MEMernet: Flight, Porch & Parlor, and Getting Tanked at Kroger (4)
Taking Flight
Digital stories spilled out into the streets of Memphis as protesters bullhorned and blocked streets near Flight Restaurant and Wine Bar and Porch & Parlor after a barrage of allegations were made online against the restaurants and their owners.
Facebook posts surfaced last week with allegations that Flight managers had instructed workers to seat African-American diners in an upstairs dining room so they would not be seen from the street in the downstairs dining room. The posts caught fire and soon were blazing on other social channels like Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit.
MEMernet: Flight, Porch & Parlor, and Getting Tanked at Kroger (2)
On Saturday morning, Flight issued a statement on Facebook addressing the posts, saying that “we are committed to determine their validity.”
“We take all allegations of discriminatory behavior seriously and refuse to tolerate this type of behavior at our restaurant. To the extent that we learn that any of these accusations are true, these employees will be terminated immediately.”
Flight and Porch & Parlor are owned by the same company. Criticism and allegations of both were proliferating all over the Memphis internet over the weekend.
Porch and Parlor's southern plantation patio asthetic is not an accident nor is it Memphis.
— Donate Donate Donate (@cathedralheat) June 12, 2020
MEMernet: Flight, Porch & Parlor, and Getting Tanked at Kroger
Protesters with bullhorns massed outside Flight Saturday evening. On Saturday, protesters taunted diners at Porch & Parlor and blocked the intersection of Cooper and Madison. On Sunday, protesters planned another protest, and a Facebook post noted that “Russ [Graham, co-owner of the restaurants], we want answers and we want them now!”
MEMernet: Flight, Porch & Parlor, and Getting Tanked at Kroger (3)
Getting Tanked
We’re still searching for answers to this very good question posted to Facebook by Johnathan Lifsey from the Germantown Kroger store.
