According to a report from the Detroit Free Press, Biggby Coffee Co-CEO Mike McFall wants to own the Detroit Red Wings.
Biggby Coffee Co-CEO Mike McFall drinks 14 espressos a day, wants to own the Red Wings https://t.co/Z5PtWmJ9jd
— Freep Sports (@freepsports) July 27, 2019
From Detroit Free Press:
As for his future, he says in the book that he is still working toward two lifetime goals: growing Biggby into a big nation brand, and owning the Detroit Red Wings.
The goals are intertwined, he wrote, because “I don’t have a shot at owning the Red Wings unless we have a nationally dominant brand of coffee shops.”
McFall, who played hockey and golf in high school, said he has seriously wanted to own the Red Wings for the past 20 years and thinks about it nearly every day, because for him, “the big goal is my beacon.”
“When I cursed my alarm at 4:30 a.m. every Saturday, when I couldn’t afford to go on trips with my buddies, when some godforsaken customers missed the toilet. I always knew the price I was paying and for what end,” he wrote. “If I hadn’t had the Red Wings in my head, eventually I would’ve forgotten why I was working as a glorified barista for 60 hours a week.”
For his dream to come true, McFall would need to buy the NHL team from the family of Mike and Marian Ilitch, founders of another great Michigan-based franchise chain, Little Caesars Pizza.
McFall said he has yet to approach the Ilitches about selling.
“Not yet. Someday when it feels right. It’s a little early on in the game,” he said.
