Willie Wilson recounts rise from sharecropper childhood to McDonald’s franchisee

Willie Wilson, a declared candidate for mayor of Chicago, told host Steve Berkowitz he approached McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc and was offered a franchise opportunity that launched his business career. “He gave me an opportunity to have a McDonald’s in San Diego, California, but I didn’t take that one,” Wilson said, adding he later received a franchise in Chicago’s South Side on 79th Street.

Wilson described rising from a background of sharecropping and limited formal schooling to managing and owning multiple McDonald’s franchises. He said his first restaurant gave him experience running employees and balancing books: “I learned how to survive. I learned how to balance my book, by learning the hard way.” The account was offered as part of Wilson’s personal narrative about self-reliance and local reinvestment.