It all started back in 1972, when a Quarter Pounder with Cheese cost 70¢. That year, Mike Hartshorn started working after school shifts at the McDonald’s store in Aberdeen, South Dakota while attending Northern State University. He quickly rose through the ranks: from shift supervisor to assistant manager to manager of his own store. Not stopping there, he moved onto a supervisory role that allowed him to travel and train others.
In 1997, Mike made the career-defining decision to go for an ownership role. Raising the funding himself, he was vetted by regional management and approved to buy his first four stores - Pierre, Brookings and two in Watertown.
It’s no exaggeration to say Jordan Hartshorn was raised beneath the golden arches. By age 14, he was working behind the counter. He worked other jobs, and even left to attend college in Colorado, but always felt the call of the family business.
In 2007 he took a job as a swing manager at the Watertown store. Much like his father, Jordan soon found himself steadily rising through the ranks, becoming first assistant of the Brookings store in 2008, then named general manager of the Pierre store in 2012.
After five years at the helm of the Pierre location, Jordan entered into McDonald’s Next Generation Program, designed for family members who want to enter the business. After an 18-month period of testing and training, Jordan became an approved operator in 2017. At that point, Hart2Hart officially came into existence.
Since Jordan became an operator, the pace of expansion has quickened dramatically. In 2017, Hart2Hart purchased five additional stores (four in Iowa and one in Minnesota). In July of 2019, two stores in Sioux Falls, SD joined the Hart2Hart family. In 2020, seven additional stores in Sioux Falls were added.
With a new location, Jordan has a front-row seat to what the restaurant of the future could look like.
