Red Hen Restaurants Suffering After Virginia Restaurant Refused Service To Sarah Huckabee Sanders

A Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Virginia refused service to Sarah Huckabee Sanders last week, and other restaurants with the same or similar names have felt the heat since the headline-making snub.

Inquisitr reported that the Red Hen restaurant in Virginia that refused to serve the White House Press Secretary experienced a rash of Yelp reviews, which caused the site to have to review them and remove the ones that violated the site’s review standards. However, according to a Fox News report, other restaurants with similar names are also experiencing issues related to the Red Hen’s refusal to serve Sarah Sanders and her family.

Michael Friedman, the owner of a restaurant named The Red Hen in Washington DC, experienced a lot of blowback from the controversy as well. He tried to put a stop to it early on by posting a clear explanation on his eateries’ social media accounts that they were not the same chain as the one in Virginia.

He wrote, “Good morning! The Press Secretary was at the unaffiliated Red Hen in Lexington VA last night, not at this restaurant. un·af·fil·i·at·ed (adjective) not officially attached to or connected with an organization or group. Businesses located in Washington DC are prohibited from discriminating against anyone because of their political affiliation:ohr.dc.gov/protectedtraits.”

https://www.facebook.com/TheRedHenDc/posts/1270539609746044

Despite that, according to Freidman, people actually called his Italian-influenced restaurants threatening them.

“It was a bit of an interesting day yesterday. There were so many negative comments floating in on social media and people calling up my restaurants to threaten us.”

Scarily, somebody actually called and threatened to blow up one of his restaurants over the incident, which his eateries had absolutely no affiliation with in any way. In fact, he said they serve every person who walks through the door no matter what.

A Swedesboro, New Jersey restaurant named The Red Hen also received plenty of phone calls and negative Facebook ratings in response to the Red Hen in Virginia refusing to serve the Press Secretary. The New Jersey restaurant also took to social media in an attempt to rectify the situation. The eatery’s Facebook page had a message that stated it is not affiliated with the Virginia Red Hen. The post also asked reviewers to please check their facts before defaming the independent, family-owned business in error.

https://www.facebook.com/theredhen.info/posts/1443107845790337

The Lexington, Virginia Red Hen co-owner Stephanie Wilkinson refused to provide service for moral reasons. However, these other restaurants certainly felt the brunt of her decision through no fault of their own.