SC restaurant’s help wanted sign sparks social media fury

SPARTANBURG, SC (CNN) It’s a restaurant sign that’s gone viral for all the wrong reasons has the owner apologizing.

As employees were preparing for Monday’s lunch rush at Kenny’s Home Cooking on North Pine Street were worried that customers might serve them a helping of controversy.

“It’s really affected our business,” one employee said.

Last weekend, a woman posted a photo of a help wanted sign at the restaurant.

The sign read in part, “Minorities need not apply.”

The post created a social media firestorm and has over 600 shares.

People called for boycotts and threatened to report the restaurant to federal authorities.

However, servers Melanie Henderson and Deborah Right explained their owners misunderstood the sign as English is not their first language.

“They thought it meant minors, not minorities,” Henderson said.

Sook “Sue” Shin, the owner of the restaurant, is Japanese. Her husband, who is Korean, bought the sign on eBay without fully understanding what it meant.

When she was informed about the mistake, she quickly took the sign down and replaced it with a handwritten apology.

“I’m really sorry. Please forgive me,” she said. “I really didn’t mean it.”

But some customers aren’t buying it.

Shondreka Shippy, who had been a regular at the restaurant for years said that she was never uncomfortable eating at the restaurant before the sign was posted, but does not believe the owner’s apology.

“I’m not coming back here no more,” she said.

Business did seem to turn around Tuesday, as the dining room was full at lunchtime.