White Castle plans to do something it’s rarely, if ever, done: close all of its restaurants on a day other than Christmas.
The Columbus, Ohio-based fast-food chain said Tuesday that it will close for four hours, from 7-11 a.m., next Tuesday. Employees will get that time off paid so they can go and vote.
“This has been a stressful time for everybody,” Jamie Richardson, vice president of government and shareholder relations for White Castle, said in an interview. “Since the pandemic started, we were looking to do some things to make life a little easier for team members. This was a suggestion from folks. It felt like the right thing to do.”
A few chains are giving employees time to vote, such as fast casual Noodles, while Starbucks is providing information for employees and customers and giving workers time off to go and vote. Chipotle, too, is paying for up to two hours for employees scheduled to work on Election Day.
But White Castle is taking the rare step of actually closing its doors. That’s a rarity for the 360-unit Midwest chain, which prides itself on its accessibility. Most of its restaurants are open 24 hours, a legacy of the chain’s early years when it sought to provide hot meals to workers coming off of a late shift.
The restaurants only rarely close, outside of the few locations that close during the overnight hours. Some of the chain’s New York locations closed briefly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and the company’s new Arizona location had to close nightly in its early days because it was so busy the restaurant needed a daily reset. But there’s only one day when all of the restaurants close.
“We always close on Christmas Day,” Richardson said. “We’ve been consistent. I don’t know of any time in our history, other than Christmas Day.”
White Castle has been in business for 100 years, meaning this will be its 25th presidential election. Richardson said it will be a “new tradition” for the chain to close during these elections.
The four hours in the morning on Tuesday will give employees time to go and vote. As for those that already have voted?
“They can give themselves a pat on the back and have four hours to do whatever,” Richardson said.
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