South Carolina restaurant responds to 'Minorities Need Not Apply' on Help Wanted sign

Controversy over a "help wanted" sign at a restaurant in Spartanburg, South Carolina is causing problems for the business' employees.

The sign at Kenny's Home Cooking included the phrase "Minorities need not apply" in English and in Spanish.

A customer took a picture of the sign and shared it on social media over the weekend.

The post led to a firestorm of comments. People vowed to file complaints with the government. They also promised to stop eating at the restaurant and encouraged others to do the same.

"That day we probably only had 20 customers, and me and the other girl that was working, we didn't make hardly any money. We had phone calls all day harassing us," said Melonie Henderson, a server who has worked at the restaurant for two years.

The restaurant’s owner, Sook “Sue” Shin, is Japanese. She said her husband, who is Korean, got the sign on eBay. She said they didn’t fully understand everything on the sign.

“I never ever meant that, so I'm really sorry. Please forgive me," Shin told WYFF News 4’s Mike McCormick.

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

Servers said they never saw the sign because they always enter and leave the restaurant through a back door.

Servers said a woman who posted a photo of the sign on social media went into the restaurant on Saturday.

"She said she would never come back,” Henderson said.

After the controversy erupted, the owners took down the sign and replaced it with an apology.

The new sign reads: “Dear Customers. I am the owner Sue. I am really sorry for the sign that posted (earlier). I didn’t know what it meant. After I know, I took it off immediately. English is not my first language. And I never thought about it again. I sincerely apologize for (everything).”

African-American customers stopped by the restaurant Monday morning to read the apology posted on the window. They told McCormick that they won't eat at the restaurant again.

"The thing about it is, there's all kind of minorities in here that work. Our owner, she's Japanese. We have Spanish cooks. We have a black dishwasher,” Henderson said. “All of our customers are different nationalities. We don't discriminate against nobody."

The servers said the controversy is continuing to affect business as the post circulates on social media.

“If we don't have customers, we don't make that much. We rely on our tips,” said Deborah Bright, a server for five years.

“Usually our money is good until this happened,” Henderson said.