As the American left attempts to force its ideology on every part of the country, many businesses have been embracing wokeness in an attempt to stay in their good graces. Yet as every business will inevitably learn, no level of wokeness will ever be enough to please the most radical progressives.
A coffee shop in Philadelphia learned this lesson sooner than expected over the last couple of weeks.
According to The Daily Wire, Mina’s World coffee shop was forced to shut its doors after a group of employees revolted against the owners. While a small business closing is not a rare occurrence in Biden’s America, it was the speed and magnitude of the store’s downfall that were surprising.
Less than two years ago, food and entertainment magazine Bon Appetit wrote a glowing review of Mina’s World.
“Mina’s World is about more than just drinks and decor,” the outlet wrote. “It seeks to be an alternate kind of coffee shop in Philly: One that pays its employees fairly, has black and brown employees in managerial positions, prioritizes ethical sourcing when it comes to its coffee beans and never turns away a customer.”
In an interview for the same article, co-owner Sonam Parikh bragged about the business’ commitment to leftism, and she said it would put them above competitors.
“I have worked in coffee since I was 18,” Parikh said. “Most of the workplaces were really toxic in the sense that the workers were not being paid well and the white ownership neglected to protect their black and trans employees. I knew there needed to be a space where you could have an amazingly made cup of coffee that’s not whitewashed.”
Considering Starbucks is one of the most woke businesses in the country, it would seem there were spaces for leftists to get their “non-whitewashed” coffee about every other block in a large city like Philadelphia. Nonetheless, Mina’s World was committed to its mission.
Fast forward to June, and things started to look a lot bleaker for the woke coffee shop. In an Instagram post from an account named mwworkers, a group of employees from Mina’s World outlined their allegations against Parikh and her co-owner, Kate Egghart.
“Workers at Mina’s World have long been in a labor rights struggle with owners Kate and Sonam for well over a year,” the group said. “We are facing systemic employer opposition, manipulation, abuse of power, exploitation, anti-blackness, ableism, hostility and complete disregard for our livelihoods.”
Ironically, these allegations are exactly the type of behavior Parikh promised to avoid. A list of grievances later in the post also accused Mina’s World of “lack of financial transparency” and “tokenization as way to appear safe by association.”
However, arguably the most shocking part of the post was the list of demands the workers issued to the owners. They demanded the owners admit to causing them harm, issue “immediate payment to staff that have had payment withheld including back pay,” and “redistribute the business and begin the process of transforming the business into a Co-operative.”
Finally, the workers said there was a third owner named Eunjoo Egghart, Kate’s mother. They said she owned the building Mina’s World was housed in, as well as 18 percent of the business itself.
In a since-deleted video posted to Instagram, Sonam Parikh and Kate Egghart met the first demand on the workers’ list by issuing self-deprecating statements.
“We’re going live as part of a radical accountability process,” Egghart said. “We are complicit in the gentrification and anti-blackness on 52nd street. We’ve put our community at risk with our presence, as well as our workers.”
UPDATE: They deleted the hostage style video from Instagram which I embedded in the article. I always keep backups :) pic.twitter.com/3H2DHGPHrt
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 6, 2022
Merriam-Webster defines gentrification as “a process in which a poor area (as of a city) experiences an influx of middle-class or wealthy people who renovate and rebuild homes and businesses and which often results in an increase in property values and the displacement of earlier, usually poorer residents.”
In other words, the owners were essentially apologizing for running a successful business that helped increase the value of the surrounding area. If that sounds ridiculous, that’s because it is.
Egghart also said she and Parikh were attempting to meet the workers’ demand to redistribute the business.
“With the guidance of the workers and Black and Brown Workers Collective, we are trying to raise funds to buy the business and turn it over to our staff,” Egghart said.
The workers started a GoFundMe page with the goal of raising $200,000 to buy the building and the portion of the business they said was owned by Eunjoo Egghart. But on July 2, Mina’s World announced in an Instagram post it was closed due to a lack of money.
Even though the owners of Mina’s World attempted to cater to the woke, the woke still turned on them and attempted to take over the business. The whole saga ultimately resulted in another failed venture, which is the inevitable result of catering to the far left.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
