Employees and customers joined together in outrage after they saw the menu chosen by an Ikea store in Atlanta, Georgia, for celebrating Juneteenth.
They said it was a “racist menu” that didn’t bring honor for the occasion meant to celebrate African Americans, as The Blaze reports.
What are the details?
The controversial menu included fried chicken, collared greens, candied yams, and watermelon.
Many employees were so annoyed when they found out what was on the Juneteenth menu that they just skipped the workday and stayed home.
According to The Blaze, the store manager apologized for the menu in an email and also explained how the dishes had been selected.
“It has come to our attention that the menu published for Juneteenth was not taken in the best light. I truly apologize if the menu came off as subjective. It was created with the best of intentions by a few of our coworkers who believed they were representing their culture and tradition with these foods of celebration," the statement pointed out.
What did the employees think about it?
Employees from the store spoke with WGCL-TV, without revealing their identities because they want to avoid any repercussions after criticizing the decision.
“You cannot say serving watermelon on Juneteenth is a soul food menu when you don't even know the history. They used to feed slaves watermelon,” one of the employees said for the news station.
“It made a lot of people upset. People actually wanted to quit, people weren't coming back to work,” is how another employee saw the situation.
The manager announced that the menu would be changed, but that didn’t solve the issue either. The outrage just got more intense.
“They just delayed the menu by a day. Thinking that everyone who was upset by the Juneteenth menu and stayed home on Juneteenth wouldn't notice, which just added insult to injury,” an employee shared with the news station.
How did customers react?
WGCL also interviewed customers who were upset about the items on the menu.
“I'm just frankly disappointed in the learning process. You shouldn't learn after you have insulted all of your black employees,’ one customer said about the Juneteenth menu at the Atlanta Ikea.