Black customers file $100 million civil rights lawsuit against Cracker Barrel restaurants

AP ^ | 12-13-01 | Christopher Newton

[Oldeconomybuyer]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Twenty-one people filed a $100 million federal lawsuit against Cracker Barrel restaurants Thursday, accusing the nationwide chain of widespread racism, from segregating black customers in the smoking section to denying them service.

It was the largest civil rights lawsuit against a restaurant chain since Denny's settled a $46 million discrimination lawsuit in 1994.

[leadpenny]

Bob Evans and Cracker Barrel Restaurants are competitors in many areas. I recommend BE over CB any day anyway.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Well if they can get $100 million, we should go for $100 billion!!

[austinTparty]

Hello Miss O. This all just reminds me of the old business adage about satisfied customers... According to Fortune Magazine: 85% of unsatisfied customers tell 9 people, 13% tell 20 people... but satisfied customers only tell 5 people. It's all about GOOD business practice: keep your customers happy. Black money is the same as white money, and it would be a stupid company that turns it down.

Anecdotally, I was waiting in a swanky Houston restaurant... and the hostess seated one couple well before another couple who had 1/2 hour earlier reservations: it's all in the interpretation. If the second couple had been black, they might have seen it as racism... if the first couple had been draped in fur and jewels, it might have been seen as "classism". As it is, I just think the hostess was a bimbo (she screwed up our reservations and gave our table to someone else). Oh well.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Wasn't it the NAACP years ago that got the "pity poor me" lawsuits going by suing the makers of Aunt Jemima syrup for racism? They got them to alter the logo. Boy, you'd think enough is enough. The NAACP and their ilk are to blacks what the Taliban is to Islam. Sort of.

[databoss]

The food is overcooked and the service sucks, they (the complaintants) should be grateful that they can't get seated the staff is doing them a favor...

[azhenfud]

I agree.
In the Cracker Barrel case, from my observation logging numerous visits in many locations, it seems typical of CB's normal operations that they sign in parties to be seated in their restaurants in the order they come considering the customer's request of non-smoking or smoking as well as the number of persons in the party according to the available seating.
I do not know if all restaurant locations do this or not, but I've observed them marking the time the party requests to be seated on the log sheet. CB sanely has a time cut-off at which they no longer take seating reservations to be served. Unlike the certain "parent" characters mentioned in the lawsuit that don't know within reason when to feed their kids, with normal cut-off guidelines, they (CB) are spared from serving all night.
I think we'll see that this policy (whether written or implied) will be used to rightly vindicate CB and prove who the real culprits are.
I hope so....
Az

[garyhope]

Don't get me started about corporate food in America. Bland, phony "dining concepts" rather than real food cooked by a real chef of person. Som of it is vacuum prepackaged stuff reheated in a microwave at the last minute. Try driving across th country and getting decent food out of the big cities (and even in some of those). A lot of American's just eat crap. Nothing fresh. Maybe it doesn't matter if they don't care or know.

[Michael2001]

Check out my thread related to this topic here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/590353/posts

[Frances_Marion]

I propose they change the name of the restaurant chain to "Blue-Eyed White Devil Barrel"! >;)

[wayne_shrugged]

This makes as much sense as whites filing a class-action law suit against (what is it?) Johnson Publishing, the publishers of Jet, Ebony, etc. for not having the same racial make-up as the rest of the country.

Isn't that discrimatory toward whites, Asians, Hispanics, Middle Easterners, et al?

[Neets]

I found this old, but interesting article this morning. I am still digging.

Fighting discrimination: Attorneys making frequent trips to Tennessee to fight the wrongs of the workplace - 9/23/2000

[mafree]

Thanks-- keep on rolling!

[garyhope]

On my last visit to Atlanta, I had breakfast at a predominately black operated Denny's. As a "white boy", my service was not exactly what you would call fast, efficient and friendly.

So far Johnny Cochran, Al Sharpton and Jesse have not returned my phone calls. I wonder why?

[Hacksaw]

I saw a story about the customers suing on BET's news show tonight- they may not let this one rest.

Well, it is news of interest to BET's audience. The funny thing is that BET's owner (not sure of his name) is a self made rich black man. He once said something like (not a direct quote) I never say "How can I give all this money I made away?" He was mocking people who make the claim that rich people do not deserve the money they earn. I think he is also on the Soc Sec reform panel.

[hattend]

Just got this on e-mail. Anybody in the Fort Knox area want to verify authenticity? If true, I applaud the waitress and Cracker Barrel:
===
...printed in the Fort Knox Newspaper "the Turret"

Local patriotism touches hearts

My wife was returning to the Fort Knox area from Camp Atterbury, Ind., Oct. 14. As an Army nurse, she had been providing medical support for personnel parachuting from helicopters. She stopped at a Cracker Barrel (restaurant) near Seymour. After the meal, the waitress brought out the check, put it on the table, and then placed cash on top of it. She told my wife that the Cracker Barrel would like to pay for her meal because she was in military uniform. Upon taking the money to the counter to pay, my wife asked to see the manager. She wanted to express her gratitude for the store having such a policy in place. She immediately realized, from the expression on the manager's face, that it wasn't a policy. The waitress had paid for my wife's meal.

I am a drill sergeant. I don't have a very soft heart, but I have a weakness - patriotism. What that waitress displayed was pure America. When my wife told me about it, I had to fight off tears. That girl probably used money that she earned from tips. This is why I serve my country. This is why I would die for my country. That one incredible act will do more for that Cracker Barrel's business than any amount of money that it spent on advertising in 2001.

I am a man of action, and intend to tell everyone I know this story and will probably write a few letters to editors of newspapers. May God bless our country, our soldiers, our families, and may God bless the heart of gold within that one waitress.

Sgt. 1st Class Preston
Senior drill sergeant
C/2/397th Cavalry

[Chad Fairbanks]

Well, I think any white people reading about this lawsuit should bring a counter-suit against the blacks who are suing, over the continual use of the word 'cracker'... it's derogatory, racist, and they need to be taught tolerance and sensitivity...

[MitchellC]

Sign this petition supporting Cracker Barrel (and accompanying thread).

[7th generationtxan]

WAY TO GO! Thank you, as a black person (African-American) for standing up in the face of and countering these accusations. It's really hard to have respect for some people these days when, instead of doing the right thing and working for a living, some people (ie: opportunists) look for the easiest way to try and make some money off of the sympathy of juries against a huge corporation or conglomerate. It's gotten ridiculous and really hurts those out there who REALLY may have been discriminated against. These days, it's so easy for people to say that they've been discriminated against because of (fill in the black) sex, age, race, religion, political preference, etc. Can't we just all get along? Thank you!

[mafree]

Blast from the past bump.