OPINION: Do your part: stop eating at chains

With the lifting of mask mandates and the return to in-person gatherings, it appears as if the worst of the pandemic is over. Society is returning to normalcy, and thus we return to the norm of restaurant dates and coffee shop study sessions. 

But after two years of stifling economic conditions, there are a lot fewer local businesses and significantly more franchise locations to return to.  

With the pandemic, we have watched thousands of small businesses close for good – local favorite Bloom included – franchise restaurants have only continued to profit.  

While large chains were able to stay afloat during the pandemic because of reserve funds and brand stability, smaller stores, who heavily rely on a steady stream of customers, were unable to survive while the country was in lockdown and people were unable to eat out due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

As citizens, it’s easy to brush off the closure of small businesses as an unfortunate consequence of the pandemic, but we as consumers are just as much to blame. 

Local businesses are closing because of the pandemic, but also because we chose to support massive industry chains with underpaid servers, overpaid CEOs and bad working conditions. 

You might love Red Lobster or Baskin-Robbins, but your conscious choice to eat at chain restaurants, especially in the aftermath of a pandemic, is helping corporations stomp out local businesses.  

If you don’t care about supporting local businesses, then consider it from a civil right standpoint. 

A leaked email revealed that Applebee’s franchise executive Wayne Pankratz told executives that the increasing gas prices and nationwide inflation will benefit business by forcing workers to accept lower wages and longer hours. According to Pankratz, because of the gas and food price increases, small businesses won’t be able to afford to pay their employees higher wages, so Applebee’s will be free to underpay and overwork their employees, who are desperate enough to work for lower pay. 

Pankratz was fired from his executive post by Applebee’s owner, Dime Brands Global, after massive backlash. But was Pankratz, who had the job for years and had undoubtedly expressed similar thoughts in the past, really fired for taking advantage of employees, or because the leaked emails were hurting Applebee’s reputation?  

In the midst of the pandemic, where most citizens were struggling to get by, President of Applebee’s Franchise Unit John Cywinski made $2 million, while the average worker made only $11.76 an hour. 

Additionally, Applebee’s is notorious for discriminating against and harassing LGBT and people of color employees, as is shown by all the lawsuits and public complaints about the business. 

Another chain, Chik-Fil-A, which reopened this year on the UI campus, has donated billions of dollars to anti-LGBT campaigns and politicians. Even after stating that Chik-Fil-A would stop donating to anti-LGBT organizations, in 2021, CEO Don Cathy was exposed as “a high dollar donor” to a Christian charity group actively working to upset The Equality Act, which would potentially expand LGBT rights in the constitution.  

Similarly, restaurant franchise Cracker Barrel has a history of LGBT discrimination and racism against employees and customers.  

While many franchises, such as Dutch Brothers, are credited with decent employee working conditions and donating to charity, chains are still actively working to crush smaller competitors. While you may think competitive elimination is the nature of capitalism and you might not care about small businesses, many restaurant franchises are still infringing on human rights. 

So next time you’re out for dinner and deciding where to eat, remember that your actions matter. 

Maureen Wardle can be reached at [email protected]