La-Van Hawkins

business owner

Personal Information

Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, in Cabrini-Green's housing project {former gang member/cocaine addict}; self-made millionaire; franchise owner proposed 125 Burger King units in empowerment zones as part of federal initiative.
Education: Private high school with full scholarship (grade 10 dropped out to care for ailing mother when father died).

Career

South Chicago McDonald's franchise (age 11 for uncle Herman Petty); Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) (1970-1986); franchisee owner Checkers (1986-1995); owner Inner City Foods Corporation; Burger King empowerment zones (1995-); Chairman/CEO Urban City Foods (1995-).

Life's Work

As owner of 14 Burger King franchises in some of the nation's poorest urban areas, including Detroit, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Chicago, La-Van Hawkins has become a multi-millionaire who has proven that hard work and dedication to one's community can facilitate economic empowerment for the African American population. At 6'2" tall and 285 pounds, the imposing 37-year-old has made millions with his version of the fast food franchise. He has created jobs for thousands of people in Black communities and by this has attempted to help as many people get off welfare as possible.

La-Van Hawkins, who grew up in Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing project, is no stranger to the inner city or to its many problems. His childhood consisted, among other things, in running with a gang and suffering through a $2000-a-day drug addiction. There he experienced first hand, the poverty of life in the inner city. When Hawkins was in the tenth grade, his father died and he was forced to drop out of the private high school he attended to care for his sickly mother. It was at this time that he began working full-time at one of the two McDonalds that his uncle owned. He started out scrubbing toilets, but within a very short amount of time he had become general manager of the busy Water Tower unit in downtown Chicago. By the time Hawkins left McDonalds, he had risen to the position of director of operations. Hawkins left McDonalds in the late 1970s to join the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) chain where he worked for eight years as first an area manager and then a district manager. In 1981 Hawkins began his fast-food ascent with the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain on a special project for more successful marketing toward inner-city patrons.

In 1986 Hawkins left KFC as a regional vice president to become a partner in an investment group with Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens and several others. They worked to acquire the rights to construct Bojangles units in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., resulting in 15 new stores. After the stores were completed, the group sold them to the company, yielding profits which Hawkins invested in Checkers franchise units. Top notch customer service practices, including serving orders within 30 seconds and personal service by Hawkins himself at certain locations, assured the phenomenal success of Hawkins-run Checkers sites, which became instrumental in cleaning up surrounding neighborhoods. Featuring menu items such as honey chicken, chili dogs, Cajun burgers, and fish sandwiches, Hawkins opened one of his first Checkers franchises in 1990 in Evergreen Park near Chicago, the first franchise unit to be certified as an official training store for Checkers employees. By 1995, five years into his Checkers venture, Hawkins, as owner of Inner City Foods Corporation, was running the most successful African American franchise restaurant company in the United States. He owned 47 Checkers restaurants and brought in close to $65 million a year.

Inner City Foods Corporation, under Hawkins' direction, concentrated Checkers franchises in urban minority neighborhoods, including sites in Harlem and Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant. Hawkins conducted his business with civic-minded aspirations to employ young minority workers, providing them with opportunities for financial independence through increased management and ownership opportunities. "I'm in the unique position to take people off welfare, give them job training, and educate and motivate them," Hawkins said, according to Nation's Restaurant News. "And I'm going to show that all the stereotypes about the inner city have been a farce." Specifically, Hawkins boasted that Checkers employees making $25,000 to $35,000 per year had earned less than $5 per hour a few years prior. Hawkins maintained a focus on economic empowerment in communities where he established franchises. Hawkins added, "My No. 1 goal is to use Checkers brand to provide economic empowerment in the black community and to make as many black millionaires, regional vice presidents, and managers as I can."

Providing employees with accelerated opportunities to rise through franchise ranks, Hawkins permitted the attainment of financial rewards sooner than in other fast-food chains. For example, two directors of Hawkins-owned Checkers, who began as assistant managers, were earning $75,000 per year each within two years. Hawkins also provided salary increases of two to three dollars per hour for minimum wage earners 90 days into employment, marking the first of five job promotions toward general management positions.

Hawkins fulfilled his objective at Checkers to facilitate economic development and empowerment in Black communities through his motto of "teach, reach, and motivate." Translated, Hawkins encouraged Black Americans to buy from Black business owners, duplicating similar efforts by former Black activists. These activists successfully established opportunities for African Americans while simultaneously boycotting businesses that engaged in unfair employment practices toward Blacks. Despite the success of his Checkers restaurants, and the fact that he was the largest franchise owner in the Checkers chain, Hawkins soon decided, according to Restaurant Business magazine, that he "wanted something bigger."

In 1995, Hawkins found what he wanted when Burger King approached him and asked him to front their newly planned program to set up franchises in urban inner cities. Representatives of Burger King and Hawkins' newest entity, Baltimore-based Urban City Foods, soon thereafter announced plans to open 125 fast food Burger King Express Ways in nine American cities by the year 2000. The partnership, the largest of its kind in the fast food industry, emanated as a result of presidentially-designated Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities. Such areas became part of a major federal initiative in 1995 to boost economies, giving tax breaks as an encouragement for business growth. As chairman and CEO of Urban City Foods (UCF), Hawkins spearheaded the development and operation of unique Burger King Express Way franchises to provide job opportunities for minorities in these federally funded areas.

The first group of the proposed 125 Burger King sites included 25 restaurants specifically designed for appeal to urban African Americans. These sites were constructed between March of 1996 and September of 1997 in Washington, D.C., Chicago, and Detroit. Most construction was concentrated in Chicago's inner-city at a cost of $175 million. These Chicago locations employed African American owners and approximately 2,500 employees from surrounding neighborhoods. Hawkins himself contributed at least $70 million to the Chicago construction. Site locations for these first 25 restaurants also included Washington, D.C., St. Louis, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, Detroit, and Prince George's County, Maryland.

Hawkins expected to own an eventual 32 Burger King restaurants in the federally-aided Detroit area alone by century's end. The planned stores would add to the already existing 20 Burger Kings and 40 McDonald's chains in the city. Similarly, 15 innovative Burger King Express Ways, under Hawkins' direction, arose in Oakland, California between 1996 and 1997. Again, nearly 2,000 jobs for local residents were created. Burger King executives limited their initial investments to the first 25 outlets at $1 million each, launching Burger King's entry into the African American market.

With a goal of creating 20,000 new jobs through the 125 chain project, Hawkins predicted that 60% of the franchise general managers would be taken from the crew's ranks, thereby increasing financial opportunities for employees to include franchise ownership and company loan guarantees. And although there was initial skepticism regarding inner city franchises, from 1996-1997 Hawkins boasted average sales of $1.9 million per unit, almost twice that of traditional Burger King outlets. Each Hawkins unit is a double drive-thru "Burger King Express Way," with almost none having inside seating.

In partnership with "Black Entertainment's" Robert Johnson, Hawkins utilized interior design knowledge, incorporating bright cherry red, metallic silver accents, and neon hues in his restaurants, which studies said appealed to African American inner city patrons. Additionally, some of the exclusive menu items at these Burger Kings included banana milkshakes and Cajun fries, and excluded things like salads and onion rings. Cultural music in the form of hip-hop and rhythm and blues was also played at these modern Burger Kings. As protection in rough city areas, uniformed Nation of Islam guards were employed to stand alongside the red, black, and green African American flag. With 36 total locations in empowerment zones, Hawkins boasted only one incident of robbery.

While Hawkins had his share of critics, including those within the industry who claimed that he was self-motivated and unwilling to acknowledge efforts by other franchisees, Hawkins dismissed such claims as petty jealousy. Facts supported that the existing minority Burger King franchisees had never built more than two stores per year in comparison with his approximate 25. Not surprisingly, Hawkins predicted that he would establish 400 new Burger King units by the year 2000.

The reasons for his success seemed to be as much for the man himself as for the precautions he took. Hawkins engaged in half- million dollar donations to local churches and school programs in neighborhoods boasting his Burger Kings, and therefore local leaders embraced his coming. Hawkins aimed not just to build his business empire, but to build neighborhoods and self-esteem as well. "You give people ownership in the company. You make them want to work hard. It's all about empowerment," he said, according to Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News. He claimed that one of the biggest problems with inner city businesses previously had been that these businesses took millions of dollars out of the black communities and put nothing back in. Hawkins has begun to rectify that situation.

While some of Burger King's executives were once wary of Hawkins' innovative ideas, they have begun to follow in his footsteps, having witnessed the magnitude of his success. Hawkins has succeeded in becoming a civic-minded millionaire, currently worth some $50 million by his own estimates. And besides an announcement expected in early 1998 concerning another 50 Burger King units to be built, Hawkins has continued to enlarge his interests, expanding his business into other food industries. Some of Hawkins' ventures included the purchase of a 99-unit California-based pizza company called Nancy's, and plans to launch a family dining concept beyond an exclusive African American market. Hawkins also has intentions of seeking public office in the future, perhaps as mayor to one of the cities he has been helping.

Hawkins, who has enjoyed wealth, homes in three cities, and increasing societal influence, has maintained his goal of taking people off welfare by providing them with job training and meaningful employment. Feeling blessed by God, Hawkins has continued to create employment opportunities for impoverished and/or oppressed minorities. As such, Hawkins has increased nationally the African American share of the fast food market.

Hawkins felt the time was right to fully realize his concept of Black businesses giving back to the Black community, especially in light of political shifts away from affirmative action, minority set-asides and other special treatments of economically disadvantaged groups, and his efforts have proved enormously successful. Time will tell the extent to which his efforts have contributed historically to lasting economic benefit for impoverished African Americans.

Awards

Contributor of substantial ($500,000) donations to churches and school programs in neighborhoods with a Hawkins Burger Kings; Million Dollar Man March (1996); provides significant employment opportunities with employee stock options/ownership programs for thousands of individuals in some of city's poorest urban areas.

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