Buffalo Wild Wings staff fired after forcing African-American family to leave as racist customer didn't want ‘black people sitting near’
NAPERVILLE, ILLINOIS: The staff at a Buffalo Wild Wings outlet in Naperville, was fired after it forced an African-American group of parents and young kids to leave the restaurant because one of their white customers did not want to sit next to people of color.
The incident took place October 26 after the Vahls went to the fast-food restaurant inside a strip mall, 40 minutes southwest of Chicago, to celebrate a birthday. Initially, Justin Vahl, the host of the party, asked for a table for 15, but soon realized that he had miscounted once the tables were being set up.
When he walked up to the counter to correct his mistake, the host of the restaurant asked him what race he and the rest of the group was, Boston.com reported. “Why does it matter?” Justin asked the host, and the latter replied that a "racist" customer who was sitting nearby “doesn’t want black people sitting near him."
Since the Vahls did not want to condone the customer's behavior, they just took their seats at the table that was assigned to them and continued to order appetizers and drinks. After continuing to glare at the family for quite some time, the customer was seen talking to the staff of the restaurant.
Soon after, the manager approached the Vahls and informed them they will have to be shifted to a new table. “These seats are reserved,” the manager told them, although the Buffalo Wild Wings did not take reservations, “and we will have to move your group.”
After arguing with the waitress as well as multiple managers at the restaurant, the adults in the group decided they would leave the place. Marcus Riley, a member of the party said that as they got up to leave, the host had tears in his eyes while many of the customers hugged them.
In a statement regarding the incident, the fast-food company told CBS Chicago, it “values an inclusive environment and has zero-tolerance for discrimination of any kind." The company later told the Sun it was “in direct communication with the guest to understand their account of what happened and to offer our deepest apologies for any unacceptable behavior.” By Sunday, multiple employees at the restaurant had been fired and several others had quit, following an internal investigation into the matter.