IHOP Denies Discrimination After Black Teens Asked To Pay Upfront

AUBURN, ME — An IHOP franchisee in Maine is retraining its employees and has taken disciplinary action after one of its servers asked a group of teenagers to pay for their meal upfront. Details of the incident were shared in a Facebook post by a diner, Avery Gagne, who was seated next to the group and wrote that the four teenagers were African-American.

Gagne wrote that he was eating dinner at the restaurant on Sunday and as he was finishing up his meal, he saw the incident unfold. Gagne wrote that he heard an employee tell the group that they would need to pay upfront and that it was "a new generation thing." Gagne said he asked the group whether they were really being asked to pay upfront and the group told him that they were, he wrote.

Gagne wrote that he and his parents questioned why the teens were being asked to pay upfront. The server said management has asked her to do so because the restaurant has had people walk out without paying, according to Gagne's account. The server told Gagne and his parents that the upfront demand for payment had nothing to do with the teens' race, according to the post. Gagne's post has been shared thousands of times.

IHOP spokeswoman Stephanie Peterson confirmed to Patch in an email that the incident did take place.

Peterson said that the franchisee apologized for the incident, noted that it was not racially motivated, took disciplinary action, and is retraining the entire restaurant staff on Thursday.

When asked how the restaurant determined the actions were not racially motivated, Peterson said the general manager for that location said he "believed the server's actions were not racially motivated but she was worried the kids would duck out on the $100 bill.” Peterson added that the restaurant said they've recently had some problems with teenagers walking out without paying.

“IHOP and our franchisees have zero tolerance for actions that are or allude to discrimination of any type," IHOP President Darren Rebelez said in a statement. "The franchisee of this location is working to contact the affected guests directly to apologize for this incident and are taking appropriate disciplinary actions in line with their HR policies. For 60 years, IHOP and our franchisees have strived to create a warm and hospitable dining experience for all guests, and this isolated incident is not reflective of that ongoing commitment."

In an interview with the Lewiston Sun Journal, the manager, Melvin Escobar, said he had spoken to the server and that such an incident would never happen again. Escobar also told the paper that his restaurant does not discriminate based on race or age.

The IHOP also posted an apology to its Facebook page.

You can read Gagne's full Facebook post here.

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images News/Getty Images