State agents investigate 33 & Melt during rally
Patrons of a Windermere grilled cheese bar chanted “don’t shut her down” as state agents investigated possible violations of the state’s coronavirus restrictions during a “freedom rally” held there Saturday.
Video of the tense scene — recorded by anti-mask mandate activists who compared the scene to Nazi Germany — attracted national attention, the second time 33 & Melt had caused an uproar on social media in recent months. The event was billed by organizers as being held in a “mask free zone.”
Owner Carrie Hudson said about 30 patrons were inside the restaurant Saturday when two agents from the state’s division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco arrived. Under Phase 2 of the
state’s gradual reopening, restaurants are capped at 50% occupancy. Hudson’s restaurant is zoned to serve a maximum of 72 people.
The agents “issued an infraction notice and just repeated the governor’s orders, but they said I was fine with capacity,” she said. “I’ve got a very small place so it looks like more people than were actually there.”
Patrick R. Fargason, a spokesman for the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, said Monday the state had issued 33 & Melt a warning after visiting Saturday afternoon and finding it had “failed to comply with social distancing guidelines.”
Florida’s reopening plan does not require masks be worn inside a restaurant dining room, but does place limits on indoor capacity. Restaurants that don’t follow those limits or other coronavirus restrictions will receive an “immediate warning” and can also have their license suspended or limited, Fargason said in an email.
Hudson said she offered to serve up to 100 free meals at the event hosted by activist group Reopen Florida, which opposes “forced mask wearing, testing, contact tracing, and vaccines.”
A video posted by organizer and Orlando resident Tara Hill showed patrons not wearing masks and chanting, “Don’t shut her down,” as agents spoke to Hudson. In the video, Hill and fellow activist Chris Nelson of ReOpen South Florida accused the state agents of enforcing “tyranny.”
Hill likened the officers to “Gestapo” and Nelson compared their treatment of Hudson to “Nazi Germany.”
Hill said the Saturday event was originally intended to be a small dinner with friends in a “place where we would not be harassed for not masking up,” but then word spread and threats to file complaints with authorities followed, so the group turned it into a rally.
Under the county order, people are allowed to take off a mask while eating or drinking, but have to wear it as they enter establishments.
Hill said her group is not “anti-mask” but rather “freedom activists” and she supports the right to wear the face coverings.
“I stand where with the governor stands … who says that they should not be mandated but voluntary,” she said.
The weekend social media frenzy was the latest involving 33 & Melt. A statement posted on the business’ Facebook page in April announced that it was reopening before the state’s phased plan, prompting uproar.
“Not sure about you but we are over this,” the post read.
Hudson later attributed the message to a “rogue” staffer before removing it after the post garnered about 5,000 comments, many of them negative and some hostile. She said she’s been bombarded with hateful messages since then and some violent threats.
But on Sunday, she wrote on the restaurant’s Facebook page: “I will never back down and I love all my guests. If the media hadn’t mentioned Covid would you have known is was even a thing?”
More than 1,000 comments had been posted as of Monday afternoon in response.
“If you love all your guests why not follow recommended guidelines? I’m sure you’re a nice person with good intentions and I am sure this has taken a toll,” one man wrote. “For that, I am truly sorry. It’s still not an excuse to break mandates.”
Hudson told the Sentinel she is following the proper guidelines for capacity and will abide by the county mask ordinance.
“This was just simply a rally,” she said, “not something I’m going to be doing every day.”