A viral image claims that 15 different chain restaurant groups donated to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. “Restaurants to AVOID who donated to Trump,” it reads. “Not suited for our health anyway.” The post has appeared across sites like Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Threads.
The message conveyed in the image is false. While corporate employees can donate privately to political candidates, corporations themselves are legally barred from making campaign contributions.
Corporations have been restricted from making donations in federal elections since 1907, when the Tillman Act was passed by Congress. “To be clear, it is illegal for corporations to give money directly to federal candidates from the corporate treasury,” Brendan Glavin, director of research at OpenSecrets—a nonprofit that tracks political spending and donations—told The Dispatch Fact Check.
That said, individuals who make political donations are required to list their employer when they do so, often leading to confusion over whether the employer itself made the contribution. “Some of these social media posts appear to be just made up, but since donors have to report their employer when making donations, this is how the idea of corporations giving can come about,” Glavin explained. “When you have large corporations that employ thousands, or tens of thousands, of people, there will undoubtedly be employees giving political contributions to both sides.” OpenSecrets itself is often cited incorrectly in such claims, as The Dispatch Fact Check has covered previously.
While corporations cannot themselves donate to political campaigns, they can form political action committees (PACs) that pool and distribute employee contributions. “Corporations can form PACs, which are funded by employee contributions, and the PAC can make contributions to candidates,” Glavin explained. However, these PACs are rarely a major funding source for presidential campaigns, which are funded almost entirely by individual contributions. According to Glavin, PAC donations to presidential campaigns “are pretty rare for the large retail corporations, as they do not want to deal with the public relations blowback from being linked to one side or the other in a political contest, especially at the presidential level.”
With that proper framing of corporate campaign contributions in mind, here’s a look at how much employees, their immediate family members, and PACs associated with each restaurant listed in the viral image actually donated to each candidate. In cases when a restaurant is a subsidiary of a larger company, donation data represents the parent company’s totals.
Dine Brands: Applebee’s and IHOP
- Harris: $9,527
- Trump: $2,543
- PAC: No activity.
Bloomin’ Brands: Outback Steakhouse
- Harris: $1,911
- Trump: $1,910
- PAC: No activity.
- Harris: $5,659
- Trump: $27,890
- PAC: $30,000 to Democratic and $56,000 to Republican House and Senate candidates in 2024.
- Harris: $14,893
- Trump: $14,152
- PAC: No activity.
- Harris: $1,631
- Trump: $0
- PAC: $0 to Democratic and $1,250 to Republican House and Senate candidates in 2024.
Yum! Brands: Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut
- Harris: $21,938
- Trump: $10,563
- PAC: $18,000 to Democratic and $22,500 to Republican House and Senate candidates in 2024.
Brinker International: Chili’s
- Harris: $5,940
- Trump: $1,952
- PAC: $2,500 to Democratic and $9,000 to Republican House and Senate candidates in 2024.
Berkshire Hathaway: Dairy Queen
- Harris: $415,361
- Trump: $215,418
- PAC: No activity.
JAB Holding Company: Panera Bread
- Harris: $28,361
- Trump: $9,419
- PAC: No activity.
- Harris: $77,223
- Trump: $33,530
- PAC: $74,300 to Democratic and $132,000 to Republican House and Senate candidates in 2024.
Darden Restaurants: Olive Garden
- Harris: $12,337
- Trump: $5,071
- PAC: No activity.
Inspire Brands: Dunkin Donuts
- Harris: $21,473
- Trump: $17,216
- PAC: $70,000 to Democratic and $65,000 to Republican House and Senate candidates in 2024.
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