CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Saturday morning, a group gathered in Charlotte's NoDa neighborhood to call out Amelie's French Bakery and Cafe.
Greater Charlotte Rise, Feed the Movement and other groups said Amelie’s falsely represented themselves as partnering with those organizations when they had not yet made any donations.
The groups say Amelie's also has engaged in "unethical employment practices” and mistreated Black employees.
Former Amelie's employees spoke in a press conference outside the cafe’s NoDa location.
"It was sad to me that the place I had once loved so much had treated me so poorly and had created an environment so toxic to everyone that wasn't White," Saminah Chapman, a former employee, said. "I still have hope that Amelie's can be better and I hope they hear our stories and make real changes within their environment."
In a post last month, Amelie’s apologized for a statement made on June 6 implying they were "looking forward to working with Black Love CLT, Great Charlotte RISE, The Hue House, and Sanctuary in the City."
At the time of the post, according to the Amelie's statement, the relationships were not fully formed — but the business was excited to work with the organizations in the future.
The post continued, outlining the ways in which the company planned to get involved with the organizations.
"Forming relationships with our local community is so important and we wanted to show our support, but we completely missed the mark," Amelie's said in the June 28 post.
The business has not made another post on Twitter since then.
WCNC Charlotte has reached out to Amelie's for a statement on the gathering outside its NoDa location Saturday morning, but at this time has not heard back.