CINCINNATI — Frequent protests outside Kroger’s downtown headquarters are drawing attention and frustration from nearby businesses and neighbors caught in the middle.
Animal rights activists with the group Animal Equality have spent weeks demonstrating outside the company’s headquarters, pressuring Kroger to fulfill a commitment to transition to cage-free eggs. Protesters have used drums, whistles and megaphones during demonstrations, which one nearby restaurant owner said have disrupted business during the busy summer season.
“We’re not going to stop until they fulfill their promise,” protester Charlotte Hillberry said. “These animals, they suffer tremendously.”
Hillberry said Kroger pledged to transition to 100% cage-free eggs by 2025 but has not yet completed that goal.
“These hens, they’re stuffed into cages with several other hens,” she said. “The cages are so small that they can’t turn around, they can’t spread their own wings.”
WATCH: Court Street Kitchen operating manager Braheam Shteiwi describes the impact weeks-long protests have had on his customer base
The protests have been especially noticeable near restaurants and businesses surrounding Kroger’s headquarters in the city’s downtown area.
Braheam Shteiwi, operating manager of Court Street Kitchen, said the demonstrations have repeatedly emptied the restaurant’s patio during lunch service.
“There (were) 18 people out there at noon today,” Shteiwi said. “Half of them just left, the other half came inside.”
Shteiwi said the business depends heavily on patio seating during the summer months.
“We have 80 seats inside. We have 40 seats outside,” Shteiwi said. “We have almost 50% of our capacity on the patio.”
He said the disruptions hurt not only the restaurant but also servers who rely on tips.
“So whoever that server was that had nine people just gone cost them 90 bucks,” Shteiwi said. “That’s their gas money, that’s their grocery money.”
While Shteiwi said he supports the right to protest, he told us the demonstrations have crossed a line for nearby businesses.
“We’re very pro-First Amendment, pro-Constitution, pro-America, pro all of it,” Shteiwi said. “But when you’re disrupting the neighborhood, my neighborhood, my city — that’s what becomes frustrating.”
Shteiwi said the noise from drums and bullhorns has driven pedestrians away from the area entirely.
“When that’s going on, that’s cut by half,” Shteiwi said. “Nobody’s walking. They’re not going near that.”
He also expressed frustration over what he described as limited options for business owners seeking relief.
“You talk to the police, you talk to your landlord, you call your attorney, and all four of those phone calls ended in nothing,” Shteiwi said.
Cincinnati police confirmed to WCPO that the department has received complaints related to the protests but said officers have worked to balance public safety concerns with protesters’ First Amendment rights.
Police said they have facilitated discussions between protesters and nearby residents and businesses that resulted in agreements to modify some protest activities. According to police, organizers agreed to start demonstrations later in the day, reduce noise levels and move portions of the protests farther from affected businesses and residents.
"We had a little more control, a little more communication with them the last time they were in town, and they agreed to kind of turn it down and stop using some of the instruments they have, because they have a drum, they have bullhorns, they have megaphones, they got commercial whistles," Shteiwi said. "So we kind of had a mutual agreement understanding last time, and this time it's like that all went out the window.”
Police also said there have been no citations, arrests or enforcement actions connected to the demonstrations.
CPD said it has coordinated with Kroger, protest organizers and neighbors “to allow protesters to exercise their rights and minimize negative impacts on uninvolved parties.” The department added that the demonstrations have not negatively affected traffic because protesters have remained on sidewalks and allowed pedestrians room to pass.
Hillberry acknowledged the demonstrations have inconvenienced nearby businesses and residents but said the pressure campaign is necessary.
“We understand that this is not a convenient thing to have to listen to,” she said. “But I would urge those people to think about the bigger picture.”
She said activists plan to continue demonstrating at Kroger-related events and locations until the company fulfills its cage-free commitment.
“We’ll be out here anywhere (Kroger is) doing business,” Hillberry said.
WCPO reached out to Kroger for comment. We have not heard back.
