ILLINOIS – 52 Black former McDonald’s franchise owners have filed a lawsuit in Illinois against the company for racial discrimination.
The franchise owners who owned around 200 stores before being forced to sell them over the last decade said the company recommended locations with higher costs and lower sales.
The plaintiffs said their losses on average were between $4 million and $5 million per location.
The lawsuit alleges that McDonald’s steered Black franchisees to stores in inner-city neighborhoods with lower sales volumes and higher security and insurance costs. The company would provide them with misleading financial information or push them to decide quickly when a store became available.
This is at least the third racial discrimination lawsuit filed against McDonald’s this year. In January, two Black McDonald’s executives sued the company. They claimed McDonald’s shifted advertising away from Black customers, graded Black-owned stores more harshly than white ones and implemented business plans that had a discriminatory impact on Black franchisees.
МсDоnаld’ѕ, which hаѕ аn еѕtіmаtеd nеt wоrth оf $170 Віllіоn hаѕ mаdе mоѕt оf its fоrtunе wіth hеr соmраnу ѕеrvіng hаmburgеrѕ аnd fаѕt fооd ѕіnсе 1940.