Feature Stories - February 2002

Big Mack

Hard Work Spells Success for Reno Businessman

by Kathleen Foley

Luther Mack knows what hard work is all about. As a teenage ranchhand, he bucked hay and shoveled pig manure. He has worked as an auxiliary police officer and as an assistant manager in a department store. He has held positions in several government agencies, including the Nevada Department of Employment Security, the Department of Highways and the Small Business Administration. Always interested in government and politics, he served as a labor relations specialist for Senator Paul Laxalt. But Luther Mack always wanted to own his own business.

Why? "Because it was a challenge," he explained. "You have to make payroll based on your own hard work, experience and education – that’s a challenge." While working as an assistant store manager at the Gray Reid Department store in Reno, Mack came across a magazine advertisement that read, "If you are energetic and hard working, McDonald’s Corporation is looking for you." He recalled, "I was already putting in long hours at the store and I knew all about hard work, so I decided to apply for a franchise." That was in 1969, just a year after the first McDonald’s restaurant opened in Nevada. It took Mack until 1974 to actually open his first restaurant.

"I worked two jobs for 10 years and saved some money," he said. "When I was ready to open my first restaurant, I was working for the Small Business Administration, so I couldn’t apply for an SBA loan. Instead, I got conventional financing from Valley Bank. It cost over $300,000 to buy my first place from the previous owner. That was a lot of money in the ’70s. This was when banks weren’t used to making business loans to either women or minorities." Mack credits his reputation as a hard worker with helping him get the credit he needed.

Mack was born in Mississippi. When he was six months old, his family moved to Hawthorne, Nevada, where his father found work as a truck driver at the Hawthorne Ammunition Depot. In 1954, the family moved to Reno, where Luther attended Reno High School, graduating in 1958. He has lived in Reno ever since, except for a five-year tour of duty with the Marine Corps.

"In terms of diversity, I’ve been very fortunate," he said. "There were maybe a hundred black people in Reno when I was growing up, and I was the only black in my high school graduating class, but my school included lots of hard-working people who didn’t care what color you were as long as you were willing to work hard. During the summers, I had a job on a ranch bucking hay, starting each day at 4 a.m. That’s where I learned the true meaning of the expression ‘back-breaking work.’ I was fortunate to live in Reno. Because it was a small town of about 75,000 then, it was easy to become known by people in the community. Everybody knew Luther Mack was a hard worker, and that reputation helped me get financing."

Mack now employs 400 people at the eight McDonalds franchises he owns in the Reno/Sparks area, with a ninth location scheduled to open this spring. When asked for the secret to his success, he said his experience in the military was very important. "It taught me to be tough, and to do the right things the right way all the time, with no excuses," he said. "Another factor is consistency – doing the same things day after day, week after week, month after month." And of course, there’s the elbow grease. "When you own restaurants, you have to work 24/7, not 8 to 5," explained Mack. "You work hard, put in long hours, then you get successful. My stores are rated AAA by the McDonalds Corporation. That means they have achieved the highest levels of quality, service and cleanliness. You can’t maintain those high standards working just eight hours a day."

Mack claimed his one weakness is a failure to delegate responsibilities to others.

"I always want to have my hand in everything that’s going on," he explained. "But, one reason I feel that way is that I love what I’m doing. My friends occasionally drag me away from work to go someplace, but to me, a vacation is like work, because I’m away from what I love doing."

Mack’s busy schedule begins each day with a 4 a.m. workout at the gym and proceeds to a day-long round of visits to each of his restaurants, finally ending around 7 or 8 p.m. This grueling workday would exhaust many younger people, but since his earliest days, the 62-year-old Mack has still made time to sit on a surprising number of community boards, committees and boards of directors. He has served for 13 years on the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which regulates all boxing matches in the state, and was appointed chairman of the commission upon the death of Dr. Elias Ghanem last summer. Mack, a Republican, was nominated by Sen. Bill Raggio to serve on the Governor’s Task Force on Tax Policy. The task force is charged with the Herculean task of reviewing the state’s tax structure and making recommendations for tax policies to offset a looming $1 billion budget shortfall. He is also a tireless supporter of the University of Nevada Reno, and just completed a term as the chairman of the UNR Foundation. Mack, who attended UNR but did not graduate, was given an honorary doctorate in 1998 for his contributions to the school and the community.

Why has he so generously given of his time? "I think I have something to contribute," he explained. "My 27 years of experience in business gives me a perspective I think is valuable. People need to know how the business community thinks. Also, I want to give back to the state of Nevada. For me, it’s payback time. If you don’t give back, you don’t become profitable."

When asked for suggestions for those considering going into business for themselves, Mack replied, "My advice would be to get into something you love. That’s the most important. But also count up the cost - realize that there’s a price to pay. Your family suffers a great deal when you’re first getting started. I don’t regret what I did to succeed, but if I had it to do over, I would have found a way to spend more time with my wife and daughter." Mack also pointed out the value of unbiased information. "Talk to people who’ll give you honest answers, not just tell you what you want to hear. Sometimes information and statistics are available for free, for example at the university. Ex-businesspeople can help, too. They can tell you what to expect and what to look out for. Visit some businesses and see how they are run and what goes on there. Check out your competition. I still constantly check out my competitors, which means anybody else who sells hamburgers."

As a businessman and also a university supporter, Mack has a unique perspective on education. "If you have the chance to strike out on your own, seize it immediately because it may not happen again," he advised. "But - be prepared for the opportunity. Get an education, but at the same time, work at what you’re studying. You learn theories in school, and you learn how to apply them at work. If you have the education and the experience, you’ll be ready when the opportunity comes around."

Luther Mack, successful businessman and honorary doctor of letters, rubs elbows with the movers and shakers in Nevada political circles and spends Christmases at the home of his close friend, Bill Cosby. Yet he still thinks of himself as "this kid from Hawthorne, Nevada." He insisted, "I never aimed to have a lot of status or to have people look up to me. I’m just a hard-working guy. My friends who work for me – and that’s how I think of them, as my friends – they see me as Luther. I’m just a regular guy."

Kathleen Foley
Kathleen Foley is a freelance writer based in Southern Nevada.