Buffalo Wild Wings has fired two employees following an incident in which a customer claimed her party was asked by staff to switch tables because a regular customer did not want to sit next to Black people, CNN reports.
“We take this incident very seriously and after conducting a thorough, internal investigation have terminated the employees involved,” Buffalo Wild Wings said in a statement. “Buffalo Wild Wings values an inclusive environment and has zero-tolerance for discrimination of any kind.”
Mary Vahl posted about the incident on Facebook, saying that the group of six adults and 12 children had gone to a branch of the restaurant in Naperville, Illinois, on Oct. 26, when staff began questioning the group about their race.
“A couple minutes went by and the host went up to my husband and asked ‘what race are you guys?’ My husband asked him why it mattered and the host responded that a table with 2 of their ‘regular customers’ were next to where we were to be seated and he didn’t want us sitting there because he’s ‘racist,'” Vahl wrote, according to the report.
Vahl and her group claimed the seats, nonetheless.
A few moments later, while Vahl and her group were trying to order, an employee came up to them and said that the seats they were in had been previously reserved and so they would have to move. The group refused.
“How is an establishment ok with serving people who try to control which types of people sit around them?! It was not ok that a person of management was willing to move 6 adults and 12 children versus 2 grown adults who are uncomfortable sitting by black folks!!” she wrote.
However, after another manager tried to move the group, they decided to leave the Buffalo Wild Wings, rather than further stand for the outrageous behavior.
