Drink for ‘Jackie Chan’? US chain Smoothie King fires two employees, closes stores over racism allegations
- Customers complained about finding offensive descriptions on drink receipts
- Stores where incidents took place closed while remaining staff get ‘inclusivity’ training
Smoothie King, a US chain of shops specialising in blended fruit and vegetable drinks, said on Monday that it was temporarily shutting two of its North Carolina stores after workers used racial slurs on receipts to describe customers.
The Dallas-based franchise company said two employees who wrote offensive descriptions on the receipts of an African-American and an Asian customer had lost their jobs. The dismissed employees worked at separate stores in Charlotte.
“We have zero tolerance for any action where a guest is disrespected and we have taken immediate and decisive action,” Smoothie King Franchises Inc said in an emailed statement.
The company said it was closing the two stores where the incidents occurred “until the franchisees and their respective teams complete further training on our standards and to ensure that nothing like this occurs again”.
The events are the latest example of a major US retailer in recent months requiring employees to undergo training in response to racist incidents at its stores.