Advertisement Custard shop owner says English-only rule isn't about racism Ron Schneider says policy pertains to running effective business Share Shares Copy Link Copy

The owner of Leon's Frozen Custard, a favorite treat location on Milwaukee's south side, acknowledged Wednesday that he has a rule in place that prevents his employees from speaking to customers in Spanish, but he said it doesn't come from a place of discrimination or racism.Instead, Ron Schneider said his policy is more a matter of business and speeding up sales. "I'm trying not to encourage it because this is going to be a problem down the road," he said. "We can't be the United Nations. They got translators. We don't."Schneider recalled a time years ago when the neighborhoods around the shop at South 27th Street and West Oklahoma Avenue saw a great influx of Hispanic people. Customers, he said, would come to the window and reach a communication roadblock with his English-speaking employees. "I would prefer if the employees would simply speak English, and encourage those customers who can to speak English, and if you don't speak English, trust me -- we can come up with some way to communicate with you," he said. But customer Joey Sanchez said his Tuesday visit to Leon's wasn't as accommodating as Schneider lets on.Sanchez said he was in line behind a Spanish-speaking woman who was told by an employee to place her order in English. When it was his turn to order, Sanchez, who speaks both English and Spanish, went to the window and proceeded to order in Spanish. "She confirmed it to me in my face. She say, 'I'm not allowed to speak Spanish to you,'" Sanchez said, adding that the experience left him frustrated because Leon's makes "a good profit out of the Spanish community."He said he believes it could only help Schneider if he relaxed his policy. "I believe if I can ask for a product in my language and have somebody there that can speak it and understand me better, it's going to be better for him," Sanchez said. "It's going to attract more Latino customers and at the end he's going to show a better heart about how he feels about the Hispanic community."The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission permits employers to adopt English-only rules, but only for nondiscriminatory reasons. Schneider was adamant his request follows the law."Let me tell you something. My wife is Hispanic. My children are Hispanic. Anyone that wants to call me racist on that basis, maybe we should settle it the old-fashioned American way in the alley," he said. Get the WISN 12 NEWS app9737608