How She Became 'The Bun Lady'

Cordia Harrington Shares Her Story In 'Going For It' Series

(CBS) 

Says Harrington, "My second son was two weeks early. I had him at five in the morning and took him in a basket with me at 9:00 a.m. that same morning to a real estate closing."

The juggling act grew all the more difficult with the arrival of a third son. Then she got divorced.

Suddenly, Harrington was a single parent, and wanted to spend more time with her kids. She thought buying a McDonald's franchise would give her more free time.

But the transition was often painful. She had to keep one business running while traveling to start a new one.

"I would have a college girl at that time spend the night at my house, so that, when the boys woke up, she would be there," Harrington recalls. "I would drive, leave at three in the morning, and I would watch the sun rise. And every morning I did that. I would cry, and I'd think, 'Ooohh, is this worth it? This is so hard.'"

The reward was mostly financial. That first McDonalds in Effingham, Ill., soon grew into three. But finding time for her kids was harder than ever.

"I took them to meetings or took them to work with me, and, you know, Mommy would try to make it fun that we'd all clean the lobby and the McDonald's restroom," Harrington says. 'OK, let's all get a towel, and let's see who can clean the most tables!' or, 'Let's put the most meals.' You know, the toys in the Happy Meal sacks."

Eventually, Harrington landed on the McDonald's bun committee, a group that oversees the supply of hamburger buns. It was love at first bite: "I'd go over there for a half-day meeting, come back, and that's all I could talk about for weeks. Sesame seeds in Guatemala, prices of flour in Russia. I mean, all of a sudden, McDonald's became global to me."

So, when McDonald's decided to open another bakery, Harrington begged for the chance to run it.