DATE: Friday, May 23, 1997                  TAG: 9705230653

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: SPARTANBURG, S.C.                 LENGTH:   33 lines

DENNY'S ADS WELCOME BACK BLACKS

Denny's is using new ads to say ``welcome back'' to black customers after complaints of racial discrimination.

The restaurant chain launched a $5 million television and radio advertising campaign earlier this week. It is designed to ease lingering resentments that may have kept many black customers away.

Company-sponsored research showed many blacks believe Denny's managers and servers provide lower-quality service to black customers, said Herb Kemp of Chisolm-Mingo, the New York advertising firm that developed the ads.

The ads aim ``to let African-Americans know that Denny's was a changed place'' where blacks are ``respected and wanted,'' Kemp said.

Three 30-second spots feature black professionals going to Denny's with clients or family members.

One ad opens with a black architect walking around a construction site with a white client. In the next scene he arrives at a Denny's restaurant, where the greeter says, ``Hi, welcome to Denny's.''

Denny's, which is owned by Spartanburg-based Flagstar Cos. Inc., gave more than $1.5 million to civil rights groups and the United Negro College Fund in January.

The payments were part of a 1994 settlement of two class-action discrimination suits against the company. By December 1995, the company had paid $54 million to nearly 300,000 customers who said they were subjected to racially discriminatory behavior at at least one of the 1,600 Denny's restaurants in the United States.

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