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The black owner of 14 McDonald’s franchises in Ohio said one of the world’s largest restaurant chains showed more favorable treatment to white owners and denied him the opportunity to buy restaurants in more affluent communities , according to a civil lawsuit filed this week.
The lawsuit brought by Herbert Washington, a former college track star who played for two seasons with the Oakland Athletics in the mid-1970s, said the discriminatory practices of the Chicago-based company resulted in a sales gap of 700,000 $ between franchises owned by blacks and those owned by whites.
The number of black franchise owners has grown from 377 in 1998 to 186 today, while the total number of stores has more than doubled to 40,000, according to the lawsuit.
“By relegating black owners to older stores in more difficult neighborhoods, McDonald’s ensured that black franchisees would never achieve 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 can get the most out of their work,” the lawsuit said.
McDonald’s issued a statement on Tuesday denying Washington’s claims. The company said Washington is “facing business challenges” in which the company has “made a significant investment in its organization” while providing “multiple opportunities over several years to resolve these issues.”
“This situation is the result of years of mismanagement on the part of Mr. Washington, whose organization has failed to meet many of our standards on people, operations, customer satisfaction and reinvestment, “the statement read.
More than 50 former Black McDonald’s franchise owners made similar claims in a lawsuit filed against the company in September.
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