Is PIRTEK USA Racist? Or Just Really, Really White?
PIRTEK USA has been accused of using franchisee confidentiality agreements and private mediation to keep allegations of racism out of the public eye. So we set out to research diversity among PIRTEK USA franchise owners… we haven’t found any yet… by Sean Kelly, Founder, Franchise Truth
(UnhappyFranchisee.Com) After years of being the poster boy for the PIRTEK USA franchise program, Jim Lager says he no longer represented the image new Australian owner Glenn Duncan wanted.
According to Lager, he was ousted from the business he built and his territory was given to a white franchisee from Australia with a wholesome Caucasian family.
The turning point, according to Lager, was when he brought his long-time African-American girlfriend to a PIRTEK USA sales meeting.
Other franchisees and executives brought their wives, girlfriends or significant others… but Lager brought the only woman of color in attendance.
While that type of blatant prejudice might seem hard to believe in this modern era, a glance through the blindingly white PIRTEK USA meeting photos (some of which are posted below) and franchisee roster give a sense of how radical that might have been.
I don’t know whether race played a role in PIRTEK USA’s decision not-to-renew one of their top-producing franchisees and recipient of countless sales and mentoring awards, but it doesn’t seem as far-fetched as I once thought.
I set out to compile and review photographs of every franchisee named in the current PIRTEK USA FDD to see just how white this system is.
Let’s put it this way: Wonder Bread is likely wondering how PIRTEK USA maintains that pure white consistency.
Is Franchise Arbitration & Confidentiality Agreements Hiding Racist Leadership & Practices at PIRTEK USA?
The dispute between PIRTEK USA, attorney Michael Joblove & arbitrator David Kaufmann on one side and former PIRTEK franchisee and military veteran Jim Lager has brought the issue of forced franchisee confidentiality agreements – and other things – into the public eye.
One contention that’s arisen is whether Kaufmann – who is supposed to be a neutral arbiter – is a heavy-handed franchisor advocate who refuses to enforce provisions of the agreement being openly violated by the franchisor, while overreaching to the point of crushing the constitutional rights of franchisee Jim Lager.
According to a complaint filed with the ACLU by Lager, PIRTEK USA and attorney Michael Joblove are using a settlement agreement they continuously were allowed to violate while using the confidentiality of the mediation proceedings to hide blatantly racist attitudes and actions of franchisor management.
Recent Lager PIRTEK USA Articles:
Franchise Attorney, Mediator David Kaufmann Ethics Accusations
NASAA Advisor Forbids Franchisee Participation in NASAA Public Comments
Some Franchisors & VetFran Exploit Veterans Even After They’ve Failed
Here is the photo compilation so far:
Diversity was Not Likely a Topic of Discussion at the PIRTEK 2021 Leadership Meeting
Jim Lager’s contention that he was ousted after bringing his long-time African-American girlfriend to a PIRTEK USA meeting like this one seems less far-fetched after reviewing dozens and dozens of PIRTEK social media posts and photographs and not seeing one person of color. (Photo source: PIRTEK USA)
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The Unbearable Whiteness of Pirtek… |
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The PIRTEK USA Clan wave their hands in the air like they just don’t care. [AUTHOR’S NOTE: The use of the word “Clan” in the preceding photo caption was in no way intended to imply a connection or similarity between the PIRTEK USA franchisee meeting pictured and a “Ku Klux Klan” (spelled with a “K”) rally. I believe I was incorrectly alluding to Wu Tang Clan as the artists who “wave their hands in the air like they just don’t care.” which was actually the group Cameo. To be clear, I have no knowledge of any affiliation between PIRTEK USA, its officers, agents or Australian parent and any white supremacy group or movement.] |
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We welcome comments and clarification from Glenn Duncan, Kim Gubera, David Kaufmann, Michael Joblove, PIRTEK USA.
NOTE: Unhappy Franchisee provides an open invitation to all individuals and companies discussed, mentioned or involved with our posts. We invite you to provide corrections, clarifications, rebuttals or alternative points-of-view in the comments and/or by emailing us at UnhappyFranchisee [at] Gmail [dot] Com. We welcome all respectful opinions and value open, productive discussion. We also respect the protected right of anonymous speech and assure the confidentiality of our sources and those who wish to contribute anonymously. Threats and bullying will not be tolerated (especially when directed at us).
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TAGS: Kim Gubera, NASAA, North American Securities Administrators Association, franchise legislation, David Kaufmann, Franchise attorney David Kaufmann, mediator David Kaufmann, attorney Michael Joblove, PIRTEK, PIRTEK USA, Glenn Duncan, Jim Lager, franchisee Jim Lager, Texas Hose Pro, Franchise NDAs, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, the Franchise Rule, NASAA, Franchise Legislation, AAA, American Arbitration Association
Couple things…
1st the pictures where you highlighted Glenn Duncan and Kim Gubera “waving their hands in the air”… That’s not Glenn nor is that Kim you’ve highlighted. Fact is they aren’t even in the shot from what I can tell. Those are either franchisees or employees who now have their images on the internet with false messaging about them.
2nd you’re excluding all minority franchisees that are involved in the brand. It would be nice if you at least acknowledged their existence, not for the purpose of anything positive for the brand but at least to recognize they’re out there working hard to earn a living.
3rd you and Mr. Lager seem to discriminate against the Duncan’s because they’re Australian and not American. Yet you’re focused on inferring they’re racist because Mr. Lager claims he’s the only white Pirtek franchise owner to have an African American Spouse? Can you confirm that Jim Lager is the only white male or female involved in this franchise who has a minority partner?
Reading your other articles about deli delicious and this article along with comments about “how things are done in America” tells me more truth than the message in your writings. Racism is horrendous and has no place in society… In my opinion Xenophobia or prejudice based on nationality is in the same category, making your statements no less damaging than your accusations.
You’re site has the opportunity and traffic to educate potential franchisee’s on the good and bad in the industry yet you only focus on negativity. The articles you do release feature half truths and leave out pertinent information in order to grab attention or throw mud at organizations you seem to have a vendetta against. Educating potential investors about the pitfalls of franchising is great if you do so based on facts and not innuendo and half truths. In my opinion, you’re just as guilty as the brands you write articles about… Miscommunication, half truths, and prejudice are way too frequent on the internet.
Anonymous:
Thanks for sharing your opinions.
As stated in the header, this is a discussion site. We share our opinions and on every post we invite all readers and those discussed to comment, as you have.
We invite Glenn Duncan, Kim Gubera and their cadre of attorneys to respond as well. They never have. But I’m glad you did.
Bringing up Glenn Duncan’s Australian background is related to two ongoing issues. The first is the insincerity of PIRTEK’s supposed reverence for military veterans as franchisees. They market through a phony marketing scam called VetFran that pretends to look out for veterans but steers them into franchises with the highest failure rates in the industry. If I moved to Australia I wouldn’t have the same reverance for their military that I do for ours, but I wouldn’t take down their Veteran’s tribute wall then oust a top franchisee whose military service is STILL selling franchises for them with PR articles they should have pulled, as per their agreement with said veteran.
The second issue with Glenn’s Australian background is the fact that he and the attorneys are interfering with Jim Lager’s first amendment rights and the right to free speech. Not to overdo the veteran card, but he served his country and defended those rights which I hold especially dear. Duncan didn’t. Who is he, and who do these lawyers think they are to tell an American veteran that he doesn’t have the right to participate in the franchise legislative process? These guys are bullies and they need to respect our citizens. You would be surprised how many foreign companies are repressing the rights of American franchisees. I’m dealing with Freshii bullying franchisees from Canada, 7-Eleven from Hong Kong, Tim Hortons and now Burger King from Brazil, GNC from asia as well… the list goes on and on.
It’s got nothing to do with Australia… It’s got everything to do with Glenn Duncan bullying Americans in their own country with his Daddy’s money.
Do I know if any of the white franchisees have African American girlfriends or wives and, if so, have been able to bring them to PIRTEK functions without them being allegedly referred to, behind closed doors, as prostitutes because of their age and skin color? No, please share… or tell me how I can get that information. I have gone to the trouble of copying the name of every PIRTEK franchisee in the 2021 FDD and locating their picture. Does that count as research? Guess what? All but a few South Asian and a few with hispanic names are white men between 30 and 60. I believe this may be the whitest franchise chain in the country – or one of them.
For goodness sake, Anonymous, even NASCAR has 2 African American drivers.
But I do appreciate any correct identification of the dancers. Are you saying that neither Glenn Duncan nor Kim Gubera attended their own Leadership Conference?
One other correction… I’ve learned that Jose evans, franchisee for Louisville West, may be a franchisee of color! Best of success to him! Hope he fares better than the first New York franchisee (middle eastern guy?) who disappeared without a trace. Kim wouldn’t respond… just took down the press releases.
I used to respect what you do a lot, but now your playing woke leftist race baiting games.
Why don’t you stick to helping people who are being screwed over by franchisors who see only 1 color, green, instead of trying to find muh racism everywhere. You’re better than that.
Eric:
I’m not a fan of Cancel Culture tactics like using dismissive labels as an excuse to not address valid questions, so I don’t even care to know what “woke leftist race baiting games” even means. If you’re referring to some sort of fishing competition, I’ll reconsider.
Obviously, “Woke leftist baiting games!” alert flashes in your brain at the mere mention of race. Take another stab at reading the actual content, which is posed in the form of a question. I doubt Jim Lager would agree that it’s a game when his business was taken despite being one of the top three franchisees in the system, having set the sales record for first and second year sales, having travelled the country on his own dime to help struggling franchisees reach their potential, and having won every award from franchisee of the year, mentor of the year multiple times and countless sales awards.
Jim says he went from Golden Boy face of their franchise marketing to having a target on his back when the Australian son of the founder, Glenn Duncan, took over and decided, for some reason, to make a competitor out of one of their top franchisees. Jim says everything changed when he brought his black girlfriend to the PIRTEK sales conference. He alleges people told him Duncan was enraged and said Lager brought a “prostitute” to the sales conference.
I don’t know whether Lager is correct about the Duncan being a racist or not. So I searched every picture I could find of PIRTEK franchisees and sales meetings. In posting those sales meetings pictures, it does seem to me that a person of color would certainly stand out in a big way. So I genuinely ask: Is there some reason the Pirtek population doesn’t represent the makeup of the U.S. population, or did it just happen that way?
Even Sleepy Right Cancel Culturists like yourself must admit that SOME racists exist. Glenn Duncan may be one of them. Or might not. But be careful siding against a US military veteran in favor of an Australian CEO who compares himself to Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. The Sleepy Right may revoke your flag pin ;)
I doubt it would be the only reason. Glenn Duncan might have felt insecure in his new role and perceived the popular and outspoken Lager as a threat to his authority. Judging from the fact that he invested millions of dollars to build 20,000 ft. of office space for 40 employees (500 sf each!) and warehouse space reportedly the size of three football fields… right before the pandemic… he may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer. And Kim Gubera can’t respond to the simplest question without hiding behind her lawyer.
As far as being a leftist (haha), I’m all for doing away with government agencies like SCORE, the SBA loan program, the SBA and even the FTC if it doesn’t start doing its job and stop allowing our tax dollars to pay banks and franchisors for fraudulently obtained loans.
Eric
Screaming fire in a crowded building is irresponsible unless there is truly a fire!
Glenn Duncan is being portrayed as a racist because I have signed statements from Pirtek employees and phone recordings with vendors describing my girlfriend as a prostitute and I am no longer deserving of a franchise with Pirtek because of my relationship.
Is it because she is black or does he consider her name, “Blessing” to be a prostitute’s name?
His CEO, a woman, Kim Gubera allowed my girlfriend’s reputation to be trashed and she has also accused me in legal documents of smoking and growing marijuana of which I do neither. You will find no record of this anywhere. I have also been told by a Pirtek franchise employee that they were told I like to party with prostitutes and do cocaine. Call me old but I’m in bed every night by 9:30 which doesn’t sit well from what I’ve heard with people that blow cocaine and party with prostitutes.
So I apologize if I’m with the “Woke” culture, but this franchisor did everything they could to destroy their #3 franchisee in the country’s reputation… and failed!!!