Sambo’s
When Sam Battistone and Newell F. Bohnett decided to open a restaurant in Santa Barbara in 1957, they just combined Sam’s first name with Bohnett’s last name, and Sambo’s it was.
Little did they realize just how many people would take offense at the presumed connection to the politically incorrect children’s book Little Black Sambo, especially after the restaurants were decorated with scenes from the book.
Regardless of the association, the restaurant was a huge success, and there were 1,117 locations in operation at its peak in the early 1980s.
The company’s finances began to crumble just as it became a lightning rod for its insensitive name, and its collapse was epic.
In 1983, 618 locations were renamed Season’s Friendly Eating, and soon after some outposts were sold to Denny’s and the rest simply shut down.
