Othello McDonald's owner caught a dream after crossing border

Ted Escobar/The Sun Tribune - Fernando Moreno, left, and his son and partner Brian Moreno, operate the McDonald’s on Main Street in Othello.

by Ted Escobar
| February 27, 2017 12:00 AM

OTHELLO — Self-help writers will tell you that most successful business people start with a dream. Fernando Moreno didn’t have one when he crossed the border from Mexico at the age of 14.

All Moreno knew when he and his siblings crossed the border in 1962 was that their mother, living in Chicago, had been watching them from afar. He was getting into trouble, and she had to get him away from it.

“I was running with the wrong crowd,” he said. “I skipped school 112 days one year.”

Things changed rapidly after Moreno caught up with his mother. They were going to be educated, and they were going to work, she insisted.

“She told us to learn English well because this was where we were going to live. We were not going to go back to Mexico,” Moreno said.

Eventually Moreno came to Othello as the owner of a new McDonald’s restaurant franchise. He’ll be 71 in May, and he has no plan for retirement any time soon.

“I still have a lot of things to accomplish,” he said.

Moreno’s transformation from kid to adult came fast. He served in the U.S. Army from 1965-67. Fortunately, he missed Vietnam and caught a glimpse of the future.

Taking advantage of the education funding earned through that service, Moreno went back to Chicago to study computer programming. Then he went to work for United Airlines for 14 years. Through the years, attending night classes, Moreno acquired degrees in general science and political science.

Moreno ended the career with United in Denver, Colo. He was dreaming about being independent, and he did something about it. He learned that McDonald’s had a program called Business Facility Lease and applied.

After doing its well-known due diligence, McDonald’s accepted Moreno into the program. He underwent three years of training at McDonald’s in Denver.

It was a combination of work and study. He went back to Chicago for the last two weeks of his training to attended Hamburger University.

When Moreno was finished with his training, he had acquired 40 hours of college credit. He was offered the opportunity to open a new McDonald’s in Othello, said yes, and he’s glad he came.

“Very happy,” he said. “All of my kids have done very well.”

Probably because of Moreno. His older son Mike, his daughter Debbie and younger son Brian grew up at the restaurant.

“They worked at other McDonald’s restaurants while in college,” Moreno said.

Mike is a computer specialist. He has worked for Microsoft and Amazon and is now with Twitter. Debbie has a masters degree and is an occupational therapist in Seattle.

Brian, 31, who earned a degree at WSU-Tri-Cities, asked his father if he could join him as a partner. Moreno knew his son had been thinking about it and welcomed the request.

But it was McDonald’s which had to make the decision. After its due diligence, it accepted Brian as his father’s partner.

It took Moreno only three years to go from lease to ownership. The building belongs to McDonald’s, but the business is his. And he’s proud of it.

“When you’re out of the country and you see a McDonald’s, your chest just swells,” he said.

Moreno, who was born in Juan Aldama, Zacatecas, Mexico, has found the independence he sought. He can go away at a moment’s notice and know everything is under control with Brian. But when he’s here, he works seven days a week.

As most every one knows, McDonald’s has stringent rules for the operation of the franchises. Moreno follows them all diligently.

However, he is allowed to do his own marketing and community outreach. His restaurant supports reading programs for children.

Moreno has about 40 employees at any one time, and he treats them more like associates. Several are adults and some have been with him 10 years.

Moreno understands that McDonald’s is only a starting point for some employees. He trains them fully in everything at McDonald’s and says any one of them could run the restaurant.

“One of the things I like best about McDonald’s is that you meet a lot of people and help a lot of people,” he said.

Moreno takes his place in the community seriously. He’s helped a couple of people start businesses, He counsels seriously any young person who wants to know about business.

Moreno has formed a company that is trying to discover uses for coffee grounds so they don’t just have to be thrown away. He has produced fireplace pellets that include coffee grounds.

Moreno will spray coffee grounds on some small apple trees this year to see if they’ll work as an insecticide. He is looking into using coffee grounds in the production of decorative metal panels for uses like dashboards in automobiles.

“Coffee grounds extend the use of kitty litter by two weeks and reduces the smell,” he said.

This may seem crazy to some people, but it is people who stretch their minds and consider the possibilities from whom progress comes.

Moreno has conceptualized a valve-less automotive engine. He believes such an engine would reduce fuel consumption and emissions dramatically. He doesn’t know where the project will go, or it will, but he’s working it.

It’s a good thing Moreno’s mother brought him to the U.S. He had, and has, a lot to offer.