WATCH: Black Restaurant Owner Scolds Guest For Twerking In His Restaurant (VIDEO)
The owner of True Kitchen & Kocktails, Kevin Kelly is facing criticism for calling out a customer who was twerking against a glass window. The owner stated that he didn’t have a problem with twerking but he wanted to provide a family friendly and classy experience and to ensure that guests are safe from danger.
Mr. Kelly addressed everyone in the restaurant after calling out the customer, “I invested a lot of money into buying this building, into developing this concept so Black people could have somewhere nice to go to, OK? Somewhere we can feel good about ourselves and then-. Juwan, stop the music, please. Somewhere where our people can feel good about ourselves as a culture. OK? No, no, real talk. And so all this twerking and shit, take it to Prime, take it to Pink. Don’t bring it here because we’re a restaurant.”
He continued, “So beyond that, 75% percent of my customers are ladies. And I’m not mean to show respect for themselves, how they carry themselves here. So how can I tell the men to respect themselves when you guys are twerking on glass here. If you want to do it, get the f*** out my restaurant. Because I did for our people and I did it for our culture. So don’t do it now. Don’t do it again. I don’t want to hear it. If you don’t like it, get out because I don’t need your money. I need to provide something for my people. Don’t do it again. Thank you.”
The owner later stated after the incident gained more attention, “I don’t have a particular problem with twerking. At our restaurant, you’re always going to hear music because we want to make sure that it’s a constant, positive vibe for our guests. One of the things that we don’t want, though, is we don’t want guests standing up in their seats, grabbing glass, and twerking on glass. For those who like twerking, we don’t have a problem with it. There’s lots of nightclubs. People do that. They do it in their home. But at our restaurant, we want to be mindful of that.”
My Kelly continued, “Our restaurant is, one, where my mother eats at my grandmother, eats there. My sons work there. And we want to make sure we keep a good environment. So I’m not here to make any indictment on people who twerk because it gives people a good time. But that’s just not something that I can have in my restaurant. We have so many classy and nice Black women that come to this restaurant that define what True Kitchen & Kocktails is. And the actions of the women standing on the sofa and pushing on the glass twerking is not that. And so when we talk about advancing the culture, I’m mindful of how we all look and speak.”
The restaurant issued a statement following the incident.
“In response to the numerous comments and postings on social media, I will share a bit of detail associated with our guests twerking, being asked to stop, being addressed and asked to leave True Kitchen + Kocktails. My immediate reaction was this woman could fall through this window and we could be the target of a lawsuit if she is injured. My second reaction was enough is enough. We are moving with a cause to show other minority entrepreneurs they can own their building, own their restaurant and they can be successful growing their own brand. As usual, 97% of our guests yesterday were fantastic, this is an indictment on the very few who don’t respect our restaurant. However, we reserve the right to address guests who we believe fall below the standards of the concept created.
