Vegan cafe divides opinion as boss forced to serve meat to stay afloat

A vegan cafe has been forced to start serving meat, in what they claim has been a “difficult yet necessary decision," to stay afloat.

The spot, in the north-west of the UK, announced it would be adding meat alongside its standard plant-based fare, because of the financial climate.

Owner Adonis Norouznia, from Nomas Gastro Bar in Macclesfield, told followers on social media: "This has been a moment of deep reflection and decision-making for us, and we trust that you will understand the heartfelt reasons behind our upcoming changes to our beloved vegan cafe and restaurant."

He explained that given their cafe was vegan only, they'd struggled to gain more than a “small number of customers," which made it "increasingly difficult for our business to thrive financially.”

"This has led us to a profound decision, one we’ve made with much contemplation and consideration.

“In response to these challenges, we have made the difficult yet necessary decision to introduce a thoughtfully curated selection of high-quality, responsibly sourced meat and dairy options to our menu.

“This change will allow us to cater to the diverse tastes of our cherished customers and ensure that everyone can find something wonderful to eat and enjoy at our establishment.”

The restaurant owner added that their “commitment to the vegan community remains unwavering” and that they will “continue to offer a wide array of scrumptious vegan dishes, rooted in our core values of sustainability, freshness, and flavour," he went on.

Nomas Gastrobar used to be vegan but made a tough decision to change tact (Credit: Instagram/ Nomas Gastrobar)

As you can imagine, the cafe's post caused a very mixed reaction.

"It must have been such a difficult decision for you to make. I’ll still come and eat vegan when I’m in Macc," said one person in the comments.

Whilst another wrote: "It must be such a hard decision! Especially being vegan yourselves! But I'd much rather you guys stick around, you're amazing."

"You have our support and fully understandable. You’re facing a difficult time and difficult decisions have to be made. Some people just need to suck it up," said a third.

But for all those supporting, there were many who were less happy, to say the least.

The owner said they needed to diversify to stay afloat (Credit: Instagram)

Proper Manchester report that one person wrote: “This is awful to see! You should work on advertising your vegan options to non-vegans to open up your market as opposed to selling death and cruelty.

"You will NOT have the support from the vegan community if you go ahead with this ghastly change!”

Whilst another said: “I’m by no means an expert in the field, but I can’t help but feel that you’d be best served by sticking to your morals and instead diversify in other ways beyond food / drink.”

It gets worse still, as the cafe owner told The Guardian he had death threats, and was told: "You are going to slaughter animals, you are going to sell animal organs.’"

"Chill out guys. We’re going to source good quality products from local producers, as we always do," he told the publication.

"We’re just going to add a few dishes for the rest of the people who are not vegan.”

In response to the backlash, he added: “These people should not be so hard on me. If the business is not making money, and they are putting one stars in just to punish me, then it’s not going to help.

"They have to show sympathy and empathy.”

Featured image: Nomas Gastrobar