An Atlanta restaurant owner said homeless people can buy food at his establishment – but they aren’t allowed to sit down and eat.
One woman said she found out about this policy after she offered to buy breakfast for a homeless man on a freezing morning downtown.
“I was at a loss for words and I think I stood there for a whole minute … while trying to process exactly what (the restaurant owner) was saying,” said Suzanne Wooley. “I was just like, ‘this is so wrong.’”
Wooley said she walks down Marietta Street on her way to work and often passes by a homeless man. She regularly buys food at Michael’s Café on the first floor of an office building directly across the street from Georgia government state offices.
She said she asked the homeless man to join her for breakfast on Wednesday and told him he could have whatever he wanted – because she was buying.
“And this guy behind the register just said, ‘to go.’ I said, ‘no, he’s going to eat here, get warm, eat the food and then go on his way.’ He just started shaking his head and he’s like, ‘no, no, he can’t eat here,’” said Wooley. “I was like, ‘what do you mean he can’t eat here? I just bought breakfast for him.’”
The owner of Mike’s Café told 11Alive he remembered the conversation – and specifically, the man’s order for hotcakes. He didn’t want to talk on camera but said he decided to change his policy about homeless people inside his restaurant after receiving complaints from customers.
They’ve complained that homeless people hold up tables in the restaurant. Now, the owner said they are welcome to buy food at Michael’s Café, but they can’t stay to eat it.
“I said, ‘if I sit here and eat breakfast with him, is that okay?’ And he said, ‘no, he has to leave,’” Wooley said. “It really has bothered me all day long.”
Not wanting to cause a scene, the man Wooley was trying to help told her it was okay. He took the food she paid for and they went their separate ways. Wooley said she understands the sentiment behind the owner’s policy, but doesn’t agree with it.
“Every person’s money is just as good as the next person’s. If I can sit there after I’ve paid and I ordered food from him, anybody who orders food should be able to sit down and have a nice meal, or have a nice warm place to sit down while they drink a cup of coffee,” Wooley said.
After years of buying food from Michael’s Café – Wooley said she won’t be returning for her daily breakfast.