Steakhouse owner’s post draws ire
Napa restaurant Trancas Steakhouse is under fire after a May Facebook post by the owner resurfaced this week, and quickly drew the ire of locals on social media due to what many saw as the message’s racist undertones.
Trancas owner Norm Sawicki privately shared a post that included an image of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in a white suit underneath a caption that reads, “Well I do declare boy, you ain’t black unless I say you black,” a reference to a recent gaffe by Biden. Another Facebook user posted a public screenshot of the image Tuesday. The screenshot had more than 130 comments as of Thursday afternoon.
The restaurant’s Yelp page has also seen more negative reviews mentioning the May 23 Facebook post. The review site sometimes seeks to discourage such offtopic posting driven by media attention by placing a warning on business pages, but it has not yet done so in the case of the Napa steak house.
The negative attention for Trancas comes at a precarious time for restaurants in Napa County. Businesses are beginning to explore limited dinein service, which was approved for the county in May. And negative reviews online, which in the case of Trancas include reasons outside of food or service, can diminish revenue instrumental to surviving the pandemic.
Trancas Steakhouse has been a popular spot among locals in Napa for years. The business is known not only for its steaks but also for a jovial, bluecollar atmosphere imbued with wine, beer, tequila shots and karaoke nights. In a 2016 story by The Chronicle, Sawicki described the restaurant as “kind of like the ‘Cheers’ bar.”
In response to the growing tumult, Sawicki posted an apology on the Trancas Steakhouse Facebook page Wednesday.
“Recently on my personal Facebook page I posted a meme that was hurtful to the community. I admit when it comes to some issues, that I am really uneducated about how my posts can be so hurtful . ... Recently this was brought to my attention and I was made aware of the impact to others,” he said. “I stand against any racism and I plan on working hard on my actions, instead of my words, to prove this to the community which has been so good to me and my family.”
According to many Facebook comments, as well as a growing number of Yelp reviews, Sawicki’s post with the Biden photo is consistent with what they say is the restaurateur’s history of racially insensitive behavior on social media the last few years.
“The overtly racist posts are just shocking the hell out of me. The racists are so loud and proud. At least we can see them for who they are and choose to not frequent their business and/or to unfriend them,” one Facebook user wrote.
Several people emailed The Chronicle screenshots purported to be from Sawicki’s personal Facebook page from 2019. Included among them is an image of a middle finger colored as the American flag, and underneath it are the words, “Hey Kaepernick,” a reference to former San Francisco 49er Colin Kaepernick. Another Facebook post shows the cartoon character Calvin from “Calvin and Hobbes” urinating on the head of a cartoon image of Kaepernick, who over the years has become a prominent figure in the world of social justice.
Similar screenshots are being shared on Yelp and various public Facebook accounts. When asked about the specific images, Sawicki said in an email: “Not my posts.”
On Yelp, which by Thursday had at least 10 onestar reviews referencing the posts, one user said: “The owner has been sharing overtly racist and disgustingly sexist content on his personal but public Facebook page for years, also linking his business to it by tagging Trancas Steakhouse as his employment location. If he doesn’t respect everyone in his community then he doesn’t deserve our business.”
In a separate email to The Chronicle, Sawicki said “it was stupid” of him to post the image.
“I did post Joe Biden saying if you don’t vote for me you ain’t black, then without my knowledge someone added ... ‘Send them back to the plantation.’ I totally disagree with the comment,” he said.
Sawicki was caught in a social media whirlwind in 2018 behind his nowclosed Red Hen restaurant. That June, former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant of the same name in Lexington, Va., because of her role in the Trump administration.
Online, people confused the Napa Red Hen with the Virginia one, and inundated Sawicki’s restaurant with negative reviews.
Sawicki’s businesses aren’t the only ones in the Bay Area in recent years to be criticized on social media over incidents involving politics and race. In 2018, a Berkeley coffee shop, then called Elmwood Cafe, closed after people began comparing the controversial arrest of two black men at a Philadelphia Starbucks in 2018 to a 2015 incident at Elmwood Cafe involving Bay Area comedian and CNN contributor W. Kamau Bell. Elmwood Cafe reopened later that year with new owners under the name “Baker & Commons.”
That same year, the owner of an Emeryville popcorn shop garnered negative reviews after its owner was accused of using a racial slur against black customers.
Still, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Bay Area diners, especially on social media, are being vocal about the political and social leanings of businesses. And in Wine Country, it isn’t unusual to see business owners with conservative opinions. A significant number of prominent wine industry owners and executives have made notable contributions to Donald Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns.
While Sawicki didn’t address his political affiliations in the email, he described his post as a “big mistake.”
“I am not (an) antiminority person. I hire on ability, not the color of someone’s skin,” he said.