Restaurant chains across the country stepped in to provide support to the Orlando community devastated by the nation’s deadliest mass shooting over the weekend.
Early Sunday morning, a gunman killed 49 people and wounded more than 50 more at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Shooter Omar Mateen was killed by police, and the incident is being investigated as a terrorist act.
In the days since the shooting, Orlando-based Darden Restaurants Inc. has been offering free food to first responders and volunteers, as well as to the families of victims gathering in hotels as they await news of their loved ones, said Rich Jeffers, a spokesman for Darden.
“The thing we can do best is be of service to our community in Orlando, to provide food, water and assistance,” he said, noting that many other restaurants across the city were doing the same.
Jeffers said no Darden employees were killed or hurt in the shooting, but many employees had friends or loved ones who were. The Orlando restaurant support center has more than 1,000 employees across the company’s multiple brands. Grief counselors were made available to those who had need, he said.
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Darden also donated $500,000 to the OneOrlando Fund, an organization created by city officials to benefit the families of victims.
The company has also scheduled a two-day blood drive for later in the month. Blood collection centers were overwhelmed on Sunday immediately after the shooting, so Jeffers said the company decided to wait a couple weeks. “By then, we’ll need to have another push,” he said.
Support center staff gathered on Monday to show their support for those impacted in a photo that was posted on Twitter.
Among the reported victims was Miguel Angel Honorato, the manager of a Mexican catering company. Two victims were Starbucks employees, including one who died. The second was in critical condition, the Seattle-based chain said.
Neither of the Starbucks workers were identified by the company, but Starbucks said both were Target employees wearing the green apron as licensed store associates.
In a letter to all employees on Sunday, Howard Schultz, Starbucks’ chair and CEO, wrote, “I know you will join me in extending condolences to the people of Orlando and to the entire LGBTQ community who have been directly or indirectly affected by this unimaginable tragedy.”
Noting that the company is providing support to local partners and will have extra managers at nearby stores to help cover shifts and other needs as necessary, Schultz wrote, “We join the country in trying to make sense of this senseless violence. It is in times like this, however, that I am reminded of the power of our supportive and inclusive culture, one in which we band together to rise above hatred, indifference and cowardice, and find solace and compassion among one another, within our community.
“We must choose unity over divisiveness. And love over hatred,” he wrote.
Some Orlando locations of Chick-fil-A reportedly opened on Sunday, when the chain is typically closed as a matter of corporate policy to give employees a day of rest or to worship if they choose.
The Orlando restaurants provided free sandwiches and drinks to long lines of people waiting to donate blood at various locations across the city on Sunday.
Other companies are showing support via social media using the hashtag #OrlandoUnited.
At least one Wall Street analyst predicted the terror attack might hurt tourism in Florida, at least for the next few quarters.
Stephen Anderson of Maxim Group said in a report Monday that restaurant chains with significant exposure in Florida will likely be impacted, the same way restaurants in Paris were after the attacks there in November 2015.
“We argue this could be a template for a similar effect on Florida travel,” Anderson wrote. “According to the Paris Convention and Visitors Bureau, holiday bookings for the Christmas-New Year’s period plunged by 13 percent compared with the year-earlier period.”
Travel bookings in Paris recovered by spring, but they were still down 7 percent year-over-year, he noted. Overseas travel agencies may also warn travelers away from Florida.
Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected]
Follow her on Twitter: @livetodineout
