Buffalo Wild Wings is in hot water after a former employee has hit the restaurant chain with a federal lawsuit filled with accusations of racism and discriminator.

Garren Lovelace accused his former employer, Buffalo Wild Wings, of widespread racism and discrimination in a federal lawsuit filed on Monday. 

According to the Kansas City Star, the lawsuit says white employees at the restaurant often refused to serve Black customers and said "Blacks don’t give good tips.”

Lovelace, a 55-year-old Black man, spent 12 years as a cook at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Overland Park, Kansas and said he was generally happy with his job until he reported a superior for sexual harassment in 2016.

Everything changed when a new general manager came to the store and almost immediately referred to him as "an angry black man." Other employees began to make racially-charged comments in his presence and despite his complaints no one was ever punished.

The general manager, identified as Pat Robben in the lawsuit, repeatedly said Lovelace was old or overpaid and continued to make comments about Lovelace's race.  

“Under Robben, numerous racial comments were made but would be dismissed as jokes despite Mr. Lovelace’s repeated complaints about the inappropriateness of such remarks," the lawsuit says.

"Mr. Lovelace also witnessed management making derogatory comments about African American customers and permit servers to refuse to serve African American employees or provide them with subpar service.”

The staff seemed to follow the conduct of Robben and Lovelace says waiters repeatedly spoke disparagingly about Black customers. They even went so far as to refuse to serve some Black customers. Furthermore, they repeatedly made comments claiming that Black people did not tip enough. Lovelace tried to report this to his superiors, but waiters were still allowed to give Black customers subpar service.

Robben forced Lovelace to complete tougher, more physically-demanding tasks even though he is disabled and had been working for the restaurant for more than a decade. The restaurant refused to give him any raises and routinely gave him difficult shifts he did not want to work. 

Things got even worse for Lovelace when one of his family members fell ill and he had to take care of them. The store requires employees to call in if they are going to be late and Lovelace says in the lawsuit that he always did, even though other younger, non-Black employees rarely tried to.


He was fired in October 2017 and said he believes he is owed money for discrimination.

Other workers from the restaurant chimed in on Facebook, writing that Lovelace's criticism was correct.

"I worked at this [Buffalo Wild Wings] location for nearly four years. Accepting environment to all races it was not," the former employee wrote on Facebook.

"The victim here is a sweet and kind man, who always brightened up the shift and it hurts my heart that he was discriminated against by the staff who should have been supporting him."

A spokesperson for Buffalo Wild Wings told Fox News that they "do not comment on pending litigation specifically."

"We take the allegations very seriously and are conducting an internal investigation," they told Fox. "Buffalo Wild Wings values an inclusive environment and we have no tolerance for discrimination of any kind.”

He is suing Buffalo Wild Wings and its parent company Inspire Brands for race, age and disability discrimination and is hoping to receive $75,000 for lost wages, benefits and mental and emotional distress. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas

Buffalo Wild WingsGarren LovelaceKansasPat Robben