A vegan restaurateur who announced he was going to have to start serving meat to avoid closure says vegan “fanatics” have bombarded his cafe with bad reviews to try to punish him.
Adonis Norouznia, the owner of Nomas Gastrobar in Macclesfield, said “fanatics” had begun “defame” him with one-star reviews since he announced the “difficult but necessary decision” to add meat and dairy to his plant-based menu.
Norouznia, who is from Athens, said he planned to add a “thoughtfully curated selection of high quality, responsibly sourced meat and dairy options” in the coming weeks in order to stay afloat.
“The limitations of our vegan menu, at times, meant we welcomed only a small number of customers, making it increasingly difficult to thrive financially,” he explained in an apologetic Facebook post last week.
In a fortnight pork yeero (gyros) kebab will be added to the menu, along with a Greek salad made with feta rather than coconut-based cheese.
Norouznia, who opened the cafe in May 2020, said he was “spending a lot of money” to upgrade the extractor fan so the smell of roast pig did not put his existing clients off their tofu scrambles.
He said his was the fourth vegan restaurant in Macclesfield to cave in to meat eaters during the seven years he has lived there. “When my business is 100% vegan, I’m targeting only 5% of the market,” he lamented.
Many customers have supported his decision to cater for meat eaters, he said. “A lot of customers had been asking for it and when we announced it they said: ‘great, now I can bring my partner’.”
But others – who Norouzina believes have never even visited the cafe – have started leaving one-star reviews online. One left on Thursday read: “Deserves zero stars. Zero ethics and lapping up the media attention by becoming involved in animal exploitation and cruelty.”
He has also received hateful messages, he claimed. “They say: ‘die! 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. We’re just going to add a few dishes for the rest of the people who are not vegan.”
Norouznia described his critics as “extreme fanatics” who are trying to harm the business with bad reviews, “trying to defame me”.
He begged for a little more understanding: “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.”
Until he made the announcement, “99% of my customers were happy” and he had just one bad review from more than 300, he said.
Many plant-based restaurants are struggling in an increasingly tough market. Last month Greens, a vegetarian eatery in Didsbury, south Manchester, which used to boast about “terrifying carnivores”, closed after 33 years. The owner, celebrity chef Simon Rimmer, blamed a 35% rent increase, coupled with rising staff and ingredient costs.
