Appears Mr. Franchisee Metz got slapped by corporate - I'm pretty sure Denny's probably has a clause in franchie contract - Franchisee's "not allowed to bring negative impact to corp Brand.
>Denny’s chief executive John Miller privately reached out to Metz to express his “disappointment” with the Florida franchisee’s controversial statements about Obamacare, which sparked a wave of backlash for the national restaurant chain over the past few days.
“We recognize his right to speak on issues, but registered our disappointment that his comments have been interpreted as the company’s position,” Miller said in an email to The Huffington Post. Metz also released a statement following their conversation expressing remorse for his comments. “We regret that the statements we made may have been interpreted as representative of the Denny’s brand or of other franchisees, which they are not,” Metz said. “Our stores do not have a 5 percent surcharge.”
The backlash has spread to other Denny’s franchises as well. An owner of seven locations in Florida said that they nearly unplugged the phones after a deluge of angry callers to the restaurants.