Two Baltimore restaurant managers have parted ways with Atlas Restaurant Group after viral video showed a worker asking a Black woman and her child to leave because the boy was in athletic apparel. Only, that rule apparently didn’t apply to a white boy dressed similarly, the video showed.
"I would love for you to be able to come back and eat here,” one of the managers told the mother, later identified as Marcia Grant. He earlier explained that the company has a dress code that allows tennis shoes but not athletic shorts or T-shirts, all of which the white child could be seen wearing.
Grant shared two videos and photos of her encounter at Ouzo Bay restaurant on Facebook Monday. “I have faced racism time and time again, but it’s hard AF, when you have to see your child (9yo) upset because he knows he’s being treated different that a white child!!!” she said in the post.
She could be heard in video of the encounter asking one of the managers: “So you telling me my son can’t eat here because he has on athletic stuff?” The manager responded: “No, no just the shorts. It is part of our dress code.”
The restaurant has since changed its dress code to exempt children under 12-years-old. “We sincerely apologize to Marcia Grant, her son & everyone impacted by this painful incident,” the company said in a statement on Twitter Monday. “This situation does not represent who or what Atlas stands for.”
In a follow-up statement Tuesday, the company also announced that two managers “are no longer with the organization.”
Since learning of this incident, Atlas leadership has taken the following action:
• Launched an assertive internal investigation, which included extensive video review, analysis, workforce interviews and input from human resources professionals and other experts in the field.
•As a result of the investigation, two Ouzo Bay managers have been separated from and are no longer with the organization. To reiterate, there is a level of sensitivity, discretion, and customer service we expect from our managers and all who represent the Atlas brand.
•Revised our dress code policy so that children 12 years old and younger, who are accompanied by an adult, will no longer be subject to a dress code at any Atlas property.
•Communicated with our Atlas employees to inform them of the new dress code policy, reiterate and reinforce our unwavering position that there is no place for racism nor discrimination in any form within our company. We will continue to implement our diversity and inclusion training required for all employees and are currently educating ourselves on additional ways we can continue to expand and improve these efforts.
•Attempted to connect with Marcia Grant and her son. Unfortunately, we were unsuccessful but we will continue to try and open dialogue. Again, we want to extend our sincerest, heartfelt apology. We don’t want anyone to go through this type of embarrassing and hurtful experience.
This, however, wasn't the Atlas Restaurant Group's first time apologizing for its dress code. Another of its restaurants, Choptank in Fells Point, faced criticism when it banned “baggy clothing, sunglasses after dark and bandannas,” according to The Baltimore Sun. “The original dress code didn’t explicitly say that African Americans or other minorities aren’t welcome at the eatery,” the newspaper’s editorial board wrote last September. “But the way the code was written definitely left the impression that they were the group of patrons the Atlas Restaurant Group, owner of the crab house and several other Baltimore restaurants, was trying to target.”
Jemele Hill, the former ESPN host targeted when she tweeted that President Donald Trump is a “white supremacist,” again used her platform to call out racists Tuesday on Twitter. “FYI, the name of this restaurant is called Ouzo Bay. It’s in Baltimore and *gasp* it’s part of a racist pattern,” she said in the tweet.