
1:04:46
My way to the American. Dream and this is like an
1:04:50
autobiography. This is My Autobiography.
1:04:52
This is this. Now, I'm not a writer, and my
1:04:59
original intent was to write it for my children or my
1:05:02
grandchildren to have their story.
1:05:05
But as as I started digging into the history of my family, I got
1:05:09
enamored with it and I wrote 80 pages of the story.
1:05:13
I have 10 generations in here, which is fascinating to me.
1:05:17
And my family may not be to you, but but there there's my entire
1:05:23
life up to last year. That's impressive to be able to
1:05:30
find your lineage that far back. Yeah, it is.
1:05:33
And I had to stop because I thought it would have been a
1:05:35
genealogy book. That's great.
1:05:39
It's just. Been and I wrote it in Spanish
1:05:41
and then translated into English.
1:05:43
It's available in both languages.
1:05:45
OK, but you have to, you have to look at an Amazon show that's
1:05:48
here titled in English or in Spanish.
1:05:50
That's terrific. Anywhere else folks can find it?
1:05:52
Or just published on Amazon for the month.
1:05:53
They're from Amazon. OK, great.
1:05:55
We'll, we'll include those links in the show notes.
1:05:57
OK. So last question for you, JC.
1:06:00
So you've had a long and storied career at McDonald's, decided it
1:06:05
was time to move on from that. Now you're doing some consulting
1:06:07
and you're helping the folks at the Intruccia.
1:06:09
What? What do you think the next few
1:06:11
years look like for you in in a professional capacity?
1:06:17
So I've I've always thought that the price of leadership is
1:06:21
responsibility. So I have been involved in
1:06:26
not-for-profit boards for my entire career.
1:06:31
I've sat on at least a dozen, from the Mexican American
1:06:35
Opportunity Foundation to the Mayor and Jury Rehab Center to
1:06:40
the National Council of La Raza to the Council of the Americas.
1:06:44
I was in the corporate board of advisors of the Marshall School
1:06:47
of Business at USC for 10 years. Today I'm I'm the chairman of
1:06:53
the board of Roseville University's board of trustees.
1:06:56
I've been there for five years. I also sit on the board of
1:06:59
Northwestern Medicine, a conglomerate of 11 hospitals in
1:07:03
in Chicago. I sit on the board of the World
1:07:07
Human Foundation, another organization that fights for
1:07:12
everybody's opportunities. I sit on the board of of Tice,
1:07:20
which is a a quick service restaurant operator of today, a
1:07:27
few Popeyes in Alabama, Georgia and Florida.
1:07:32
I was elected to another board of a privately held company that
1:07:36
I can't talk to as of yet. So I'm I'm very involved with my
1:07:41
family, spending as much time as I can with them, and I'm as busy
1:07:46
as I want to be not as busy as I could be.
1:07:48
Anthony, which my wife always tell me that I am not retired.
1:07:53
I am because I, I do what I want when I want.
1:07:57
I was in Cancun last week. We're going back in two weeks.
1:08:00
I couldn't do that when I was at McDonald's.
1:08:03
I was, you know, I. I feel like there's something we
1:08:05
haven't really given voice to yet.
1:08:07
And I, and I want to do it here as we, as we wrap up, because
1:08:10
you know, you talk about, you know, some of the boards that
1:08:12
you sit on and one of the, the last positions that you held at
1:08:15
McDonald's. It's, it's clear to me that
1:08:17
you're not just a guy who's about sort of money and his own
1:08:22
personal development. Like the comment you just made,
1:08:25
Like fighting like for the rights of others?
1:08:28
Like where does this sense of responsibility do you think come
1:08:34
from? My mom as well as Deborah.
1:08:39
Deborah, it's a physical therapy by training, but at the age of
1:08:44
14, she was giving treatment to a child with PCI.
1:08:49
At the age of 14. We have been Deborah and I
1:08:55
opened the first Ronald McDonald House in Mexico.
1:08:57
She started the first children's volunteer program around the
1:09:03
world for Ronald McDonald House charities.
1:09:05
We sat on the board of RMHC in LA, in Mexico, in Chicago.
1:09:11
I was the president, CEO in in global.
1:09:15
My mom was always very instrumental in instining in us
1:09:21
the fact that while to whom he has much given is expected from
1:09:28
that much. She was always helping others.
1:09:32
And I learned a lot. You'll read on my book, if you
1:09:34
read it, how she helped a lot of people that we did not know
1:09:40
until she passed. And then people came and said,
1:09:42
hey, by the way, I owe this, that your mom gave me.
1:09:45
I owe this. And did you know that she did
1:09:47
that? So that that has always helped
1:09:51
us and I think we have being very lucky because our children
1:09:54
are also very given. Our middle daughter is a
1:09:58
bilingual special Ed teacher. Our son works for a homeless
1:10:03
shelter. So it's Deborah has been on the
1:10:08
board of RMHC forever. That's here in Chicago.
1:10:12
So not anymore, but I think it comes from my mom and the fact
1:10:18
that we have ensued in our family.
1:10:21
Any time we have a family reunion, my brothers, sisters,
1:10:24
we go to our rental house and serve dinner for Thanksgiving or
1:10:29
Christmas. And it's 30 of us.
1:10:30
So it's quite a few of us. So it, it has been embedded in
1:10:34
all of us. If you were to ask any of our
1:10:38
family members, not only the my children, grandchildren or in
1:10:44
laws, we always look for the opportunity to to help others.
1:10:52
Why my inclination to help Latinos is obvious, but the
1:10:59
reason why I left US CS Board to sit on Roosevelt University
1:11:06
because the procedure the the the procedures of USC, you
1:11:09
understand. And it was because Roosevelt
1:11:13
University was founded 80 years ago based on the notion of
1:11:22
equality and inclusion. Anybody and everybody is
1:11:25
welcome. 30% of our students are Latino, 25 African American,
1:11:31
most of them a great majority women.
1:11:35
I thought that my impact there would be much greater than
1:11:38
anything I could do at USC. So we love doing what we do.
1:11:46
And once again, the price of leadership is responsibility.
1:11:50
I think that's a beautiful message to end today's interview
1:11:55
on JCI. Want to be the first one to
1:11:57
thank you for sharing both your time and your story with us
1:11:59
today. Really appreciate.
1:12:00
It, Anthony, it's been a pleasure.
1:12:02
Anything I can do? Folks, that's a wrap on another
1:12:06
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
1:12:08
Thanks for learning with us today.