At 35, Will Galloway is the youngest McDonald’s owner-operator in the Akron area. But he’s also already a 10-year veteran and grew up in the business.
Galloway, owner of WillJen Corp., named for himself and his wife, owns three area McDonald’s — on Steels Corners Road in Stow, at state Route 43 and Water Street in Kent and on state Route 59 or Kent Road in Stow.
Galloway just completed a new restaurant on state Route 59 in Stow, moving it from an existing store farther east, just past Fishcreek Road, to what was considered a prime spot in the busy Stow-Kent retail area in front of Hobby Lobby.
Galloway remembers contractors who were working on his new McDonald’s saying they had no idea there was a McDonald’s just down the road.
“That’s why I moved,” Galloway said.
The new location, which opened two weeks ago, is slightly smaller than the old McDonald’s, which was demolished this week. But the new $2 million store has the latest look for McDonald’s and is called the “living room package,” Galloway said. The idea is having a feeling of being in a living room or lounge.
Galloway added a few extra perks, such as a heat-sensitive table that changes colors when hands glide along the top. There are also heat-sensitive booth seats that change color when warm hands press against it.
“The coffee clubs and the kids are going to like this one,” he said. “It’s mindless fun.”
Galloway’s career with McDonald’s began when he was 25. The Aurora High School graduate had taken some marketing classes at the University of Akron and decided he wanted to become a computer programmer. But after a few years, when Galloway got married and began having a family, his wife wanted to stay home with the children.
Galloway said he decided to start the process to get approved to become a McDonald’s owner-operator.
“We’ve been eating McDonald’s forever and I never get sick of it,” Galloway said.
His dad, Charles Galloway, has been a McDonald’s owner-operator for 35 years and owns two stores in Ravenna, one in Streetsboro and the Howe Avenue store near Chapel Hill Mall.
Will Galloway got approved at age 25 to be an owner-operator. He was the youngest at the time in Northeast Ohio; he now says there are a few who have him beat near Cleveland and Youngstown. Then he bought his first store from his father — the Howe Avenue location.
Approval to buy a McDonald’s location depends on an owner’s explanation of how he or she will make that location better than the existing owner.
Galloway said he renovated the Howe Avenue store from its 1950s look to a more “retro look.”
Recently, Galloway sold the Howe Avenue store back to his dad, in part, to help pay for the new store in Stow.
Being a second-generation owner-operator is not unusual in the McDonald’s world, said Phil Saken, McDonald’s communications manager.
“The beauty of the McDonald’s system is that we really are mainly a collection of small businesses. Many of those small businesses have become family traditions; we have second-generation owner/operators in the Ohio Region who not only work to keep the Golden Arches shining brightly, but also to advance a family legacy. We’re very proud of the people who partner with us as McDonald’s owner/operators, and they clearly share that pride by being good stewards of our brand, generation after generation,” Saken said.
John Blickle, owner-operator of Rubber City McDonald’s, which owns the largest number of McDonald’s in the Akron area, said it’s more the norm that adult children join the McDonald’s family business in Northeast Ohio. Blickle’s son, Carl, is pursuing approval from McDonald’s to become an owner-operator in the family business. Will Galloway’s older brother, Charlie, is a manager at their father’s Howe Road store and is also in the program to become an owner-operator.
Blickle said Will Galloway is the “kind of person McDonald’s would want to grow.”
“He’s just very involved in the business. He works the stores,” Blickle said.
But while Blickle’s son intends to stay within his family’s business, Will Galloway said he was interested in starting his own.
“Would he have bought the heat-sensitive table?” Galloway questioned. “When it’s my money, it’s my decision. I think it’s going to drive business here and that’s cool.”
WillJen Corp. employs about 150 people, or 50 to 70 per store. The new Stow store added 20 new employees, he said.
Still, it’s a small organization and Galloway said he has done every job in the store.
“I’ve cleaned toilets. I’m no better than anybody else,” he said.
Galloway said he plans renovations for his other two stores, but has no immediate timelines. And as with many McDonald’s owner-operators, he’s “always looking to buy” another location.
Betty Lin-Fisher can be reached at 330-996-3688 or blinfisher@thebeaconjournal.com