The widespread protests over the death of George Floyd while in police custody had chief executives looking for ways to balance their efforts to run their companies, protect their employees and property, and articulate a response to their customers, staff and communities about racism and deep-seated problems in American society. For many, it followed months of struggles to reopen after the crippling global pandemic.
“Right when we get over one hump, here comes something new to deal with,” said Reynolds Cramer, chief executive of Fareway Foods Inc., a Midwest grocery chain in six states. In addition to adjusting hours to close early, Fareway told its store managers to shut down or not open right away in the morning if conditions are unsafe.
“It is scary. It’s frustrating. It’s such a terrible thing,” Mr. Cramer said. “You feel terrible for these people who have done nothing wrong and their businesses are being destroyed.”
Macy’s postponed the Monday reopening of four stores until later in the week due to the violence. Over the weekend, 30 Macy’s either closed early or never opened as intended, including those in Atlanta and Minneapolis. Early closures took place in cities with curfews to give employees time to get home. In cities where Macy’s stores hadn’t reopened yet such as Chicago, rioters broke windows and looted merchandise, according to a spokeswoman.
In a letter to employees, Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette urged staffers to look out for one another. “Check on your teams and fellow colleagues—both furloughed and nonfurloughed,” he wrote. “Be each other’s ally and seek help when you need it.”
Apple stores were broken into in several cities, including in Philadelphia, and the company closed stores Sunday and Monday in a number of locations, in some cases boarding them up. “With the health and safety of our teams in mind, we’ve made the decision to keep a number of our stores in the U.S. closed today,” a spokesman said.
Some Burger King and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen locations were damaged during the weekend’s protests, and restaurants have closed early in some areas to protect workers and customers, said Jose Cil, chief executive of parent company Restaurants Brands International Inc.
“There is no place for racism in America, and every company, every public institution and every individual needs to take accountability for calling it out by name and stopping it,” Mr. Cil said.
McDonald’s plans to hold a company town hall meeting Tuesday to allow U.S. employees to tell executives what the burger giant can do to foster more racial inclusion and corporate outreach.
“As a company, we have a responsibility to recognize the pain felt by so many and to fight racism and discrimination in our communities,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said in a message to the company Sunday evening.
Starbucks held a forum over the weekend for employees to talk about the death of George Floyd and racially motivated violence, and 2,000 employees participated, CEO Kevin Johnson said in a company letter. He said the company will continue to hold forums for workers to share their responses.
The coffee chain said Monday it would further limit employee hours to match pared-back operations at its U.S. stores, reflecting expectations that sales won’t bounce back from the pandemic until at least this fall.
“It’s hard to find the right words to capture how challenging the past few days have been,” said Brian Cornell, chief executive of Target Corp., which is based in Minneapolis, where the protests began. He said in an email interview that he was proud how quickly the retailer moved to protect employees and customers and was inspired to see members of the community come out to help clean up damaged Target stores.
Food retailers have adjusted hours and operations to respond to the pandemic, implementing capacity limits and new safety measures. And the recent protests add to the challenge.
“We’re trying hard to close the stores that would be impacted well in advance,” said Kevin Holt, chief executive of Ahold Delhaize USA, which operates more than 2,000 grocery stores across the country under the Stop & Shop, Giant and Food Lion chains. “We continue to be heartbroken over this.”
A small number of Ahold’s stores have been affected directly. Over the weekend, the grocer closed a handful of locations early to comply with local curfews. The chain is also reaching out to its employees through robocalls and other methods to check in.
“In terms of the pandemic, this could also cause a lot more infection,” Mr. Holt said. “We just don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We will have to deal with that as we go through it.”
Daniel Halpern, chief executive of the Jackmont Hospitality Inc. restaurant group, said he closed two TGI Fridays locations in Atlanta and Baltimore over the weekend to conform with local curfews. Coronavirus has hurt sales at the group’s airport restaurants—nearly all of them remain closed—and at its 30 TGI Fridays.
“If you look at where the country is today, we as business leaders have failed. I’m pointing fingers at myself and all leaders. We have to do a better job” to push for economic and racial equality, said Mr. Halpern, a Democratic National Committee board member.
Mr. Halpern, who is Native American, said he doesn’t support violence, but that he sympathizes with those who feel the need to demonstrate. “Minority-owned businesses are being damaged. Minority businesses hire people from their communities. But capitalism only works if everyone has a shot,” he said.
The restaurant industry needs to do more to encourage diversity, including at the top, he said. “We can’t fix these institutional issues with Band-Aids. When I go to restaurant conferences, there are very few black and brown franchisees, and fewer black and brown CEOs,” he said. “It’s not a question if there’s qualified people out there. They aren’t in the club.”
Jide Zeitlin, the CEO of Tapestry Inc., owner of the Coach and Kate Spade brands, wrote a letter to his staff to share his personal experience as one of the few black men to run a major U.S. company. He also reported that Coach and Kate Spade stores had been damaged by protesters in cities across the country from Charleston, S.C., and Washington, D.C., to Scottsdale, Ariz., and Bellevue, Wash.
“Has our society truly left them with little to lose and few other ways to force the rest of us to come to the negotiating table?” he wrote. “We can replace our windows and handbags, but we cannot bring back George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, Emmett Till, and too many others.”