McDonald's sales growth has slowed. One franchisee says his stores are up double digits — and he credits these 3 things.

Robert Pyles bought his first McDonald's in 1998.

Mike Kemp/In Pictures via Getty Images McDonald's franchisee Robert Pyles says sales are growing at his seven restaurants in Milwaukee.

McDonald's reported slowing US sales growth on its quarterly earnings call last month.

Pyles, who has owned McDonald's since 1998, says these three things make his stores successful.

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Robert Pyles, a pastor and McDonald's franchisee in Milwaukee.

McDonald's reported its slowest US sales growth in over a year in its quarterly earnings report last month.

Pyles said sales at his seven restaurants are growing.

This story has been edited for length and clarity.

I bought my first McDonald's in 1998.

I was in the military for 15 years and started working part-time at McDonald's during that time as a crew member, later becoming a shift manager.

Then I had the opportunity to get into the owner-operator program.

I had to go through all the courses, attend Hamburger University , and pass other tests to make sure you're ready, because it's a large investment and a lot of time.

They want to make sure that they have the right person.

You learn scheduling, inventory, shift control — a lot of things I knew from working there.