Posted on 03/12/2018 8:43:09 AM PDT by Red Badger
A restaurant in New Orleans is hoping to raise awareness of racial wealth differences in the country by charging white customers more.
SAARTJ is a pop-up restaurant in the Louisiana city run by local Nigerian chef Tunde Wey who will be charging white customers $18 (£13) extra for their meal.
Much like the cafe in Melbourne, Australia which charged a 'man-tax' due to the gender pay gap, SAARTJ is charging an increase to highlight the racial pay gap in New Orleans.
In 2013, a study found that the average household income of an African-American in the city was 54 per cent lower than that of a white person.
Customers have two price options to choose from. Either $12 (£8.66) or the suggested price of $30 (£21.66).
As Tunde explains the standard price is available to everyone, but only white customers will be asked to consider the suggested price.
Speaking to Civil Eats he said:
The standard price was available to all customers, while the suggested price was offered to white customers.
The pricing differential represents the wage disparity between black and white households in New Orleans.
The net profit collected from sales at the suggested price was redistributed to customers of colour.
The temporary scheme only ran for a month at the venue but it proved to be successful and helped create discussions.
Around 78 per cent of white customers have chosen to pay the extra fee, which he believes comes through "positive social pressure" and the need to feel like someone is doing something to help others.
Tunde adds:
Refusing to pay more comes off as anti-social and people don’t want to be judged for that.
People look on the other side of the till and see me standing there and they’re thinking that I’m judging them.
If they couldn’t pay a higher amount, they gave a me a list of caveats why they couldn’t.
The success of the project has helped raise awareness amongst all social groups. Although he has faced some objections, it has mostly been well received.
Even black customers have offered to pay the higher price, but he insisted that it wasn't necessary for them.
You may be wondering where the extra cash is going to. Rather than going straight back into the business Tunde is hoping to redistribute back to his black customers, but he only managed to find six people who have signed up for the scheme.
However, the overall aim of the project, which concluded on March 4 was to educate people about racial wealth inequality and hope that the facts linger in their mind long after finishing their meal.
We’re told that if you work hard you’ll become wealthy—and that’s not true.
We want to provoke further thinking.
SAARTJ, which is named after the famous story of an enslaved South African who was toured around Europe in a freak show, now have another pop-up planned in Detroit, Michigan.
The restaurant will be open between April 29 and May 5 from 7pm each night. Learn more here.
How many stupid fools will eat and pay the increased prices? I sure as heck wouldn’t.
Oh brother!
Something wrong with these self-hating people.
I think that’s why he’s doing it as a pop-up.
By the time anyone complains, it’s already shut down.
It announces he will pull the same stunt in Detroit, but highly unlikely he would meet any protests there of course.
So it’s like he can fling sh!t and duck all the consequences.
Actually, it was even higher: 80.000% (of the total of five White customers who had the stupidity to visit this restaurant since this program began).
Seriously: Just how did the restaurant determine this statistic? Was every diner interviewed, and ask to identify his racial make-up? Or were they viewed surreptitiously by someone "qualified" to make that call based only on a cursory visual examination?)
Regards,
What is a pop up restaurant? Do they serve pop tarts? I’m glad that we live far from this crap.
ye gads. Racists!
He's right about that. Many whites have been socially conditioned to take abuse like this. Pay more for a meal to virtue signal that they are against racism. Laugh when a black comedian makes white jokes. Nod their heads like sheep when someone says that "racism is alive and well in America" or that no progress has been made against racial discrimination.
” local Nigerian chef Tunde Wey “
If he’s Nigerian, what’s local about him?
So, he is focusing on a virtue signaling gimmick rather than providing a good meal at a competitive price.
“How much for them to not spit in your food?”
Any white person that would patronize an Ethiopian restaurant is a fool.
Notice it says 78% of whites pay higher price but does not give a raw number of white patrons. How many whites are actually patronizing his racist social experiment. And how many return?
A posting of this article from yesterday with some 164 comments
if anyone cares to scan thru them.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3638963/posts
A restaurant is charging white customers more to highlight racial wealth inequality
New Orleans is on my NEVER-go-there-again list anyway. Hated almost everything about it. This clown could give his food away or charge a million bucks per plate. I will never know and couldn’t care less.
What about customers who are half white? Do racially mixed customers get hustled for a slightly lower cost increase?
Meant to say Nigerian.
Who in their right mind would eat at a food stall run my a Nigerian chef....
Let’s see if racist Blacks can keep his doors open - ha ha ha just like the idiotic “Pay what you can” at Panera and “no tipping allow” at some “trendy” place in Manhattan. Lots of luck gang.
...and any white person that darkens the door of that restaurant is a num-num.
So white people will avoid his place. And since blacks are poor tippers, quality wait staff will get other jobs. It will be funny to watch.
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