I remember on our family trips to Florida stopping for breakfast at Sambo's. The menus had drawings of the tiger and the little boy. That's all I remember, but those places were gone later in the 70s. I think one of the other well-known chains is the descendant of Sambo's, but I don't recall which one.
You don't remember the tiger butter? In college in 1979 there was still one at the edge of campus. Various student groups held their meetings in the back room and once a month the black student union met there. Nobody seemed hypersensitive about the place at the time. I think Denny's took them over.
I remember that in the story, the tiger ran around a tree and turned into butter. I think the illustrations on the kids menu had pictures from the book. But I don’t remember tiger butter as a food item. I guess some racists who didn’t know the story was about an Indian started using “sambo” as a derogatory term, and now no one can even use the story or the name. It would be like outlawing the name Tom because of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Stupid.