A famed celebrity chef recently banned all vegan individuals from his restaurant after he received a single negative review where a customer criticized his lack of plant-based options. The chef in question, John Mountain, revealed on his Facebook page that his restaurant, Fyre, would no longer cater to diners who were vegan. According to the chef, his decision to ban all vegans from his restaurant, which was situated in Perth, Australia, was due to a multitude of mental health reasons. The Facebook post read, “Sadly all vegans are now banned from Fyre (for mental health reasons). We thank you for your understanding. Xx.” There was a caption that accompanied this post: “Yep. I’m done.” This came with a bunch of hashtags- #vegan, #not, #pleasegoelsewhere, #nomorevegans, and #veganfreezone.
It was later surmised that this decision came from a bad review by a vegan customer, with the celebrity chef informing PerthNow that a customer had apparently reached out to the chef and asked if he served any vegan options. The chef, on his part, had promised her that he would be accommodating her. He stated, “A young girl reached out to me and said she was coming to the restaurant… and asked if there were vegan options. It was my only shortfall… I said I would accommodate her. I said we had gnocchi, vegetables… and that was that.”
Celebrity Chef Bans Vegans Due to A Bad Review
However, as it turned out, Chef Mountain- who had previously starred on the Great British Menu- apparently forgot all about this request, as he had been busy catering a private party. Speaking to the outlet, Mountain responded, “Saturday came around and sadly I’d forgotten… I had a private party I had to cater for.” In fact, his sous chef had also reprimanded him for “not telling them about the vegan customer.” Later, the woman had apparently written a negative review about the restaurant on Facebook, in which she had criticized the $32 vegetable dish that had been the only option that she had been served.
The woman’s message also read, “I think it’s incredibly important nowadays that restaurants can accommodate everyone and to not be able to have actual plant-based meals shows your shortcomings as a chef. I hope to see some improvements in your menu as I have lived in Connolly for quite some time and have seen many restaurants come and go from that building and none of them last. If you don’t get with the times, I don’t hold out faith that your restaurant will be the one that does.” The restaurant had apparently not taken this sitting down, commenting, “Thanks for your negative review… please feel free to share your sh*** experience and I look forward to not seeing you again. How very childish. You and all your vegan mates can all go and enjoy your dishes in another venue, you are now banned.”
Read: Woman feels ‘discriminated’ over lack of meat-free meals at KFC
Chef Believes His Clientele Knows What He Dishes Out
Chef Mountain admitted that he had promised to accommodate this woman and then had forgotten all about it, but he decided to ban vegans because she had made the complaint personal. He also commented that due to the woman’s complaint, his restaurant was soon flooded with one-star reviews, which “hurt the business.” He added, “F*** vegans seriously… I’m done. At the end of the day, it’s not what I want to do, they can f*** off.” The chef also mentioned that his clientele should “know what they’re getting from me.” He spoke about a book that he had written, called ‘Pig’. “I once wrote and sold a book called Pig which had pork recipes. People know what they’re getting from me. I understand where vegans are coming from but my job is to make food taste as good as I can and I can’t always cater to everybody’s dietary requirements.”
With other vegans giving their reviews about this restaurant, Chef Mountain kept responding. “If you beautiful vegans want to join together and slag off my business then good luck, keep going. Let’s see what my customers think. And from now on ALL Vegans are now banned from my restaurant. Thank you for your disgusting review and please enjoy the currambine. Xx.” There were some reviews that actually gave a reason as to why restaurants should be serving vegan dishes. One review mentioned, “In today’s society, the demand for vegan options is on the rise. Providing vegan options is not only vital for catering to individual food preferences but also presents an opportunity for businesses to target a wider market and increase their revenue.”
Some People Commended His Decision To Take A Stand
In response to the other ten one-star reviews that had no basis, the celebrity chef tried to give a justification. He stated, “Sadly we don’t overly cater for vegans though I’d sadly agreed to cater to our customer needs. But that night I had a huge outdoor catering gig that spoilt their night. The vegan in question decided to be very personal about my inabilities as a chef and for that I was a little rude to her reply.”
Some individuals believed that using fake reviews to tear down livelihoods was simply the worst, and Chef Mountain was right to ban vegans. “Trying to tear a business down with reviews is disgusting as you not only harm the owners but the respectable people who work there and trying to make a living to provide for families.” Another commented, “These people are working ridiculous hours and dealing with stupid requests and demands from people like you who refuse to read a menu before dining.”
But some didn’t like his decision to ban vegans. One reviewer commented, “You can’t call yourself a chef if you can’t even cook veggies. Owner is very arrogant and can’t take criticism.” Another individual wrote, “Discriminating and refusing vegans into his venue, all for a complaint for not following an agreed vegan option. How disgusting.”
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Sources
- “Celebrity chef bans vegans from his restaurant ‘for mental health reasons’.” Independent. Chelsea Ritschel. June 21, 2023.
- “A celebrity chef banned vegans from his restaurant due to his mental health—then got dogpiled with one star reviews.” Fortune. Orianna Rosa Royle. June 21, 2023.