The black owner of 14 McDonald’s franchises says the company favors white owners and denied him the chance to buy restaurants in wealthier communities, according to a civil rights lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Ohio.
The lawsuit, filed by former professional baseball player Herbert Washington, claims that the Chicago fast food chain discriminated against him, leading to a $ 700,000 sales gap between black and white McDonald’s franchises.
Franchisees in low-income neighborhoods are more expensive to operate, have higher employee turnover and are not as profitable, says Washington, a former Michigan State University star who played for two seasons with Oakland. Athletics in the mid-70s.
“By relegating black owners to the oldest stores in the most difficult neighborhoods, McDonald’s has made sure that black franchisees will never reach the levels of success that white franchisees might expect,” the lawsuit said. “Black franchisees have to spend more to run their stores, while white franchisees realize the full benefit of their work.”
Over 50 former Black McDonald’s franchise owners made similar complaints in a lawsuit filed against the company in October, saying it had been forced to sell about 200 stores in the past decade.
“He aimed me at extinction”
During a video conference on Tuesday, Washington said it has been fighting a two-tier system since buying its first franchise in Rochester, New York, 40 years ago. At one point, he owned 27 restaurants, but was forced to sell seven stores in recent years to white owners, Washington said.
He now owns 12 restaurants in Northeast Ohio and two in Pennsylvania. He accuses Black McDonald’s owners of pleading with the company.
“McDonald’s aimed me at extinction,” Washington said. “The bows are in the form of large-scale retaliation against me.”
McDonald’s has denied the allegations. In a statement to CBS MoneyWatch, McDonald’s said Washington was “facing trade challenges.” The company “has invested significantly in its organization,” while giving it many opportunities to solve problems, McDonald’s added.
“This is the result of years of mismanagement by Mr. Washington, whose organization has failed to meet many of our standards of people, operations, guest satisfaction and reinvestment,” the company said.
According to the lawsuit, the number of Black McDonald’s franchise owners in the U.S. today stands at 186, down from 377 in 1998. The company said in response, while the total number of its U.S. restaurants rose from about 12,500 at the end of the year. 1998. up to 14,000 today, the percentage of shops owned by blacks “is generally unchanged.”