anti-mask cafe to close

[Demovictory9]

Fiddleheads Cafe in Mendocino, known for its controversial stances on the state's mask mandate during the pandemic, is closing for good after the new owners of the building decided to cancel its lease.

The cafe's last day is July 4, owner Chris Castleman confirmed to SFGATE.


The building was recently sold, and the cafe's lease with the new owners — Mac and Kim Hodges — was canceled in June without explanation, Castleman said, just days after the cafe made national headlines in late May for adding a $5 fee for those who ordered food from his cafe with masks on.

Castleman said he was in talks to extend the lease for three months to September to allow for him to sell his business, but said he refused to sign the agreement when he saw the new terms. Among the conditions included in the month-to-month lease, along with a rent increase, were stipulations that there be “no further publicity related to the business, of any kind, regarding mask wearing or vaccinations, and business will comply with any orders, laws, or mandates of government,” according to a copy of the extension contract Castleman provided to SFGATE.

Castleman was also required to keep from making “disparaging or harmful communications or actions or consequences of any kind” that could impact other businesses, the landlord and the local community, the contract reviewed by SFGATE said. In addition, he was reportedly asked to remove all "controversial" signage from the cafe windows.

https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/Fiddleheads-Cafe-Mendocino-closed-shuttered-mask-16282595.php

[lagomorph777]

1. Good. The new landlord dumped a bad tenant.

[MagickMuffin]

2. He was given a choice and he refused his loss

I'm glad he chose to be this stupid. No one to blame but himself.

[Fritz Walter]

3. "And don't slam the door on your way out!"

Maybe Castleman could get a food truck, and travel from one GQP event to the next, spreading disentary along with his main course: dissent.

[Aristus]

19. I doubt he wants to work that hard.

Food trucks are subject to nearly-crippling sanitary regulations (deliberately put in place by lobbyists for the Restaurant Owners Association).

So, the upside is, any food you get from a compliant food truck is likely to be fresh, delicious, and sanitary.

The downside is, people who dislike having to follow health and safety regulations, like this guy, aren't going to want to work a food truck.

[TexasTowelie]

4. The new owner wasn't fiddling around. nt

[Harker]

21. All fern nought. n/t

[DemocraticPatriot]

29. Business... is business.

And the anti-masker is out of business.

[Initech]

5. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!

[Hekate]

6. I'm searching inside myself for a shred of sympathy for this bozo....

Uh, nope. None there.

[Fritz Walter]

22. Schadenfreude...

...ist die schönste Freude, denn sie kommt von Herzen.
Translation: "Schadenfreude is the most beautiful/sublime joy, because it comes from the heart."

[7wo7rees]

7. "Controversial" signage

$5 Fee Added To Orders Placed While Wearing a Mask
An Additional $5 Fee will Be Added If You Are Caught Bragging About Your Vaccine

While the proceeds were to go to a local domestic abuse shelter, the owner said, "It's about time that the proponents of these ineffective government measures start paying for the collateral damage they have collectively caused."

The shelter did not comment.

[PsakiPswirli]

8. DeSantis lite

Cruise ships fined $5,000 per incident if asking passengers if they are vaccinated. What could go wrong?

[johnp3907]

9. I was hoping this would be about the Crack'd Egg in Pittsburgh.

It’s owner is a Deplorable.

[hatrack]

10. Huh. A hateful, ignorant dick just sat down to a big plate of consequences.

Fuck this guy.

[cos dem]

11. Sounds to me like the "free market" at work.

[3catwoman3]

18. Or the "freedumb"...

…market.

[Caliman73]

12. Okay, either poor reporting or Castleman is lying.

I am more prone to accept that Castleman is lying.

The story says the lease, "was canceled in June without explanation" then the story says that Castleman was in talks to extend the lease but refused to sign the contract which basically asked him to not hurt the other businesses in the building by continuing to be an asshole. Sounds like that was the reason right there.

He's an asshole, the new owners know that he is bad for business, they wanted to make sure that he was not hurting their investment, so they gave specific rules and he said "no".

I guess Castleman should buy his own building so that he can act like an asshole, with no one to answer for but himself.

[pwb]

13. Who would say hey let's stop there?

He ruined his business with his policy is more like what really happened.

[IronLionZion]

14. While other businesses are getting tons more customers

I haven't had extra fees tacked on but I have had clerks say it's hard to understand people speaking through masks, which is understandable.

I saw an article where conservative coffee shops have become a thing in Trumpy areas where they want to avoid liberals.

[Pinback]

27. Oh well -- guess I'll learn to live without

Folgers poured beneath a TV blaring Fox!

[SoCalNative]

15. Good

Let them go to Texas and run their virus cafe

[Warpy]

16. Chances are this would be happening even if he wasn't an ignorant jerk

When buildings get sold, the new owners look at "underperforming" spaces, knowing they can turn these over to some other business ready to pay more for the location. Or they're developers who cancel leases and jack up interim rents to the confiscatory level to empty the building prior to razing it.

At least in the short term, there will be one less health menace in Mendocino County.

[Generic Brad]

17. Freedom of speech comes with consequences

Too bad some folks think it’s a license for them to be obnoxious and not be held to account.

[Bristlecone]

20. As predicted by many here just a few short months ago

The guy is shitty at business and life.

[Xavier Breath]

23. Oh, it's just a lease issue?

I had assumed the owner had fallen off the edge of the earth. That's a relief.

[deurbano]

24. I'm sure he will ratchet up the right-wing grievance machine to cash out via Go Fund Me or some

other grift.

[11 Bravo]

25. Awww. Now the morons will have to find someplace else to infect each other.

[SunImp]

26. be anti woke, go broke

[Blue Owl]

28. Too bad. so... SAD!