February is Black History month and a local Black businesswoman, Paula Wright, is celebrating 40 years as a McDonald’s restaurant owner. She owns, with her son Donny, sixteen McDonald’s franchisees, including the one in East Acton, not far from the Concord line. Their other restaurants are in eastern Mass and southern New Hampshire.
Paula’s husband Don left his job in 1984 as the state director of ACTION, which oversaw federal programs like the Peace Corp and Vista, to open a McDonald’s in Lafayette Place at Downtown Crossing in Boston. He was the first African American to own a McDonald’s franchise in New England. Because there wasn’t much activity at the Lafayette location, the mall closed in 1992. Don, now joined by his wife Paula, previously an employee of IBM, next owned a franchise on Causeway St. near the old Boston Garden, where they thought the new garden, Fleet Center, would shortly be built. Many construction delays and little off-season business meant that this was not a good location either.
Encouraged by the McDonald’s Corporation, Don and Paula made their first foray into the suburbs in the early ‘90s, landing in Acton opposite the Bowladrome. Here they found success! This was a popular spot, especially for high school students who could walk from school. Soon other McDonald’s were purchased by the pair.
Paula was on the Kelly’s Corner Committee for many years, well before the current reconstruction plan was developed. She was involved with the local chamber of commerce and was also on the board of Acton’s Discovery Museum. Her restaurant provided meals for the program the museum sponsored to support underserved children.
When the Burger King on Great Road burned down in January of 2006, the couple saw an opportunity to move their business there. In addition to rebuilding the restaurant, they relandscaped the lot and were rewarded by winning several “Acton Looks Good” awards from the Acton Garden Club which promote pleasing exteriors. The interior of the restaurant was recently remodeled and is now brightly lit and features several seating options. Online ordering was begun in 2017 and in 2020 four large kiosks were added, making ordering easy.
The Wrights’ son, Donny, worked in his parents’ restaurants from an early age, and after college he formed his own company and in 2004 became the owner of the Hudson MacDonald’s. When his father passed in 2013, he joined forces with his mother and they continued to grow their business. They own all four of the McDonald’s at the two Mass Pike rest stops in Framingham and Natick and operate most of the other restaurants at those locations as well.
Paula was chair of the Ronald McDonald House of Eastern New England for eleven years and is still on the board. That organization founded two homes, one in Boston and one in Providence that house families of children getting treatment at nearby hospitals. Currently the group is looking for a larger facility in Boston as the demand for their services is large and there are waiting lists.
Don was fortunate enough to have a mentor during his childhood, which helped shape his character and was instrumental to his success later in life. Throughout his adult life he sought out opportunities to help younger people by mentoring them, and this included his employees. He derived much satisfaction from seeing his new hires grow in their job and take on leadership roles both in the company and in the community. Paula also bought into this mindset and together with Don accumulated several well-deserved awards. They include: the YMCA Black Achievers Award (1994), Community Service Award for contributions to the students of the Massachusetts public school system (1995) given by the Black Educators Alliance of Massachusetts, American Hero Award (1997) for commitment to the children of the city of Boston given by the U.S. Department of Education, the Abigail Adams Award (2000) for contributions to the realization of equal political, economic, and social rights for women, and the Leadership Award for Community Service (2004) given for “creative and tenacious service within the greater Boston area” for mentoring people of color for over thirty years.
Paula lives in Sudbury, enjoys golf, and is involved with several women’s groups to socialize and to serve the community. Her son Donny lives in Concord with this family and is celebrating his twenty-first year in business. He is active in the McDonald’s corporate educational system, is past president of the local chapter of the National Black McDonald’s Operators Association, and is a long-time board member of the Assabet Valley Boys and Girls Club.
Jeff Brown is the business beat reporter for the Acton Exchange.