The American founders of Australian restaurant chain Guzman Y Gomez have admitted that the history behind the iconic Mexican fast-food brand was “completely fabricated.” So if Guzman and Gomez aren’t real, how deep does this conspiracy go? And just how shameless is the cultural appropriation? As it turns out: very.
Steven Marks and Robert Hazan founded Guzman Y Gomez (GYG) in Sydney in 2006, which has since then become a prominent face in the Australian fast-food competition.
However, in their attempt to boost the chain’s presence in the American market with a new store in Illinois the two have bitten a burrito far spicier than they could handle, and now find themselves in a $152 million lawsuit from American fast food execs and consultants.
The executives leading the case have alleged that Marks was “prejudiced against individuals over 40,” which was shown when he said at the Illinois store opening he was happy to serve older customers, “but I want to see young people in the restaurant.”
As well as other discriminatory comments allegedly made by a member of the GYG marketing team regarding the weight of some customers, the filing against Marks predominantly alleged he believed members of the consultancy team over the age of 40 lacked “the energy to take the brand to the next level.”
And while accusations of ageism are interesting — of course they’re the problem a bunch of American executives have. TBH feels very much like a case of people being scared of the phrase “okay Boomer”.
While the lawsuit was settled for $1.5 million, there were still some spicy drops from the case filings.
Particularly in relation to the weird racially-dubious backstory of the ‘Mexican’ food chain.
It should almost come as no surprise that the restaurant started by two white Americans in Sydney in 2006, is not authentically Mexican.
Statements from the filings against Marks read: “Mr Marks ultimately admitted that the entire story behind the history of GYG’s brand and logo was completely fabricated and false.”
On the ‘About Us’ section of GYG’s website, it creates a rich lore where Marks and Hazan were “childhood best friends” who both “missed the authentic fresh flavours of Mexican cuisine that they had grown up with in America.”
It also alleges that Marks and Hazan “decided to create their own restaurant named Guzman Y Gomez to honour their childhood friends,” which have been historically assumed to be the identities of Mr Guzman and Mr Gomez.
Except get this: they don’t fuckin’ exist. They never did.
“The names ‘Guzman’ and ‘Gomez’ were completely fabricated for marketing benefit,” state the findings.
This is extremely devastating to us at the PEDESTRIAN.TV team who have previously tried to determine if Guzman or Gomez would be a better root.
Additionally it poked glaring holes in other parts of Marks’ backstory with Hazan: “He never met his partner in New York; the names and images used were not based on his purported Mexican friends as a young child who inspired his love of Mexican cuisine; he never ate dinner at the home of a Mexican family; the images used by GYG US were simply drawings created to culturally appropriate Mexican cuisine solely for a marketing benefit in Australia.”
So basically, these executives have alleged that the GYG founders reckon Australia was a pretty decent place to set up an authentic Mexican restaurant, without any racial authenticity or autonomy, because nobody would care.
But you know what’s more disappointing than them thinking they could get away with it? The fact they did.
Australia may not be great for much, but we are great at turning a blind eye to cultural appropriation. And smashing down burritos.
[Image credit: Guzman Y Gomez/Instagram]
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