Vegan ban threatened by Cornwall chef after he prepared special meal and guests cancelled

The chefs want to ensure that cancellations don't cost them

Restaurants want to ban vegans over cancellations (Getty/iStockphoto)

A chef suggested a ban on vegans and other restaurants are considering following suit - after hours spent cooking vegan meals were wasted as a result of last-minute cancellations.

The High Tide Seafood restaurant in St Agnes was the first restaurant to raise such a ban after the chefs were “stung” several times when preparing vegan dishes for vegan clients who never showed up.

However, the restaurant later insisted the tweet as “chef’s banter,” - but the “no vegan” policy is catching on.

Ken Symonds, a restaurateur in Falmouth, said he is also considering the ban for his restaurant Olivers.

Symonds tweeted his dismay with vegans after he spent an entire morning preparing a meal for a reservation of six vegans - who then cancelled the day of.

He wrote: “Beautiful vegan menu for my table of six vegans, been working on it all morning, four of each starters/main courses and puddings, just cancelled on me."

According to Cornwall Live, multiple chefs think the vegan ban, or a similar ban on dietary requirement customers, would be a good idea - and protect them from cancellations.

However, vegans are not pleased with Symond’s announcement - or the insinuation that they are the only ones who cancel reservations.

One person sarcastically tweeted in response: “Obviously non-vegans have NEVER EVER cancelled a meal booking. Or does he ban them too? What an utter knobhead this guy is. All the more cash for those who aren’t.”

Another said: “Maybe if vegan options were on the regular menu, he wouldn’t have needed to create a whole different menu.”

And others felt the situation was just another excuse to insult vegans, writing: “Any excuse for some vegan bashing…”

Despite the backlash, Symonds and other chefs are faced with a very real concern of cancellations and the money loss that results.

Due to this, many chefs have considered implementing deposits for diners, similar to those charged at hundreds of other restaurants.

This way, in the case of a cancellation, the restaurants wouldn’t suffer as much.

While cancellation policies are one thing, a ban on vegans seems to be a step too far.