Restaurant Manager Accused of Racially Profiling Black Sorority Fired

The manager of a restaurant in Ohio has been fired after black sorority members accused the restaurant of racial profiling for calling the police on the group at the end of an event.

Chante Spencer told Cleveland.com that 40 members of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority had reserved a table at Bahama Breeze in Cleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday. Spencer said the group was celebrating sorority sister's book deal. The party was meant for only 25 people, but it unexpectedly doubled in size, which led to poor service from the restaurant, according to Spencer.

She said the problem began to escalate when a woman, who was celebrating with the sorority but not a member of the group, said she was going to leave after waiting 25 minutes for her bill. The police were called to make sure everyone had paid their tabs.

"Police were standing there to make sure everyone paid, which we felt was racial profiling," Spencer said, telling the publication that she was not speaking for the whole sorority.

A police report obtained by Cleveland.com stated that officers showed up to the restaurant around 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday and stayed for an hour. The police stated that all the bills were paid and that one person offered to make sure all tabs were paid off.

"I am hoping that Bahama Breeze looks at this very carefully and alters policies and does some more training," Spencer told the publication. "You cannot make assumptions that people are going to commit a crime based on how they look."

Bahama Breeze is owned by Darden Restaurants, which also owns chain establishments like Longhorn Steakhouse and Olive Garden. Rich Jeffers, Darden Restaurant's senior director of communications, told Newsweek in a statement that the manager had been fired and the restaurant apologized to the guests.

"We clearly fell short of delivering great service to our guests," he said. "The manager involved no longer works for us because they mistreated a guest, which is inconsistent with our values. We have spoken with several members of the party to personally apologize and invite them back in order to provide an exceptional Bahama Breeze experience."

The incident came just a few months after Starbucks was the subject of intense backlash for the arrest of in a Philadelphia store. The men were arrested for waiting for their friend inside two black menof the cafe before ordering anything.The company has since apologized and had all employees undergo racial bias training.