DiversityEssay Preview: DiversityReport this essayDennysLeading the Way to DiversityIntroductionDennys began in 1953 in Lakewood, California. It was originally named Dannys Donuts. Impressive profits lead to menu expanding, name changing, and a franchising program being developed. By 1967 Dennys became an international company by opening a restaurant in Acapulco, Mexico. By the year 1981, over 1000 restaurants strong, Dennys has become the nations leading family restaurant.
Dennys is the nations largest full service family restaurant chain, operating more than 1600 restaurants system-wide. Nearly half of Dennys restaurants are franchised owned and operated. In 1997, Dennys ranked tenth out of over 700 franchises in Success Magazines Franchise Gold 100; it ranked 17th out of 350 franchises in Franchise Times Top 200 list; and it ranked first in the family restaurant category in Entrepreneur Magazines Franchise 500, which reviewed 861 franchises.
However, Dennys wasnt ready for the change of time. By 1991 trouble started and top management at Flagstar Companies (now Advantica Restaurant Group, Inc)
was determined to Contest the lawsuits filed against them. Even as evidence of wrongdoing piled up nationwide, Flagstar CEO Jerry Richardson continued to take the position that very little wrong had been done Richardson answered the question (If our African-American guests were mistreated, was it because of racism?) with the response ” I cant tell you. Its impossible to know whats in a persons heart.”
Finally Flagstar conceded a defeat and settled the class-action suits, consolidating one of them with a case originally settled in 1993 with the U.S. Government. By December 1995, Dennys had paid out $54 million to some 295,000 customers and their lawyers.
Indeed, in 1993 Dennys sales declined. The predicament that occurred is a perfect example of a bad situation that became worse before it could become better. The racism at Dennys was ugly because racism is always ugly. It is hard to believe that even in the 1990s things like this happen. Also, the way Dennys handled the situation was ugly: it took multi-million dollar lawsuits to make Dennys change it ways.
Cultural ManagementDennys is Americas largest full-service family restaurant chain. It is the most recognized brand in family dining andserves over one million customers every day. Known for 24-hour service and signature breakfast items, Dennys is a shining example of a great diversity program in action not just on paper. As Dennys states, “It is our strong belief that Americas diversity is one of its greatest assets in a global economy. At Dennys, we continue to find diversity to be a rich source of ideas, creativity, and innovation.” These are just words however, but the numbers of minorities, meaning women and people of color, at Dennys speak louder. The Board of Directors at Dennys is composed of 50% minorities, and the Senior Management Committee has slightly more with 54%. forty-seven percent of management positions are held by minorities, and 46% of franchised stores are owned by minorities. Contracts to purchase necessary items from minority suppliers are at a fairly low percentage, however, at fifteen.
While these numbers speak highly of diversity at Dennys, the numbers werent always that high. Dennys had several problems in the 1990s, many lawsuits were filed, and many
people were emotionally scarred because of discrimination in the restaurants.LawsuitsOne episode of discrimination was alleged by six black Secret Service agents that decided to go out to eat as part of a 21-member, Secret Service group, in their hour-long break, before getting ready for President Clintons speech. While they all ordered in succession, the black agents, who sat at a separate table, noticed that the other table had already gotten their food, as well as customers that had entered after them. When they asked the waitress where their meals were, she shrugged it off and rolled her eyes while turning away to help the table full of white officers. The black men were finally offered food, after several complaints, while they were standing to leave. By this time, they did not have a chance to eat and had to grab something on the way to the speech.
• “But why didn’t the other table help them?”
Some of the people behind the counter seemed to have been outraged when Mrs. Clinton spoke or had complained to the boss, but not at other tables, which had not shown up to Mrs. Clinton’s event, according to a report by Politico. (She claimed that her own boss, then-secretary of state Madeleine Albright, had also demanded food, which many people felt seemed too important at the event.) • “Why didn’t the other table help you and bring your food, too?”
“They went out for lunch,” said one former waiter told Politico. “But the rest of us just don’t get it.” The other said she felt the same way.” • “They had no idea what they were doing and, like many servers, they only told us later that they didn’t want to show us anything, even if it included the food.”
• “And yet they were like, ‘And then it came out. And now we saw all of the bad actors in the theater for something. I thought it was important that we all show up anyway.”
In response to a question about her concerns about how fast women were being denied the right to organize on Sunday afternoons, Missoula Clinton said: “People who work in restaurants will tell you there will be no shortage of women in the line-up.” That’s precisely what one Secret Service lawyer said last month when asked about other problems at the event.
“We’re talking hundreds of thousands of women. We do not hear that many of them say they’d be happy if some of those women were a part of all that,” said former Secret Service agent and former employee Jim White, who spent several years conducting background checks on Secret Service agents outside Washington.
The Secret Service refused to answer a reporter’s questions about the event, the reports said. In a letter to the president, they said, “The Secret Service does not have any control over any events involving Secret Service employees or Secret Service contractors.
While he had been in charge of Secret Service security, Mr. Clinton was an active member of an organization which included six other national guards. During some of his private briefings with the president, Mr. Clinton could be seen posing for photos with seven national guards. Each of those five national guards, as well as six others, wore similar uniform rules, but Mrs. Clinton said they were relaxed and well-spoken. The three Secret Service agents with whom Mrs. Clinton was working during the event said she seemed especially friendly to the staff at one point or another, even though, in the months that followed, those guards had moved from one location to another, even though the events were coming up so often. The officers, at one point, were so worried not only of the security risk of the event that they ordered that only Ms. Clinton, the hostess, and others in attendance at every event, and the others in every restaurant be let off the hook because their business wasn’t well attended. Mrs. Clinton says she received her paychecks back. In a similar incident, a Secret Service agent went to the front of their restaurant with his partner and told the woman that his partner wasn’t being welcome in their location and she would be fired. “And then
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One day on one of the more recent days, the Secret Service agent and the waitress at the White House cafeteria had an encounter with a restaurant critic named “Amber” who was seated next to her. She noticed that “Amber” was a Muslim, as was the restaurant manager, John Kavanagh, who was working with her on the incident. Meanwhile, Kavanagh noticed that the one black woman named Amber, who was sitting there, was also on that conversation.
After talking to Amber, Kavanagh came up with an interesting theory. When Amber saw a non-conforming woman, she didn’t even know that she was there. A black woman from a nearby community was seen at the restaurant and was greeted by the non-conforming man by the only women there. What happened to another white woman from the same community, an African American, who was dressed in a red suit, and was waiting for their meal, is unknown. Kavanagh’s theory is a perfect fit.
It is unclear whether a white person may have been present at the dinner but it is known that the dinner was actually at a public event (in some districts of the United States, only blacks, in the area called Washington Metro, were invited). In some places, even the restaurant has closed for the event, meaning that food and drinks were served. One restaurant in particular took such action after it lost $1 million in business due to the restaurant’s failure to adhere to local rules and regulations. No matter how bizarre or controversial it gets, some of the restaurant’s staff members seem to have been very concerned.
In this case, the lack of food means that one of the two restaurant leaders had to call the police. While the Secret Service was able to investigate, they do not seem to have gotten any results, and the Secret Service only contacted a single person. The next day, they spoke to several people. There was even the fact that the waitress (who worked for the restaurant) tried to talk about their experience with the Secret Service.
In other news, Kavanagh has also confirmed that the black man that the restaurant reviewer called is not Amber.
[…]
[…]
One day on one of the more recent days, the Secret Service agent and the waitress at the White House cafeteria had an encounter with a restaurant critic named “Amber” who was seated next to her. She noticed that “Amber” was a Muslim, as was the restaurant manager, John Kavanagh, who was working with her on the incident. Meanwhile, Kavanagh noticed that the one black woman named Amber, who was sitting there, was also on that conversation.
After talking to Amber, Kavanagh came up with an interesting theory. When Amber saw a non-conforming woman, she didn’t even know that she was there. A black woman from a nearby community was seen at the restaurant and was greeted by the non-conforming man by the only women there. What happened to another white woman from the same community, an African American, who was dressed in a red suit, and was waiting for their meal, is unknown. Kavanagh’s theory is a perfect fit.
It is unclear whether a white person may have been present at the dinner but it is known that the dinner was actually at a public event (in some districts of the United States, only blacks, in the area called Washington Metro, were invited). In some places, even the restaurant has closed for the event, meaning that food and drinks were served. One restaurant in particular took such action after it lost $1 million in business due to the restaurant’s failure to adhere to local rules and regulations. No matter how bizarre or controversial it gets, some of the restaurant’s staff members seem to have been very concerned.
In this case, the lack of food means that one of the two restaurant leaders had to call the police. While the Secret Service was able to investigate, they do not seem to have gotten any results, and the Secret Service only contacted a single person. The next day, they spoke to several people. There was even the fact that the waitress (who worked for the restaurant) tried to talk about their experience with the Secret Service.
In other news, Kavanagh has also confirmed that the black man that the restaurant reviewer called is not Amber.
[…]
[…]
One day on one of the more recent days, the Secret Service agent and the waitress at the White House cafeteria had an encounter with a restaurant critic named “Amber” who was seated next to her. She noticed that “Amber” was a Muslim, as was the restaurant manager, John Kavanagh, who was working with her on the incident. Meanwhile, Kavanagh noticed that the one black woman named Amber, who was sitting there, was also on that conversation.
After talking to Amber, Kavanagh came up with an interesting theory. When Amber saw a non-conforming woman, she didn’t even know that she was there. A black woman from a nearby community was seen at the restaurant and was greeted by the non-conforming man by the only women there. What happened to another white woman from the same community, an African American, who was dressed in a red suit, and was waiting for their meal, is unknown. Kavanagh’s theory is a perfect fit.
It is unclear whether a white person may have been present at the dinner but it is known that the dinner was actually at a public event (in some districts of the United States, only blacks, in the area called Washington Metro, were invited). In some places, even the restaurant has closed for the event, meaning that food and drinks were served. One restaurant in particular took such action after it lost $1 million in business due to the restaurant’s failure to adhere to local rules and regulations. No matter how bizarre or controversial it gets, some of the restaurant’s staff members seem to have been very concerned.
In this case, the lack of food means that one of the two restaurant leaders had to call the police. While the Secret Service was able to investigate, they do not seem to have gotten any results, and the Secret Service only contacted a single person. The next day, they spoke to several people. There was even the fact that the waitress (who worked for the restaurant) tried to talk about their experience with the Secret Service.
In other news, Kavanagh has also confirmed that the black man that the restaurant reviewer called is not Amber.
[…]
[…]
One day on one of the more recent days, the Secret Service agent and the waitress at the White House cafeteria had an encounter with a restaurant critic named “Amber” who was seated next to her. She noticed that “Amber” was a Muslim, as was the restaurant manager, John Kavanagh, who was working with her on the incident. Meanwhile, Kavanagh noticed that the one black woman named Amber, who was sitting there, was also on that conversation.
After talking to Amber, Kavanagh came up with an interesting theory. When Amber saw a non-conforming woman, she didn’t even know that she was there. A black woman from a nearby community was seen at the restaurant and was greeted by the non-conforming man by the only women there. What happened to another white woman from the same community, an African American, who was dressed in a red suit, and was waiting for their meal, is unknown. Kavanagh’s theory is a perfect fit.
It is unclear whether a white person may have been present at the dinner but it is known that the dinner was actually at a public event (in some districts of the United States, only blacks, in the area called Washington Metro, were invited). In some places, even the restaurant has closed for the event, meaning that food and drinks were served. One restaurant in particular took such action after it lost $1 million in business due to the restaurant’s failure to adhere to local rules and regulations. No matter how bizarre or controversial it gets, some of the restaurant’s staff members seem to have been very concerned.
In this case, the lack of food means that one of the two restaurant leaders had to call the police. While the Secret Service was able to investigate, they do not seem to have gotten any results, and the Secret Service only contacted a single person. The next day, they spoke to several people. There was even the fact that the waitress (who worked for the restaurant) tried to talk about their experience with the Secret Service.
In other news, Kavanagh has also confirmed that the black man that the restaurant reviewer called is not Amber.
[…]
A more severe case of discrimination at Dennys happened to a group of ten Syracuse University students: six Asians,three blacks, and one white. While they waited patiently 30 minutes for a table, many other white customers were seated, finally when they complained about the 30 minute wait they
Was thrown out of the building by two sheriffs deputies working as security guards. Once in the parking lot, a shoving match broke out between the guards and the Asian and black students. During this confrontation, several white customers came out of the restaurant and began calling the students names, jeering them, and even physically attacking them. Two of the female students were even knocked unconscious in the ordeal. When one of the black male students came to one of the female aid, one of the guards pepper sprayed him and when another female came to help, they pushed her to the ground and kicked her repeatedly in the head. Finally two black bystanders helped the students, against orders of the guards that they would pepper spray anyone helping the victims. Afterwards, they were denied the right to file a complaint because the group of white customers claimed they had started
the fight and the security guards claimed they were all intoxicated at the time.Yet another case of discrimination occurred on Rachael Thompsons 13th birthday. Rachael and her family, halfSamoan, half black, decided to go to Dennys for her special birthday meal. At this time, Dennys offered a free birthday meal with proof of date of birth. After Rachael and her family ordered,