---
title: "Marine Veteran Transition Success: Wild Bill’s Franchise"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/36e4ed1d-8bc8-460d-a2a5-9849a0770093
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/wild-bills/marine-veteran-transition-2733014
category: "Franchise Industry"
industry: "Franchise Industry"
topics: ["Development & multi-unit"]
published: 2026-09-10T21:16:50.000Z
modified: 2026-10-31T15:31:11.787Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/1789075688_feature.png
---

# Marine Veteran Transition Success: Wild Bill’s Franchise

**TL;DR:** Drew St. Cyr, a Marine veteran, transitioned to civilian life and found success with a Wild Bill's franchise in San Diego. He chose the franchise because of his prior experience with the company and his family's fondness for the brand.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2026-09-10. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/wild-bills/marine-veteran-transition-2733014).*

## Story

Drew St. Cyr served in the Marine Corps for almost 10 years. Pushed into leadership roles at a young age, he learned a lot and developed valuable skills through experience. Then he was injured.

“Having been wounded on my last deployment, my transition to civilian life took some time to say the least,” he told San Diego Veterans Magazine. “With almost 10 years served, my plan was to make a career out of it; however, after approximately 1.5 years of rehabilitation, I still wasn’t able to run… I underwent medical evaluation board and separated reluctantly.”

St. Cyr enrolled in college and worked as a contractor at Naval Base San Diego before looking into franchise opportunities in San Diego, where he met his wife almost two decades ago.

“In my opinion, San Diego is the best city in the world,” he said. “My wife and I believe that franchising in San Diego provides the vehicle to get our family back home.”

He also centered his family in his franchise selection process. Having previously worked at Wild Bill’s corporate, he was familiar with the business and saw a prime opportunity to deepen his relationship with the brand.

“My children grew up on Wild Bill’s,” he said. “For years, I aspired to franchise Wild Bill’s with my family because the business teaches you such a multitude of different things… I saw an opportunity to build something with my family that they already thought was exciting and that I could eventually turn over to them in the years to come.”

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Multi-Unit (sector)
- family business (topic)
- San Diego (location)
- Marine Corps (company)
- franchise selection (topic)
- veteran transition (topic)
- Wild Bill's (company)
- Drew St. Cyr (person)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/wild-bills/marine-veteran-transition-2733014). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/36e4ed1d-8bc8-460d-a2a5-9849a0770093).