MIAMI Burger King Corp. said “appropriate disciplinary action will be taken” after it completes an investigation into an executive’s online criticism under assumed names of a farm workers’ advocacy group currently at odds with the chain.
The announcement confirmed that the comments, posted on various public websites, have been traced to Steve Grover, the chain's well-known vice president of food safety, quality assurance and regulatory compliance.
Last week a report in The News-Press of Fort Meyers, Fla., linked Grover to the online attacks on the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. It also traced critical e-mails to Grover, the one-time leading authority on food safety for the National Restaurant Association. The CIW called the online remarks “a series of anonymous and defamatory comments.”
The News-Press reported that Grover had used the screen name of his daughter, Shannon, to post at least some of the comments, and that she had confirmed her father’s responsibility.
Keva Silversmith, BK’s director of external communications, said in a statement on Wednesday that the company's senior management had no knowledge of Grover’s postings.
“These comments were not sanctioned by the company, and they do not reflect the opinion of the company," the statement said. "Burger King Corp. maintains a closed media policy; contact with reporters outside the communications department is prohibited, and any official sanctioned comment can come only from the communications department."
The CIW is the activist group trying to get Burger King to join McDonald’s and Yum! Brands’ chains in paying an extra penny a pound for tomatoes in Florida. The CIW maintains that the additional payment would be used to improve the wages and living conditions of tomato pickers. Burger King has refused to join McDonald’s and Yum in agreeing to the charge, citing concerns about the legality of paying wages to people who don’t work for the company.
After the News-Press story appeared last week, the quick-service giant indicated that it may review its purchasing agreements as a “first step” toward resolving the issue