DETROIT (WXYZ) — Founders Brewing Co.'s Detroit taproom will reopen to the public on Thursday, Feb. 6.
“After three months of progress behind-the-scenes, now is the best time to honor our commitments in Detroit and reopen the Detroit taproom,” said company Co-Founder and CEO Mike Stevens. “While our intentions were good when we first launched the taproom in 2017, we need to make more efforts to connect in meaningful ways with the City of Detroit. We’re going to do this right and we look forward to sharing the journey with our fans, community partners and business partners.”
The taproom was closed down after criticism related to a deposition that was leaked in a racial discrimination lawsuit last October. Founders settled the lawsuit in November.
Tracy Evans filed the racial discrimination lawsuit in October 2018. He was the events and promotions manager for Founders' locations in Grand Rapids and Detroit. He said he was the only minority manager at Founders, and said co-workers used racial slurs around him and other employees.
It grew to national attention this week when a leaked deposition showed that the brewery's general manager for the Detroit taproom claimed he didn't know the man who is suing the brewery is black.
The comments sparked outrage within the community. The backlash prompted the owners of Founders to close the Detroit taproom location.
Founders says the income from the Detroit taproom will be contributed to local Detroit charities for the next three years.
