Red Lobster / Olive Garden Founder’s Defiance of Segregation Laws in 1930’s Georgia

April 14, 2022

Deep into the Jim Crow south and along segregated New Deal programs, The Green Frog welcomed its tables to everyone. In 1938, Bill Darden, founder of Red Lobster and Olive Garden restaurants, opened this first restaurant with the tagline”service with a hop.”

His defiance against local segregation laws was at a time where practically all businesses, jail cells, mental hospitals, parks, barber shops, or drinking fountains were segregated. As Darden’s restaurant enterprise grew, its commitment to being a leader in diversity by mirroring its labor pool with the cultural fabric of the local community became clear.

It is easy to look back and praise and move on, but easier to minimize the challenges that Darden had to face in defying status quo.

Small business leadership does not have to be standing up against an unjust law facing risk of prosecution, but it could be as simple as providing a balanced work life to your employees or leading volunteer initiatives within the community.

Focusing on company culture is not a benefit in job recruiting, retention, and productivity, but it is an incredible risk management tool. Employees like to sue bad bosses. Employees are disgruntled in difficult workplaces. Here are some additional resources related to the significance of company culture:

(1) How to Prevent Your Employees From Becoming Your Competitor

(2) The Harassment Watershed episode 292 – Legally Sound | Smart Business by Pasha Law PC

(3) What the Wells Fargo Scandal Can Teach Business About Corporate Culture

(4) Diversity, Employment Discrimination, and Inclusion

Building Company Culture Beyond The Handbook

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Nasir N. Pasha is the managing attorney of Pasha Law, providing essential legal services and support to businesses and corporations in California, Illinois, New York, and Texas. He oversees all of the firm’s operations and is a pivotal force in maintaining client relationships and ensuring that each transaction is brought to its best possible conclusion.

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Legally Sound Smart Business

A business podcast with a legal twist

Legally Sound Smart Business is a podcast by Pasha Law PC covering different topics in business advice and news with a legal twist with attorneys Nasir Pasha and Matt Staub.
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Latest Episodes

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That’s all we do.

Oh, and we love it.

We love our work. We love reviewing that lease for your new location. We thrive on closing that acquisition that nearly fell through. We’re fulfilled when we structure a business to grow, raise capital, and be legally protected.

We focus on developing close relationships with our clients by being like business partners. A partner who provides essential, personalized, proactive legal support.

We do all of this without utilizing the traditional billable hour model. You pay for the value we bring, not the time spent on calls, emails, and meetings.

Our team is made up of attorneys and staff that share these values and we are retained by clients who want the same.

Pasha Law PC operates in the states of California, Illinois, New York, and Texas.

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Pasha Law Select offers the expertise of a high-end general counsel legal team for every aspect of your business at a fixed monthly rate. Pasha Law Select is deliberately designed to allow our legal team to be proactive, to anticipate, and to be comprehensive in serving our clients. To be great lawyers, we need to know our clients. We can’t know our clients unless we represent a select number of clients in the long-term. This is Pasha Law Select.

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