Denny's

Denny's is an American table service restaurant chain spanning across 1500 locations worldwide. It is the owner of The Burger Den and The Meltdown.^[1] On January, Denny's became a private subsidiary to TriArtisan Capital Advisors, Treville Capital Group, and Yadav Enterprises from a $620 million transaction deal.^[2]

• User Freedom: Can request to opt-out of collection by clicking on the "unsubscribe link", phone number or email.
• User privacy: The company collects and shares personal information including interests, name, email, phone number, IP address, post sent via other apps like Facebook and X, sensory information, and shopping behavior with other third-parties.
• Business Model: The company franchises locations and has license agreements with Seven & I Holdings.

This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Denny's category.

On 6 February, plaintiff Ladarrius Cooley filed a complaint for violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for sending unsolicited advertising messaging with an autodialing system to customers after receiving several texts on 13 December and 17 December 2019 without consent.^[3][4] On 19 May, the case reached a undisclosed settlement and was dismissed with prejudice by the plaintiff. ^[5]

Denny's introduced a update to their reward program around August to incentivize customers to visit more with offers tailored to their interest using customers purchase history.^[6][7]

"This new program is a best-in-class, one-to-one marketing program that leverages our already strong database of loyal guests to create greater, more compelling reasons for them to engage and spend more,”

People posted on AARP forums and Reddit sharing frustration over the gradual decrease of discounts and removal of app features. Several people claim they received less coupons deals such as 10-20% off on products.^{[8][9][10][11][12][13][14]} Additionally, several people experienced glitches and difficulty with the new program and removal of several key features previously available.^[15][16][17]

Around December, a Hispanic family comprising of Ruby Flores and his two sons filed a lawsuit against Denny's for allegedly being required to pre-pay in order to receive service while several white customers weren't required to prepay. The case reach a settlement two months later with the family stated they received $3000, however Denny franchise owner John Krizman denied ever recalling the case.^[18]

Discussed in 1988 to identify a customer dine and dashing and eventually "gain control of the situation",^[19] it later became implemented around early 1990 and followed up with weekly meeting from district and regional managers to discuss strategies on how to avoid blackouts.^[19][20] The blackout policy was a term used by employees and managers to reference a instance of too many African American customers being in Denny's restaurants.^[21][22] Common tactics used during a blackout was denying service, prepayments, purchase requirements, additional fees, removal of free birthday meals, falsifying delays, back-room seating management, purposely rude service, closing the restaurant for a couple of hours, and in rare cases even locking out customers.^[23][20][19]Any employees found disobeying the blackout policy would be subsequently fired or disciplined.^[19][20]

On 31 December, 18 teenagers were required to pay $2 for each person and bill fees before being served at a Denny's restaurant located in Jose, California. The company suspended pre-payment procedures and collaborated with National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to improve diversity inclusion.^[24] This eventually led to the original teenagers filing a lawsuit against Denny's.

On 24 May, 6 black Secret Service agents filed a lawsuit in Maryland against Denny's after waiting an hour for service, resulting in over 4,000 complaints from customers.^[25][26][21] On 1 April, 21 secret service agents went to Denny's in Annapolis to prepare for a speech by president Clinton on 7:30 am. Upon arrival, they claimed the waitress denied service numerous times due to their race after seeing their white-collegues and another white family be seated and served in 10 minutes. When the group plan to leave around 8:25 am, the waitress served the black service agents with food, however they had to decline due to time constraints.^[27][28] In response, the company fired the manager and released a statement alleging the incident was a service issue and will be investigated by a third party.

"While initial findings point to a problem of slow service and not racial bias, the company is seeking an independent third party to help investigate the incident on April 1 involving six Secret Service agents."^[29][27]

On 24 May Denny's reached a $46 million settlement that includes the 6 service agents, Californian customers, and additional customers later added on in the suit.^[30][31] The settlement agreement compensated the 6 service agents $35,000 each and 12 other individuals named in the lawsuit $15,000 each, 18 individuals in California receiving $25,000 each, and distributing $28 million for around 300,000 customers.^[32] Additionally, the company also agreed to pay $450,000 to various school and non-profit organizations.^[33][34]

Around April, 6 Asian American students sued Denny's after allegedly being denied service and succumbing injuries due to their race.^[35] They claim after waiting for 30 minutes for service and asking why they weren't seated, they were escorted out the restaurant by 2 guards at Denny's and subsequently attacked and filed racial slurs at the group.^[36]Denny responded by firing and disciplining some employees while sharing anger and disgust over the incident, with back then Denny's president John Romandetti expressing "deep regret".^[37] The lawsuit was eventually dismissed due to lack of evidence and legal basis, citing the event was likely a political stunt.^[36]

Around April, 7 Arab American filed a $28 million lawsuit against Denny's franchisee Restaurant Collection Inc, and manager Eduardo Ascano seeking compensation of $4 million for each affected individual involved.^[38][39] The lawsuits claims around 11 January at 2 am they went to Denny's and waited an hour for food service. When one of the individuals ask the manager about the order, the manager replied with "Bin Laden is the manager of the kitchen" and "Bin Laden is in charge." When asked again by another individual, the manager reportedly told employees to cancel the order. Later, the manager instructed the group to leave saying "We don’t serve bin Ladens here! You guys, out!" after being asked why reference the name bin Laden. While being escorted out, police dinning at the location threaten the group to leave.^[40][41]

The police department and Denny's manager didn't release a public response, however Denny's franchisee Restaurant Collection Inc owner Alfonso Fernandez released the following statement alleging the inci 10 August, Elijah Henderson and 25 black church members entered a Ddent didn't happen.

"We are truly committed to treating all of our guests with respect, and we take every guest concern seriously. These allegations of discrimination were immediately and thoroughly investigated by an independent, outside agency that found no evidence whatsoever to support the guests' claims."^[42]

On 7 May, black couple named Renee Hebert and Henry William entered into a Denny's restaurant located in Koreatown to place an $80 order, however the manager repeatedly asked the couple to prepay over concerns for the amount of food ordered and fear of dine and dashing from previous customers. This resulted in the couple being frustrated and boxing their food before leaving the restaurant.^[43][44][45] The couple would later file a lawsuit against Denny's and its branch manager late August 2014.^[44][46] During one testimony on 3 February 2016, a white customer testified the company actions being motivated by racism, saying he was never asked to prepay.^[45][47][48] Soon after the testimony, the case reach a undisclosed settlement agreement.^{[49][45][47][50]}

On 2 February, 7 customers involved in LGBTQ group Deming Pride filed a discrimination charge complaint against Denny for discrimination. The lawsuit claims after the annual Deming Pride pageant around summer 2014, several customers went to Denny's only to be denied service for a hour. When a transgender women asked an employee when they'll be served, they received homophobic slurs with ""f!ggt*s," "j$t*s" and "boy with t%ts". When the group addressed the situation to the manager, they were suggested to leave the restaurant and eat somewhere else. In the complaint, they ask for an apology letter and a $20,000 donation to Deming Pride.^[51][52][53]

On 16 June, the case was resolved and dropped, with Denny's agreeing to provided employees more training towards non-discrimination practices, donate $13,000 to Deming Pride, affirm discrimination policies comply with state law, and provide #3,250 to one customer. Denny's responded to the settlement stating;

“Denny’s does not tolerate any discrimination in our organization, and we take any claims to the contrary very seriously. While we disagree with the specifics of the incident, our priority is on ensuring our guests are heard and therefore we worked diligently with Deming Pride and the ACLU of New Mexico to reach this resolution for all. We wish the best for our guests who were involved in this case.”

Additionally, plaintiff attorney Brian Moore gave a statement sharing some relief and praising the company.

“We are very pleased to have resolved this matter for our clients. It is clear to us that Denny’s is committed to ensuring that all people are welcomed in their restaurants.”

On 27 September, white customer Palmer Pellham in a now deleted Facebook post alleged the company discriminated against a group of 4 African American customers after witnessing the group wait 10 minutes to be seated and soon after being asked by a waitress to prepay to receive service due to several customers dine and dashing.^[54]Palmer Pellham asserts several white customers were seated and served immediately, adding only two tables were occupied with the rest being avalaible.^[55][56] On 30 September, Denny's released a statement on Facebook apologizing for the incident and firing the involved employees.^[57]

On 10 August, Elijah Henderson and 25 black church members entered a Denny's restaurant and upon entry were denied service after a waitress told the group they couldn't be served due to being understaffed with one chef and cashier. In the process of leaving Denny's, Elijah Henderson noticed a white family being served and seated, after which he posted the incident on Facebook. Soon after the incident and media attention, Denny's released an apology and announced termination of the employee.^[58][59][60]

“We were shocked by the unacceptable experience our guests received recently at our Lake City, Florida, location, and sincerely apologize. We simply do not tolerate discrimination of any kind in our restaurants.”^[61]

On 13 August, two customers went to a Denny's restaurant located in Sioux Falls. The Individuals was given a menu and orange juice before waiting 15 minutes while the waitress served other customers and perform other tasks.^[62] When one of them told the waitress they're ready to order, the waitress responded with “I don’t appreciate you yelling at me, I don’t need you people calling me over to this table," however the customers claim they didn't yell at the employees.^[63]

The waitress then snatched the menus and threatened to call the police if they didn't leave.^[62][63] When the customers refused to leave and have wanted to file a complaint, the employee refused to give their name and said there was no manager on duty.^[62] Eventually, the customers left and soon after contacted Denny's corporate office, however receiving no response.^[63] It wasn't until posting it on Tiktok where it became viral, prompting Denny's to issue a statement declaring their commitment to "culture of inclusion and service" along with terminating the employee and apologizing to affected customers.^[64][65] On 16 July 2025, the two individuals filed a class action lawsuit against Denny's,WKS Restaurant Corp, Sunrise Restaurants, LLC, Pilot Flying J Center, Anne Fletcher and Michael Fletcher over violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964, seeking up to $4 million in damages.^[66][67] The lawsuit is still in legal proceeding and has yet to be resolved as of April 2026.

On 5 November, Five black women would file a class action lawsuit against Denny's and franchisee Gills Bloomsburg Inc over violations of the Civil Rights Act of 1866(Section 1981), Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title 2) and Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.^[68] The lawsuit alleges on 14 January 2024, 5 women attempted to dine at Denny's only to be soon after denied service and seating due to the lights flickering, however only a few minutes later when one women needed to use the restroom, the group saw several white customers enjoying their meals with no lights flickering, after which one female began recording and later posting it on TikTok.^[69] Soon after the post, Denny's vice president Chioke Elmore contacted one female involved, however the plaintiff claim it was an attempt at gaslighting with Chioke Elmore saying" I look like you and I wouldn’t want to work here if they didn’t want people like us to eat here" and soon after offering one free meal at Denny's.^[68][70] The lawsuit is still in legal proceeding and has yet to be resolved as of April 2026.

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