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An Atlanta-based Ikea has been the subject of complaints about its Juneteenth menu, CBS46 reported. The menu included items like fried chicken, watermelon, and collard greens. Employees said it was race-insensitive and management needed to be educated on black culture. Visit the Insider home page for more stories.
An Ikea in Atlanta has drawn criticism among employees over its Juneteenth menu that some have called race-insensitive.
The branch emailed staff on Friday about a June 17 menu that would be served at an internal celebration to “honor and persevere black Americans,” CBS46 reported. The menu included fried chicken, watermelon, macaroni and cheese, collard greens and other dishes, according to CBS46.
But some employees found the menu underscored with ignorance and said management needs to do more to educate themselves about black culture.
“You can’t say serving watermelon on June is a soul food menu when you don’t even know the story, they used to feed the slaves watermelon during the time of slavery,” he said. an anonymous employee reported to CBS46.
“It upset a lot of people. People actually wanted to quit, people weren’t coming back to work,” the Ikea employee added.
An Ikea rep told Insider that around 20 employees called from work because of the menu, prompting an internal email response from the store manager in June.
In a statement to Insider, Ikea apologized for the menu and said they “got it wrong.”
In addition to offering Juneteenth as one of our paid holidays nationwide, our IKEA Atlanta store has recognized Juneteenth with our colleagues for the past four years. To honor the day, a lunch menu has been created with the best of intentions, including recommendations from black colleagues, ”the statement said.
He continued, “We value the voices of our colleagues and have changed the menu after receiving comments that the foods selected do not reflect the deeply significant traditional foods historically served as part of the June 15 celebrations. We were wrong. and we sincerely apologize. We are committed to educating ourselves and putting in place a process that will allow us to thoughtfully honor Juneteenth in the future. “
Ikea also responded to accusations that no person of color or black employee was involved in creating the menu.
“Black colleagues were involved in creating the menu,” the company told Insider. “Out of respect for their privacy, we cannot go into detail, and we see this as an important learning and a shared responsibility.”
According to CBS46, the store manager told staff that the revised menu included collard greens, cornbread, mashed potatoes and meatloaf.
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