Golden Corral Isn't Just Corralling Food...Its Churning Owners

(Black PR Wire) WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – Sherrance Henderson and Cornucopia Queen, Inc., have filed suit in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, White Plains Division against Golden Corral Franchising Systems, Inc. The lawsuit claims that Golden Corral denied Henderson’s right to equality in their contracts in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1866, bad faith breach of contract, fraudulent inducements and omission as the first disabled African American woman to hold a franchisee license for the company. Henderson has requested a jury trial for punitive damages.

In March 2013, Henderson signed a 15-year franchise agreement with Golden Corral, an agreement required for all franchise owners. To qualify for the franchisee license, Henderson was told to find two other people, preferably men, to share the license because Henderson could not manage the business due to her disability and because she was “a woman who has never operated a business of this type.” Henderson planned to open the restaurant in Newark, New Jersey.

After signing the agreement, Henderson went through several years of bait and switch as Golden Corral removed any location chosen for the new restaurant from the approved list. She was also sexually harassed. Henderson finally opened the franchise in January 2017 after building a brand-new building, which Golden Corral said she had to do instead of renting or renovating an existing location at her own expense.

Henderson alleges she was denied training offered to other managers because of her disability. Experts sent to help with the location sabotaged the business with faulty advice. The company was participating in a churning scheme to make more money.

Henderson invested her entire life savings, approximately $7 million, into the franchise, which was shut down after 51 days in operation for violations Golden Corral found with no option to correct them. The lawsuit claims white-owned franchises with similar growing pains were offered 300 days. With the closing of the location, and the inability to pay the bank for loans taken out to construct the building, Henderson lost all the money she put into the franchise.

Donate to Henderson’s quest for justice at gofund.me/a583d476.

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