Thanks to social media.

And the internet.

If anyone would like to call or fax the restaurant to congratulate them on their wonderfully successful PR initiative, this link will provide the relevant numbers:

Have fun, people.

http://www.wildwingcafe.com/our-locations/north-charleston-sc.php

Check it out and add your comments folks. The company's "apology" is so weak as to really make things worse. They waited for 3 weeks to respond and then got worried about public pressure so issued this cheap statement they ran through their lawyers first.

Ack.

I certainly shall.

Is this the Wild Wings chain, if so, I will never go in there again. This is outrageous!

it is called wild wings cafe, mostly in South Carolina with a few in Georgia, TN, NC. It is not Buffalo Wild Wing (BW3 or b-dubs) which is a different chain with over 900 locations.

Its the Buffalo Wild Wings that I was thinking about, they are all over Texas.

it is confusing because there is also "Buffalo's Cafe," those are mostly in Georgia. So I always got confused ("wait, which one is that?&quot

I just want to re-emphasize that. BW3 has been a favorite venue of mine in Jacksonville FL, and I would hope there is no confusion and that they not suffer from any fallout on this issue.

The comments are, many of them, sheer bigotry.

https://www.facebook.com/WildWingCafeNorthCharleston

Fuckers.

There are a few of those restaurants around the metro area and I will be sure to avoid them at all costs now.

on white men in restaurants with their AR15s or AK47s.

And I have such a Nordic appearance that in my younger years I've been flirted with by obvious KKK types when I was alone in public. Imagine how scary that is! I couldn't say my boyfriend or husband would intervene because they'd take that as a challenge. So I always said my boyfriend or husband would kill me instead. That convinced them well enough that I wasn't available w/o letting them make it an issue.

I'm told that the shift manager was fired but Wild Wings hasn't made a statement about it.

Thanks for the link.

Thanks for passing this on.

I'm a Yelp Elite member, and I know how this works; the comments are filtered because the poster is new, probably only having signed in to post one negative hit and run, never to be heard from again. BTW, they will filter out positive comments, too, if the poster has no "track record."

For instance, if you are a Yelper with just one post, have no profile info filled out, have no picture, and have never even rated any other restaurant, you can almost gaurantee your review will be filtered. This is to stop family and friends from signing in once just to give Uncle Joe 's Diner five stars and saying "It's the best diner in the world!" It also helps owners who get unfairly maligned by a single hit and run, usually by a competitor across town.

Once Yelp has established the you didn't just sign up for a one-off bashing (or praise), and you start regularly participating, your reviews will stop being filtered. It may only take a couple of reviews or comments. It might be more if you're suspected of being a rabble rouser or a paid shill.

Stay happy...

I read about that punk Zuckerberg making some stupid comment. That cures me instantly.

Mr. Brown's group is classy, he's a musician and has a church musical group and they aren't looking for much more than an apology and maybe some direction for staff in how to handle situations.

They weren't AFAIK asking for anyone to be fired, and they have been in conversations with the owners, albeit 3 weeks late.

This is a teaching moment.

Tomorrow may bring some news from corporate.

so I'm going to have to ask all of them to leave.

the racist pig shift manager and the restaurant just fucked themselves. So sad.

I'm from Michigan and it could absolutely happen here

two hours for a table. But I guess I'll never know, since they won't see a dime of mine even in the unlikely chance that I'm ever near one...

I'd just go home and forget about it.

If I didn't make reservations or if a restaurant doesn't take reservations I think 30 minutes-40 minutes (tops) is the longest I'm willing to wait for a seat.

Life's too short to spend 2 hours waiting to get a seat in a chain restaurant.

As I read the OP, the group of 25 disruptive terrorist hoodlums -- uh, that is to say, some completely peaceful black customers -- waited two hours for a table and then weren't seated.

The vigilant restaurant nipped this attack in the bud, so all that happened was Attempted Dining While Black.

Would they make him use the rear exit at WW North Charleston?

They turned away a 25 top because of the complaints of one patron. That's just bad business sense.

that is rand paul's argument, too. We don't need the Public Accommodations section of the Civil Rights Act because to discriminate is a bad business move and if they keep making bad business decisions, the market will punish them (or not).

The "invisible hand of the free market" doesn't always punish such bad decisions, not to mention that the victims of such bad decisions, in this case the group of would-be-patrons, are still victims. I think that these victims would rather have been seated and enjoyed their meal instead of the restaurant suffering a possible loss of profit or going out of business over the next 6-12 months.

Just checking.

The free market doesn't solve human nature.

can overcome the flaws in human nature.

"Once his post went live and began to circulate around Facebook, he finally got a response from Wild Wings Cafe corporate office. ” We got alerted through social media, so we always encourage our customers to respond to us or to comment on our social media pages,” says Debra Stokes, the chief marketing officer for Wild Wing Cafe.

“We had a conversation,” says Stokes. “It was a really good conversation. He and many of his family and friends were there about a month ago, and they are regular customers of ours. So, they were having a going away party, and they just didn’t receive the experience that they have come to know and love.”

Brown says an apology was offered and a free meal for the entire group, but he says he’s not completely satisfied.

“We weren’t coming there for a free meal. When we came there that night, we were coming to patronize the business. This is not a situation where you can just give us a free meal and everything is ok because it’s deeper than that.”

I think the manager should have said to the "white" customer that.. "sorry, you feel threatened, Sir, but these are our customers and we will be seating them. Perhaps you would like to get a doggie bag?"

thanks MrScorpio

I suggested training for their employees on how to deal with racist customers in a non-racist fashion. I love what you posted:

I think the manager should have said to the "white" customer that.. "sorry, you feel threatened, Sir, but these are our customers and we will be seating them. Perhaps you would like to get a doggie bag?"

would be a bit better.

And this isn't about the customer, it is about the restaurant. There was one customer in the restaurant and they determined when the party walked in that they wouldn't seat them and made them wait two hours hoping they would go away. Maybe a jerk customer hogged a table for two hours, but I find that unlikely.

You win the thread, and may I say the competition was quite fierce in this one!

internet and a hurdles race at the same time.

I got outranked.

I should mail in my little suggestion.. I use to work in the service industry for years. I tried to put myself in her place. She has a lot to learn about not making a hell fire storm out of something that could have been handled with more finesse!

"A Passenger having to travel beside a despicable person"

“We had a conversation,” says Stokes. “It was a really good conversation........... and they just didn’t receive the experience that they have come to know and love.”

We...ee..eelllll there Ms Stokes...l I guessie not... Who would'a thunk it, now.

Paraphrasing----
'Oh Mr Brown we're happy to give you and your....associates... a free meal...'

Typical crock of s**t corporate-speak, isn't it.

they learn something.

The correct action would have been to tell the one customer that he could either accept other customers or leave.

There was ample evidence of systemic racism at Denny's, and their corporate had to take action. I'm not sure if Denny's has been "cured" of that racism yet.

This chain needs to take appropriate action at the local level, and post a notice by their front door at every restaurant that they do not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, national origin, religion, etc etc

The local racists can go to the White Hood Cafe to eat for all I care.

What exactly did this person fear, and why didn't the manager move the white person to a different section rather than eject 25 customers?

My theory? There was no customer concern. It was some prejudiced staff.

probably had a big shit eating grin on their face while being heartily back slapped when the party left the premises.

it makes no sense unless the staff simply did not want to accommodate those folk

because this is what I quickly found on FB

Here is what I think I know and don't know based on my extensive research:

"1. 25 African Americans were asked to leave Wild Wing N Charleston after an altercation between some of their group and some/a white customer(s).
2. The altercation started when, in a crowded restaurant (I have confirmed this with friends who were eating there that night) with a large number of people waiting to be seated a white woman stepped on the foot of a black woman (a part of the group of 25). The black woman reacted in some fashion (word in the restaurant, again from my friends who were dining there but did not see anything, was that the reaction was verbal abuse followed by either a threat of or actual physical "action&quot . What I do not know is the intentionality or reaction of the white woman or what the black woman said or did...the above info is simply heresay."

I don't know if I can link to it, since I am logged in there.

I have no way to know if that is true or not, but that seems like a pretty good reason to feel threatened to me.

But I doubt if the white customer will be making a statement. She probably feels threatened by all the people calling her a racist piece of excrement.

Not from some random posting on FB, from the 'threatened" white person. Some other anonymous person said that one of the waiting party touched a deaf kid. Another anonymous person claimed that one of the waiting party stepped on a white woman's foot.

None of those stories add up to why the manager told them ALL to leave.

is not anonymous, although I don't know that person from Adama.

The question is, are there legitimate reasons for a white person to feel threatened by a black person, or is it always racism?

If there are legitimate reasons, then how does anyone know that was not the case in this incident?

As for telling them all to leave, again, this FB post made it sound like they were told they were gonna be seated in another section and some of them became belligerent about THAT, and then they were all told to leave.

Again, though, I am not saying that I know, but I am saying it is possible. But other possible explanations do not seem to be slowing down a rush to judgement.

Your words: Here is what I think I know and don't know based on my extensive research"

And also this: "I have no way to know if that is true or not, but that seems like a pretty good reason to feel threatened to me."


Puhleeeze!

these words "Here is what I think I know and don't know based on my extensive research"


were not mine, they should have been part of the quote.

But it seems to me that the OP is hearsay from one side, and everybody is giving THAT credence.

I have no way of really knowing what happened, so I am not prepared to light a torch or hurl invective.

And that iffy bit of unsubstantiated "news" is enough for it to make sense to you that a whole group of 25 people got ejected?

should I just go charging in screaming "racism!!!" without waiting to hear details, or other sides? What has been substantiated? I did not watch the video since that, for me, required some kind of download that I was unwilling to make.

But yes it makes more sense to me for somebody to feel threatened by actual threats than it does for them to be threatened by blackness, especially in a city like Raleigh which probably has a fair number of black people.

they need to need to shut that place down!

Every white bigot in the area will be all too pleased to patronize the place, feeling assured that they don't have to eat next to "those" people. The owners are probably in the basement brushing the cobwebs off their "Whites Only" signs. All discussion of discrimination aside, what a stupid business move -- to forgo revenue from a party of 25 because one customer objected to them being seated and served. And the servers are out whatever tips that party of 25 would have left. Stupid all the way around.

...that one of Mr. Brown's party made fun of a deaf girl and/or stepped on her foot.

Thankfully, the accusations have been removed from the feed but the page owners are mute about this, apologizing only for having delayed in getting back to Mr. Brown.

There has been no statement from the franchise owner or from corporate about measures taken to prevent this from happening again or anything like that.

It really sucks.

The majority owners of Wild Wing Cafe (WWC) and the WWC senior management team want to say that we are incredibly saddened and regretful about all that has happened in this unfortunate situation.

We are appalled that a customer service issue of any kind would be left unaddressed for three weeks. As soon as the owners and the senior management team were made aware of the situation on the afternoon of Thursday, August 22, we responded swiftly.

We are truly disappointed and sorry that any guests of ours felt disrespected or discriminated against. Our ownership group, home office staff and restaurant staff represent the diversity that our great country is made up of and these accusations do not reflect our values. We can assure you that we will not tolerate any discriminatory behavior in our organization.

We are conducting a thorough investigation and are taking the appropriate action. In the meantime, we are in regular and productive conversation with the individuals and we hope to keep all involved fans and friends of WWC. We realize these are topics that engender emotional reactions. We truly believe that actions speak louder than words and we hope all are open to let ours speak for us as we move through this situation. We are committed to not repeat the mistakes that have been made and to make sure anybody who walks in the doors of WWC is treated with love, respect and care.

Thank you for your understanding.

Fantastic!

I like that one. Portugee huh?

Here are some other good ones:

http://lybio.net/despicable-ad-against-racism-2000/commercials/

Better video from the producer's page:

wtf, indeed.

Do they have a Stand Your Ground law? Apparently, you just have to be scared to shoot someone and have it be legal. That idiot could have shot the whole group, and sadly I'm not sure he would have been convicted.

I would say they likely have liquor permits and are allowed to "reserve the right to refuse service to any person at any time"
I am not issuing a defense
I am just stating one reason that could apply
I have been in food for 35 years and this is a common and legal practice

based on racial discrimination.

They can refuse service to anyone, but they can't do so based on race. If they could then Jim Crowe would be a ok.

against a lawsuit in most jurisdictions. It's like those liability waivers you have to sign to do anything, they don't shield the business from injuries caused by negligence, for instance.

OTOH, it is regularly used to keep the homeless out of restaurants and those cases are creating a body of precedence.

In a poll, 73% of Texans said they didn't want to secede. I've proposed in this site before that the 27% of douchenozzles that do want to form their own state should be relocated to a part of Texas that is sparsely populated. Texas is a big state. Big enough to accommodate them. It'll have to be a part of the state with lousy infrastructure and services, terrible roads and highways, poor access to power and exchanges. After all, they don't need anything supported by that nasty federal government. They can leave their American dollars at home and mint their own coins with Jesus stamped on them. And leave Medicare behind. They can call themselves New Jerusalem, just don't call us.

it was of course only Danny Glover but Carter decided he doesn't serve ******'s and John Cleese responds I don't like that word very much Carter.



(do'h) fast forward 200 yrs viola.. yeah it was only a movie

seriously though who in Hollywood has thought it a great idea to keep Any Day Now from being on DVD or google play. Come on!!! Only show I've seen (Mom loves it) that treats race relations up front and laid bare. Should be offered free...

Turning down 25 customers @ minimum 20 buck a head + tip for a $20.00 tab and a 5 dollar tip.

They're not just bigots, they're incredibly stupid bigots.

You have one customer complaining about a group of 20 customers who had waited quietly for a table for some time. If I were the manager I would have politely told the one customer that I didn't see any threat from the group since they'd been there waiting for 2 hours with no aggressiveness. Then, maybe, I would have offered to pack up that one customer's food to go and offered them a discount on a later meal to get rid of them.

Me thinks the manager was no better than the asshole customer. Just saying.

happening more and more every day. Wait till election time in the good ole south and north and west and east and texas.

Good job, people!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Boycott-Wild-Wing-Cafe/473118876118140

Wild Wing Cafe has been updating their page to include more pictures of black customers, it's pathetic, but haven't expressed much remorse.

The Boycott page photoshopped one of WWC's page's pics, pretty funny:

But didn't the USSC recently assure us that this sort of thing doesn't happen anymore and the voting rights act belongs to another era? That Jim Crow flies no more?

(gasp) Are you saying they lied to us?

Some people are such ignorant bigots! Jesus, this pisses me off. How can this kind of thinking still go on in this country? It's sick!

USA, USA, my ass!!

I never heard of the place, so I looked it up. Looks like the standard mediocre food typical of chain restaurants.

The manager's version of the story sounds weird. Is there any corroboration that a customer complained? Maybe they just didn't want to serve them and made up the story. Although I can't think of a reason why a restaurant would want to turn away 25 paying customers.

The corporate offices should have suspended the shift manager and sent her to sensitivity training.

Either way, screw them!!!!

Because the food was so bad the only time I went there, that I had already decided never to eat there again.

I figured it would be like most chains: too much fat, grease and salt. I rather go to a smaller family own restaurant.

If I was the owner I'd fire any manager that was stupid enough to turn away 25 customers because 1 customer said she felt threatened.

A business is in business to make money. It's simple math: 25 customers are going to spend a lot more money than 1 customer. That manager could not work for me anymore after that stupidity.

And speaking of stupidity, that's really what racism is.

Being threatened is some new kind of code language or something.

OH...and STOOPID too.

...all I can do is shake my head in disgust.

What a crock...

D*mn, D*mn, D*mn, D*mn, D*mn. That's 25 crying emotions. I'm just sick about this. Just sick.

Which was the one who was scared white?

There's a photo on several websites showing the group of 25 folks.

NOT ONE of them is wearing a hoodie or carrying iced tea or Skittles. How threatening could they be?

Now I paraphrase this as exact details were never made public but this is about how it went from what I could glean from the news reports. Anyone that has more specific details is welcome to share them.

Where some minority nurses were taken off their regular work stations because a bigot complained. The nurses complained/filed a suit or something and were consequently bought off.
"The case was settled out of court"

According to the lovers of capitalism, no good businessman would turn away 25 paying customers for one white racist. Yet that is exactly what has happened.

desperately shoveling sh*t to minimize the damage to their sh*tty wings outfit.

I mean it does mess up the story of the poor victims who didn't get their wings.

Anonymous my ass...

They made this a racial issue before anything. One of the guests also insulted a deaf white girl because she didn’t respond to one of them telling her to move (she was deaf and didn’t hear them) They were also all standing in the middle of the walk way, making it difficult for customers to leave. We asked them if they could move over, but they said they can stand wherever they want, and if we wanted them out of the way then we should seat them. The customer that was offended was offended by a particular individual’s constant uses of the word “n*gger” When asked to stop, he threw out a long string of racial epithets against one of my co-workers.

What a crock of crapola. But at least shitty wings got back to them after THREE WEEKS!

Riiight.

.

need a little more color in their lives.....

In support of this incident.

will be generous.