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Sorry, but this isn’t true. If you have racists who run businesses, they won’t send away paying customers just because they’re black or whatever (I know a lot of racists, but not -that- stupid)- they’ll just make racist jokes about them in the kitchen and spit in their food. Obviously, you’ve never worked for someone who’s a virulent racist.
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Obviously, you don’t remember the 60-year-long era known as Jim Crow when it was legal to deny service to people based on their skin color.
And obviously, you’ve never approached a store and had it mysteriously “close up” on you, only to have it “open up” as soon as you walk past. Obviously, you haven’t heard of the suits brought against Denny’s and Waffle House.
Not to turn this into a debate thread, but the only thing obvious is your ignorance on this issue, einzelwesen.
Obviously, you don’t remember the 60-year-long era known as Jim Crow when it was legal to deny service to people based on their skin color.
And obviously, you’ve never approached a store and had it mysteriously “close up” on you, only to have it “open up” as soon as you walk past. Obviously, you haven’t heard of the suits brought against Denny’s and Waffle House.
Not to turn this into a debate thread, but the only thing obvious is your ignorance on this issue, einzelwesen.
I would generally agree with this (gross generalization ) as well. Of course, around Cleveland and Detroit, there are rather more blacks with Southern roots than whites. (And, yes, I am well aware of the number of relocated West Virginians near Cleveland and Kentuckians around Detroit, however, they have, since WWII, mixed more with the white community–and neither WV nor KY is the deep South.)
Obviously (to continue the theme, ha ha ha), it’s no longer 60 years ago, pal.
Although I fully agree that racist opinions are still present (regrettably) in American society today, in my experience racist managers et al. won’t do themselves out of business simply because of their ‘principles’. I have more than one exemplar of this if you’re interested…
And obviously, yes I have been turned away from a place of business due to my (racial) physical characteristics.
They’ve just opened an Appleby’s near me. We (the family and I) went. The only white people there was the waitstaff. The one and only time I went to a Red Lobster was on out on Long Island. We were the only black family there.
So I’m questioning this “because that’s what I’ve seen” reliance on minority patronage. Are there any real numbers as to which franchises are frequented by more minorities?
To continue on personal experience: Sylvia’s (soul food restaurant in Harlem) mixed. IHOP, black and Hispanic, TGIF mixed, Houlihan’s mixed. . . .
Not to mention fish. Red Lobster is the only chain, non-fast food, “fish” restaurant I can think of and we Southerners and blacks like our fish. Woot!!
seriously. although i don’t personally care for red lobster anymore
Nationwide, I would think you’ve got a valid point. In various locales, however, I think the observation is legitimate. I noticed the phenomenon of very heavy black patronage over ten years ago around Cleveland (and have since heard a few idiots say that they avoid Red Lobster for “that” reason in the ensuing years). I have also encountered the same phenomenon in metro Detroit and a couple other places in the Great Lakes region. I have never found myself to be the only white patron–only that there were far more blacks among the patrons than I have noticed in nearby restaurants in the same towns.
I’ve eaten at Red Lobster twice. I’m not even sure why I went back the second time. Each time (I went to the Red Lobster at White Marsh, for what it’s worth) there was a about a 70/30 mix (the higher number being white patrons).
I hate Red Lobster. The seafood is subpar, the atmosphere is crappy and the service was less than adequate.
The real question is why is Red Lobster so popular with Americans?
JuanitaTech, who admittedly doesn’t like national chain restaurants, anyway.
I’ve been to the very same RL twice as well, although each time I went when they were running a national promotion. I would say it was about 40/60 (white/black), which is noticeable since I would expect about 80/20 or even 90/10 in the other establishments around there. Even more apparent, however, were the ridiculous number of birthdays being celebrated there.
Here’s what I think it is: chains like RL start popping up, and are perceived as nice places to go and eat. As more and more of them open, they market to more and more people, their prices get lower, their service and atmosphere and food gets a little worse. This drives out the upper income clientele, and brings in the lower income clientele. The fried food aspect compounds the effect.
See, that’s what I don’t get. What makes people perceive a chain restaurant, especially a national chain restaurant, as being a nice place to eat?
There are a few exceptions, Ruth’s Chris, for example, but they’re far and few in between. Even Ruth’s Chris pales in comparison to The Prime Rib, a local restaurant.
Well…in real world terms Monstro is actually more right than not. Some otherwise rational, single establishment restaurant + bar owners that I have dealt with, even though they may be first generation immigrants themselves, are not always the most socially progressive people in the world, and even if they saw black people “the blacks” spending serious money they still were not pleased with “their” place of business becoming a predominately black establishment because, at root, they did want to be or run a “black” bar or restaurant. I would imagine the fact that most franchises have corporate policies to discourage racism might make a franchise a better bet on average for a comfortable dining experience by black people.
I just read this whole thread with great interest, and I must say that it depresses me. We’re all a) humans and b) americans. That means we have about 99.99999% of everything in common. Why so much concern about skin color?
Someday in the future, due to interbreeding, we’ll all be uniformly tan. Then, I guess, given human nature, we’ll find something else to differentiate ourselves from each other and another basis on which to discriminate. What’ll it be? Shoe size? Dog vs. cat lovers?
“Have you been to the new Neon Salad restaurant lately? I’d swear, half the people in there like birds. Can you imagine??? What could possibly attract them to assemble like that!”
I just blabbed. Now I feel the need to blab again (too much bourbon will do that . . . .)
Think about the CULTURE of this country for a second.
Forget, for a minute, about the economy, the politics, the crime, the statistics.
Think about the music we have created. Jazz, blues, rock, bluegrass, country, “folk.” All of it the result of a great fusion of african, irish, french, italian, and indigenous stuff jammed together (and many others). Probably the greatest explosion of original and beautiful music in the history of mankind.
Think about the food we have. Cajun? Tex-Mex? Pizza? Bar-B-Que? Pan-Asian? California Cuisine? All invented here, because of the great mix of cultures in our great melting pot.
Think about anyting cultural we have: our literature, our art, even our history.
All of it is enriched because of the diverse mix of races and cultures that make up our nation. We would be poor without that diversity.
When are we going to stop worrying about how many “black” people eat at Red Lobster???
(I’m not accusing the OP of being a racist. It was a legitimate question. I just question why we even need to notice such things.)
It isn’t just a perception that there are more African Americans. Apparently they eat 50% more seafood than whites. See what Bob Law says about Red Lobster and African Americans.
To answer the OP, I didn’t notice a mixed clientele at the Red Lobster near where I live. My opinion probably doesn’t mean much because I only ate there once (on a Sunday, if that makes any difference, since someone mentioned the dining out after church aspect) and I wasn’t paying any attention to the other patrons. FWIW, I don’t recall seeing any black people at RL that day. The surprisingly gigantic portion that was my meal held my interest. Dang. (By the way, crab meat and alfredo DON’T mix.)
And, somewhat OT re: Juanita Tech’s comments, wow. I didn’t know Ruth’s Chris was a chain restaurant. The one I dined at in Indianapolis was very expensive. I have no basis for assuming this, but I didn’t think chain restaurants could be so pricey and still be a chain–you know, multiple restaurants mean more accessibility to more customers which would drive down the overall cost. But I asked a couple friends of mine in the Bay Area and in Hawaii and they confirmed that there are Ruth’s Chris restaurants in both places.
I guess this general rambling of mine says a lot more about me than it does the restaurants or their clientele.
) as well. Of course, around Cleveland and Detroit, there are rather more blacks with Southern roots than whites. (And, yes, I am well aware of the number of relocated West Virginians near Cleveland and Kentuckians around Detroit, however, they have, since WWII, mixed more with the white community–and neither WV nor KY is the deep South.)