Chili’s manager snatches free meal from veteran

Michael Timmermann | March 22nd, 2017

Team Clark is adamant that we will never write content influenced by or paid for by an advertiser. To support our work, we do make money from some links to companies and deals on our site. Learn more about our guarantee here.

Chili’s has come under fire after the manager of a Dallas-area location took away a free meal provided to a man as part of a Veterans Day special.

Ernest Walker uploaded a video of his confrontation with the manager to Facebook and YouTube.

Free meal taken away from veteran

In the Facebook post, the Army veteran wrote that the trouble began when another diner questioned the uniform Walker was wearing and his service dog.

But even after Walker showed his military ID and discharge papers, the manager snatched his to-go box.

Responding to social media backlash, Chili’s president Kelli Valade said the company has apologized to Walker and removed the manager from the restaurant.

Here’s a portion of an open letter posted to a corporate website:

Today, we personally apologized to Mr. Walker for the unfortunate experience in our restaurant on Veterans Day and thanked him for his service to our country. We also thanked him for taking the time to speak with us and he appreciated our apology. We took swift action and immediately removed our manager from the restaurant. We are now in the process of working with Mr. Walker on a resolution that promotes trust and healing.

This post was last modified on March 22, 2017 4:35 pm