Sounds to me like it’s company policy
The guy probably hangs around the store often hoping someone will buy him food. Not good for business
I saw a video recently of a grocery store that had been in place for 40 years, and homeless people encroached upon it, first loitering, then sleeping, then setting up tents and claiming the area in front of the store as their own, with all the things that go along with it, trash, open excrement, etc.
Customers stopped going there because they didn’t want to navigate the “territory” of the homeless who had set up camp, and they felt personally unsafe approaching the store.
The city refused to help.
The grocery store ended up closing permanently.