According to a report from AFROTECH, two-time Super Bowl champion Malcolm Jenkins intends to take over the fast-casual food industry.
During an interview with WHYY News, a public media organization in Philadelphia, PA, Jenkins shed light on his business aspirations, referencing them as the motivation behind his decision to step away from a potential $6 million with the NFL when he made his departure in 2022.
“I felt confident in my ability to survive and my own acumen, so that’s a blessing,” Jenkins told WHYY News. “Most people don’t get to step away from the game. Their contract ends or the team tells you you’re not good enough anymore or you get injured.”
Jenkins exercised his mind for business while still playing for the league. He launched Rock Avenue Bow Ties in 2013, as reported by The Columbus Dispatch, and later opened the brick-and-mortar retail store Damari, according to WHYY News.
At present, Malcolm has an impressive business portfolio that surrounds media, apparel, tech, restaurants, and real estate, per his website.
One element of Jenkins’ portfolio is Disrupt Foods, a multi-unit franchise developer and operator that involves the likes of over 20 quick-service restaurants such as Papa John’s and Wingstop. The venture aims to offer ownership opportunities specifically to minorities, his website states.
“If there’s a mission for me and how I’m moving now, what I want to have an impact on is really educating people on the power of group economics,” Jenkins expressed to WHYY News. “People when they have success, most of the time they do it as a collective family, as a community. Owning businesses in their own communities. When you look at [Black communities] we don’t own the majority of the businesses in it. We don’t own homes most of the time. It just continues to push us into pockets of poverty that are harder and harder to climb out of as an individual.”
For Jenkins, the ultimate agenda with Disrupt Foods is to be known as the leading Black-owned franchisee in the fast-casual food sector nationwide.
“It makes no sense for every guy in the league who wants to get into franchising to find an operator, go buy their own store, do all of those things when most people just want the exposure in their portfolio,” he explained, according to WHYY News. “Like, I’m not making any pizzas. But I’ve got a team around me that can execute these things.”
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