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Ernie Trefz has a lot on his tray.
The chairman and CEO of the Trefz Corp. is also the owner of 41 McDonald”™s restaurants and with his family leads a philanthropic foundation.
Both of his parents came over from Germany in the early 1920s.
“It was a very difficult time,” he said. “We managed to work through everything. I was born in New Haven and went to West Haven High School for a year and then moved to North Haven.”
After finishing high school at Lyman Hall, Trefz began working in the meat business.
He didn”™t go to college, but he quickly excelled in business and ran a small meat department.
“I was drafted into service during the Korean War. When I came back in 1955, I worked for the Roessler Packing Co.”
Trefz again proved his worth in the business world, climbing quickly to the position of vice president and general manager of the company”™s Bridgeport operation.
“Through that I got involved with McDonald”™s. McDonald”™s was a very new type of enterprise, a new industry called fast food.”
Trefz setup a meat operation specializing in portion control and supplied one of the first McDonald”™s in Hamden.
“From the point of being a vendor, I decided I was on the wrong side of the hamburger and then lobbied to become a licensee.”
Trefz opened Waterbury”™s first McDonald”™s franchise on Thomaston Avenue in October 1964.
Once in operation, Trefz brought his brother Christian into the company.
“That”™s our business, it”™s a family business; I”™ve got my two sons and my brother in the business.”
Trefz soon after opened a McDonald”™s in Danbury and a third in Waterbury, followed by one in Somers, N.Y.
“In my family, my sons have some of their own restaurants and we”™re partners in others; we have 41 McDonald”™s restaurants. My sons and my daughter grew up in the business. Many look at McDonald”™s as being a global company, which it is, but the overwhelming majority, about 85 percent, are owned by independent entrepreneurs, people like myself. That”™s part of the success of McDonald”™s.”
Trefz said he is not in the charity business, but after awhile he and his wife, Joan, saw great benefit in giving back to the region where they have lived and worked for so long.
“We”™re based here in Bridgeport and we love this city,” he said. “It”™s had its share of problems and there are a lot of needy organizations; we”™re fortunate enough to be able to support a number of them.”
Trefz tries to get right into the nuts and bolts of what makes these organizations run.
“I want to know if these funds are really going to help the needy people or are they going to cover administrative costs overhead and fancy offices.”
Trefz and his wife have set up their own assistance organization, The Trefz Family Foundation. Trefz said each family member has a vote in the charity, which donates to about 50 separate organizations.
“We focus on those which we think will be the most helpful, some small some larger,” he said. “My wife is involved with St. Vincent”™s Hospital and we do what we can to help them. She is the co-chairman of the gift shop and we give them monetary support, as well. We give back. The little foundation we set up is beyond the McDonald”™s side. It”™s a small foundation but we”™ll continue to go along and do what we can to provide help.”
The Trefz family has been residents of Trumbull for more than 50 years. During that time, they have been active in numerous business, philanthropic, and community service and development projects throughout Fairfield, New Haven and Westchester counties. This power couple has been great supporters and friends of The Kennedy Center, a nonprofit rehabilitation facility in Trumbull, for many years. Through their contributions, they have helped many people with disabilities served by the center”™s numerous programs and services.
The Trefz family business has also expanded into the revitalization of downtown Bridgeport with real estate holdings including Park City Plaza Building, the Plaza Building, the Rite Aid Building, the Holiday Inn and parking garage, the Bridgeport Transit Center and other parcels in surrounding communities.
In 1990, Ernst & Young named Ernie Trefz the area”™s Entrepreneur of the Year, the Boy Scouts have given him their “Good Scout Award” three times, and Junior Achievement named him to the Free Enterprise Hall of Fame in 2002.
