Chew on this folks!

Dear Friends: As protest groups go, this one is rather strange. Forget P.E.T.A. folks, this group is rather rabid and I think it might be from eating red meat when nobodies looking! (OR, maybe they're just mean because they're always hungry!)

By Norman De Bono

A London restaurant owner believes vegan activists have targeted her, trolling the business online, vandalizing cars parked at the establishment and leaving a letter criticizing the business with its landlord, Thursday.

Jess Jazey Spoelstra, who owns four food businesses in the city, believes she is a victim of “eco-terrorism” after she offered vegetarian options at the Rhino Lounge in Museum London, but refused to bow to pressure to make it only vegan.

That pressure includes critical comments on her and the business’s Facebook pages, and leaving a negative review on Yelp, a restaurant review site.

“It’s bullying. They are trying to destroy my business,” said Spoelstra, who owns two restaurants and a catering business as well as the Rhino.

“We were trying to celebrate how innovative and great vegetarian food can be, but they swarmed me. It’s a mob mentality. They tried shaming.”

The irony is, while she wanted to offer vegetarian and vegan baked goods, she has now switched back to offerings with meat, such as pizza and even doughnuts with candied bacon, after the backlash.

“They were saying, ‘Ditch the dairy and you’re good, that poor mama and baby goats are separated.’ They were trying to harm my business in an unethical way.”

Activists also wrote vegan slogans with dry eraser on cars parked at Museum London where Rhino Lounge is located, including “pigs have moms too.”

The three page letter dropped off at the Museum Thursday, accused Spoelstra of “poor customer service,” and refusing customer requests.

Spoelstra has since had feedback from five other London restaurants that have also faced protests from vegans.


Glenn Whitehead, owner of three vegan Plant Matter restaurants in London, is sympathetic to both sides. He knows how tough it is to own and operate a restaurant, but also considers himself an animal activist.

“It is a pretty intense, passionate group and I watched the whole thing unfold in real time,” he said of the scrap.

He disagreed Spoelstra was “trolled,” saying both sides “dug in their heels” and the debate escalated.
“They are on the front lines, pushing for animal rights,” he said of local activists. “Patience does not come easily to them.”

A group of London activists recently have returned from seven- to 10-day training sessions in San Francisco on pushing forward on animal rights.

“They want to encourage people to support vegan options, that was the idea,” said Whitehead. “She could have just thanked them for the feedback, and it would go away. I do not support putting small business out of business.”

It all began several months ago, when Spoelstra began offering vegetarian options at Rhino Lounge, the bakery and cafe at Museum London.

That prompted online comments suggesting vegetarian was a good start, but she needed to ditch the cheese and dairy. When Rhino posted its offerings on Facebook including “a warm goat cheese and mushroom tart topped with arugula, and a warm sautéed veggie and goat cheese flat bread,” that prompted a response.

“Nuts for cheese is cruelty free. Please consider removing cheese from your menu. Moms and babies don’t have to die,” stated Becky Balogh Edgar.

“Do you know male chicks are macerated alive because they are worthless to the egg industry! Please don’t use animals.”

But that also spurred direct messages sent to Spoelstra, upping the debate.

“You include an item (cheese) that requires beings to be sexually abused and babies murdered!,” one person wrote.

Another poster noted, “You may think I’m annoying because I left a couple of messages on your social media asking you to ditch dairy or go vegan, but those who contribute to the dairy/meat/egg industries are the real bullies . . . . . I’m here for the animals and I hope one day you will be too.”

As for the Yelp review, on June 6 Olivia S. gave Rhino one star, writing “Awful food and service. Rude owner who I saw abuse a customer. Would not go here again.”

Spoelstra is quick to add she also has had feedback from vegans who are supportive, adding it is a few extremists who are acting out, and she has largely supported the movement.

“People are going out of their way to slander me,” she said of the Yelp review. “We do a lot in the community. We give a lot to charity. We don’t deserve to be attacked like this.”