Denny's Case Study

In 1993, the famous breakfast, lunch, and dinner chain diner fell under a category of racism and discrimination. The accusations went from having African Americans prepay for their meals to not service people of minority as quickly as their European American counterparts. The lawsuits that were held ended in Denny’s paying fifty four million dollars in total. With the lawsuit behind them and millions of dollars lost, Denny’s saw this as a time to reinvent themselves. In the end Denny’s, “a company that was once a shameful example of entrenched prejudice is now a model of multicultural sensitivity (Rice, F., & Faircloth, A. (1996, May 13). DENNY'S CHANGES ITS SPOTS NOT SO LONG AGO, THE RESTAURANT CHAIN WAS ONE OF AMERICA'S MOST RACIST COMPANIES. TODAY IT IS A MODEL OF MULTICULTURAL SENSITIVITY. HERE IS THE INSIDE STORY OF DENNY'S ABOUT-FACE.. CNNMoney.).”

“Denny's, a national restaurant chain, agreed today to pay more than $54 million to settle lawsuits filed by thousands of black customers who had been refused service or had been forced to wait longer or pay more than white customers (Labaton, S. (1994, May 24). Denny's Restaurants to Pay $54 Million in Race Bias Suits.).”

“In one instance, a black Federal judge from Houston and his wife who had been traveling for 18 hours said they were forced to wait at a Denny's in Yreka, Calif., for almost an hour as white teen-agers taunted them and referred to them as "niggers.” (Labaton, S. (1994, May 24)).”

“In another case, six black Secret Service agents assigned to President Clinton's detail were refused a table at a Denny's in Annapolis. Md., while their white Secret Service colleagues were seated and served (Labaton, S. (1994, May 24)).”

These are a few of the examples and lawsuits t...

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...decision and requesting another day off instead (Rice, F., & Faircloth, A. (1996, May 13)). In defense of the office workers, they may have felt that the specific day was already declared a national holiday and that another day that was not recognized as such be made a companywide holiday instead. Although Anderson may have been upset by the E-mails, he took it as positive critique and a way for the company to build even more rather than getting defensive, showing his superior managerial skills. Anderson states that he "opened up the company enough for employees to disagree. The bad news is that we have more educating to do than we anticipated (Rice, F., & Faircloth, A. (1996, May 13)).” In doing so, Anderson opened the floor up for his employees, rather than closing it and only referring to his decisions and ideas. He allowed his employees to provide their feedback