https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambo's
Sambo's was an American restaurant chain, started in 1957 by Sam Battistone Sr. and Newell Bohnett in Santa Barbara, California.[1] 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 and Bohnett capitalized on this connection 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. The chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 1981.[2] All locations except for the first in Santa Barbara either closed outright, or were renamed after being purchased, effectively ending the chain's existence.
The Santa Barbara restaurant continued business under the Sambo's name until 2020, when it was renamed to Chad's after its owner at the time, Chad Stevens. The George Floyd protests against racism in the United States resulted in the owner of the restaurant changing the name of the establishment.
Although the founders maintain that the word “Sambo” originally came from combining the names Sam and Bo — for Sam Battistone and Newell Bohnett — it immediately called to mind “The Story of Little Black Sambo,” a children’s story from 1899 about a dark-skinned boy, some mean tigers, and a whole lot of pancakes.
Initially a popular book, it took time for many people to process, and then protest, the fact that the character names were also racist slurs against dark-skinned people.
In 1951, the Rochester, New York branch of the NAACP was among the first to request the book’s removal from school libraries, saying that Sambo was “not good for human relations and democratic principles.”
Still, six years later, Sambo’s Pancake House opened up its doors in Santa Barbara, California.
Still, six years later, Sambo’s Pancake House opened up its doors in Santa Barbara, California.
Instead of choosing another restaurant name, the founders decided to lean into it — even making their first mascot a little black boy — and used the tagline, “The finest pancakes west of the Congo.”
Whether to somewhat appease critics or to build the foundation of a new branding campaign — or both — by the middle of 1960, the restaurant had a new mascot.
This version of the Sambo character was a light-skinned Indian boy who wore a turban, and would appear as the face of the brand for more than two decades.
Despite changing their icon, the company name remained controversial.
https://clickamericana.com/topics/food- ... rsial-name
...Fast-forward to June 2020, when there was just one Sambo’s left — the original restaurant in Santa Barbara, now owned by Battistone’s grandson Chad Stevens.
At long last, the company said, it was time for the little Indian boy to go — and to take his name with him.
As posted on the Sambo’s Instagram account: “We are changing the name of our restaurant, what the future name will be is still uncertain, however it will not be Sambo’s…
In the end, the restaurant renamed itself Chad’s Café, and they replaced the old S A M B O ‘S sign with another that looked very similar, but instead used the letters C H A D ‘S.
