Vegan Feminist Restaurant That Charged an 18% 'Man Tax' Inexplicably Goes Out of Business
Source - A restaurant that declared it would charge men 18% more than women for the same service will close its doors at the end of the month.
Handsome Her, a vegan café in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick, will close its doors on April 28, writing on Facebook that the two women responsible for running the business “are off to our next adventure up north where we will be doing some hands-on work, something we have missed sorely whilst being at 206 Sydney Rd, Brunswick.”
There is no indication that the restaurant is closing as a result of charging men more than women.
And from the Handsome Her Facebook page:
It’s been a wild journey to say the least. When we opened Handsome Her in 2017, we expected that perhaps we might make a stir through our brazen public discussions of structural inequality and oppression. The man tax blew up the internet, an idea that we didn’t think was all too radical, yet the way the world responded showed us how fragile masculinity is and solidified the necessity for us to confront and dismantle patriarchy. We were just one little tiny shop on Sydney Rd that was trying to carve out a swathe of space to prioritise women and women’s issues, and suddenly we became the punching bag of Melbourne and the internet. Yes, we are the evil, discriminatory, man-hating dykes who charge men more when didn’t you know the wage gap doesn’t even exist!? Meanwhile gentlemen’s social clubs live on and strong around Melbourne and the world over…
Radical? Fragile masculinity? Evil? You’ve got the wrong guy, sisters. I for one have no issue with the Handsome Her business model. And I can’t believe it didn’t work out. I mean, if I have a choices of places to eat and one of them is offering no meat, fish or dairy, and will let me pay a bonus so I can enjoy some brazen public discussions of structural inequality and oppression? Save my wage-gapping ass a seat and hand me a menu!
That’s how you attract the clientele. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in my local townie pub of choice having a nice meal at an affordable price and said to the person I’m with, “This Buffalo Chicken sandwich is great and all. But I think I’d be having a better overall dining experience if they replaced it with a nice Tabbouleh with a nice side of wage gap talk at an 18% markup. And oh, waitress? When you get a sec, can you bring me something that’ll dismantle this patriarchy? Appreciate it.”
It’s a shame and a pity that somehow they couldn’t find more customers who enjoy the Handsome Her model as opposed to those other kinds of places where they treat everybody the same and show them a good time. Hopefully though, someone else will come along and open another one. That patriarchy isn’t about to dismantle itself.