Private sector experience indeed
Business activities
In 1984, Walker franchised a
D'Lites fast food restaurant in
Athens, Georgia.
[82]
In 1999, Walker created Renaissance Man Food Services, which distributes chicken products. Originally, his producer was
Sysco Corp. following a casual conversation with a Sysco vice president who asked him to provide some chicken-breading recipes from his mother.
[83][84] He founded Savannah-based H. Walker Enterprises in 2002 as an
umbrella company for most of his other business ventures, the largest of which was Renaissance Man Food Services.
[85]
Walker has a history of exaggerating the number of people employed by and the assets of his companies; the failure of several business enterprises led to creditors bringing lawsuits.
[85][86] Walker touted Renaissance Man Food Services as one of the largest minority-owned meat processors in the nation, with $70 million in annual sales.
[85][84][83] In subsequent deposition testimony in a lawsuit, however, Walker gave far lower figures, saying that his company averaged about $1.5 million in annual profits from 2008 and 2017.
[86]
Walker has touted Renaissance Man Food Services as a "mini-
Tyson Foods", and also said that the company controlled multiple chicken processing plants.
[85][87] However, in a 2018 declaration submitted in a legal case against his company, Walker acknowledged that the company did not actually own any chicken processing plants and instead partnered with plant owners to sell branded chicken products.
[85] Walker's business associates later testified that Walker
licensed his name to the chicken-related enterprise.
[86]
In 2009, Walker told the media that Renaissance Man Food Services had over 100 employees.
[85] In 2018, Walker told the media that Renaissance Man Food Services had "over 600 employees."
[85][88] In 2020, Renaissance Man Food Services informed the U.S. government that it had eight employees.
[85][86] The Atlanta Journal-Constitution suggested that Walker's overestimate of employees could "refer to chicken processing jobs, which are not actually part of Walker’s business".
[85]
In April 2020, Renaissance Man Food Services applied for a
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan due to the
economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,
[89] and the company ultimately received two PPP loans totaling $180,000 (of which $111,300 was
forgiven).
[85] On Twitter in April 2020, Walker mocked "big companies" that received PPP money, suggesting that they were "giving back" the money due to being "ashamed".
[90] This was despite Walker being a
board member of the Sotherly Hotel Group, owner of the
Georgian Terrace Hotel and other hotels; the group received over $9 million of PPP loans in April 2020 while firing 90% of its hotel staff, according to company documents submitted to the U.S. government.
[90] According to government records, Walker was paid $247,227 in total from Sotherly from 2016 to 2021.
[90]
Walker said that "part of its corporate charter" was to donate 15% of profits to charites. However, none of the four charities that Walker named as beneficiaries confirmed they actually received any donations.
[91]
