NAACP sues Friendly's over alleged black biker bias

Nation's Restaurant News,  Nov 12, 2007  

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MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. -- The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and other parties have sued Friendly Ice Cream Corp. and a franchisee of its Friendly's restaurant chain for closing a unit's interior dining areas during the annual Black Bike Week festivals that were held here from 2000 through 2005.

The plaintiffs allege that the Friendly's unit's partial closings were discriminatory.

The NAACP pointed out that the restaurant has remained fully open when thousands of white motorcyclists and tourists visit Myrtle Beach each May for an event known as Harley Week. Though a similar number of African-American tourists visit a week later for Black Bike Week, the Friendly's unit shut its dining room and offered only "inferior" outdoor service then, the NAACP asserted.

A spokeswoman for Wilbraham, Mass.-based Friendly said the suit was without merit.

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