Sambo's

Sambo's

The only remaining Sambo's Restaurant (August 2005)
Restaurant information
Established 1957
Current owner(s) Chad Stevens
Street address 216 West Cabrillo Boulevard
City Santa Barbara
State California
Country United States
Website sambosrestaurant.com

Sambo's is a restaurant, formerly an American restaurant chain, started in 1957 by Sam Battistone Sr and Newell Bohnett. Though the name was taken from portions of the names of its founders, the chain soon found itself associated with The Story of Little Black Sambo. Battistone Sr and Bohnett capitalized on the coincidence by decorating the walls of the restaurants with scenes from the book, including a dark-skinned boy, tigers and a pale, magical unicycle-riding man called "The Treefriend." By the early 1960s, the illustrations depicted a light-skinned boy wearing a jeweled Indian-style turban with the tigers. A kids club, Sambo's Tiger Tamers (later called the Tiger Club), promoted the chain's family image.

History

By 1979, Sambo's had 1,200 outlets in 47 American states. However, in the late 1970s, controversy over the chain's name drew protests and lawsuits in communities that viewed the term Sambo as pejorative towards African-Americans, particularly in the Northeastern states. Several of the restaurants were opened as or renamed to "The Jolly Tiger" in locations where the local community passed resolutions forbidding the use of the original name or refused to grant the chain permits.

There were other corporate level decisions being made at the time that also led to Sambo's corporate demise. There was pressure to take Sambo's into a more normal salaried manager compensation package. Their unique "Fraction of the Action" promotion was an early company expansion plan and the growth of the company outpaced its control. [1] [2]

[3] In March 1981, in a further attempt to give the chain a new image the company again renamed some locations, this time to "No Place Like Sam's".[4] By November 1981, the company filed for bankruptcy.[5] Neither the name change nor bankruptcy protection reversed the downward trend, and in 1982 all but the original Sambo's at 216 West Cabrillo Boulevard in Santa Barbara, California, closed their doors.[6] By February 1983, 618 of the locations were renamed Season's Friendly Eating.[7] Several locations were sold to Denny's.[8]

Battistone Jr. is also the original owner of the New Orleans Jazz in the NBA.[9] He later moved the team to Utah and sold it. Battistone's grandson, restaurateur Chad Stevens, owns the only remaining Sambo's.

References

  1. ^ "A New Name". Time. 17 August 1981. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,949341,00.html. 
  2. ^ Sambo's: Only a Fraction of the Action : the Inside Story of a Restaurant Empire's Rise and Fall Author: Charles Bernstein Publication Date: 1984-01-01 Format: Paperback ISBN-10: 0866662022 ISBN-13: 9780866662024
  3. ^ Jones, Thomas David (1998). Human Rights: Group Defamation, Freedom of Expression and the Law of Nations. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. pp. 107–117. ISBN 90-411-0265-5. 
  4. ^ "COMPANY NEWS; Sambo's to Alter Northeast Names". The New York Times. 1981-03-11. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE2D81539F932A25750C0A967948260. Retrieved 2008-01-03. 
  5. ^ "CHAPTER 11 PETITION IS FILED BY SAMBO'S". The New York Times. 1981-11-28. 
  6. ^ http://www.sambosrestaurant.com/across.htm
  7. ^ "Six Area Restaurants to Get New Name". Daytona Beach Morning Journal: pp. 6B. 10 December 1982. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=e-swAAAAIBAJ&sjid=yN8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1380,5107245&dq=season%27s-friendly-eating&hl=en. Retrieved 20 April 2010. 
  8. ^ "Denny's expands in S. Florida". The Palm Beach Post. 24 June 1983. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xwcuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=d80FAAAAIBAJ&pg=6114,1913544&dq=sambos+denny%27s&hl=en. Retrieved 24 November 2010. 
  9. ^ http://hornetsreport.com/HRClassic/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=231

External links