MIAMI HERALD

January 16, 2008

Burger King eyes new tomato sources

BY ELAINE WALKER

Tired of being blamed for farmworker abuse, Burger King is considering buying its tomatoes from somewhere other than Immokalee.

The Miami fast-food chain asked its suppliers last month to develop a ''contingency plan'' for purchasing tomatoes not grown on farms in the Immokalee area.

''It's only planning at this point,'' Steve Grover, Burger King's vice president of food safety and quality assurance, said Tuesday. `` We're trying everything we can to resolve this.''

The Dec. 18 letter to suppliers came just a few weeks after Burger King was the target of a major march in Miami organized by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which hopes to expose what it calls unfair wages and working conditions in the fields where Burger King's tomatoes are picked by migrant workers. The group wants Burger King to agree to pay a penny more per pound for its tomatoes to improve wages, similar to deals signed by McDonald's and Taco Bell.

But Burger King and the tomato growers have argued that those deals violate federal anti-trust and labor laws. Burger King has remained adamant it won't sign on to the deal because the chain buys its tomatoes from repackers, not from growers, so it has no way to get money to the workers. The extra penny per pound would cost the firm about $250,000 a year.

In the letter to suppliers, Grover wrote: ''In an effort to protect the BKC brand and supply system from disruption, we are developing contingency plans to assure our long-term supply of tomatoes.'' He went on to ask the suppliers to ``submit contingency plans for the possibility that we would choose not to purchase tomatoes grown on farms in the Immokalee, Florida region.''

Burger King executives tried to downplay that the ''contingency plan'' is a direct result of the coalition's activities. Any move would be a ''phased implementation,'' starting with the 2008-2009 growing season.

''If they won't work with us, we've only got one other option: to move,'' Grover said. ``It's a distraction to our business. They're trying to get a lot of groups turned against us.''

Coalition spokeswoman Julia Perkins called Burger King's letter another ''ill-informed reactionary'' move.

''If you run away from the scene of the crime, that doesn't make you look any less guilty,'' Perkins said. ``They're running away from a problem that's easily solveable. It's just another attempt to distract the public from the issues at hand.''

Even if Burger King attempts to buy tomatoes from elsewhere, Perkins said it wouldn't absolve them of the group's efforts to improve the wages for all farmworkers in Florida, not just Immokalee.

This would not be the first time Burger King has operated without tomatoes from Immokalee, Grover said.

The fast-food chain is currently getting limited tomatoes from Immokalee due to the freeze earlier this month that wiped out much of the crop. After Hurricane Wilma wiped out the majority of Immokalee tomatoes, Burger King got the vast majority of its supply from elsewhere.

Burger King only uses the Immokalee tomatoes to supply its restaurants on the East Coast. But during the winter months, the vast majority of field grown tomatoes available in the United States come from Florida. The other major supplier is Mexico, although there are some supplies available from Puerto Rico and Arizona.

''We're not that big of a buyer and there are plenty of alternatives,'' Grover said.

A decision by Burger King to stop purchasing tomatoes picked in Immokalee would be a blow for the tomato growers, who will no longer participate in any of the penny per pound deals because of legal questions.

The Florida Tomato Growers Exchange last year teamed with Burger King to speak out against the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. But Reggie Brown, executive vice president of the group, first learned of Burger King's plan on Tuesday.

''I think it's very unfortunate that Burger King would consider that kind of approach,'' Brown said. ``It's a decision that has the potential to reduce jobs and the size of the industry. We don't think that's good for the Florida economy and for the farmworkers.''