Kentucky restaurant: trade Trump gear for free meal
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky restaurant is offering free food for Donald Trump supporters in what the owners say is an attempt to extend an olive branch following Presidentelect Joe Biden's win in the 2020 election.
The only catch? Customers needed to trade in their Trump merchandise — flags, T- shirts, hats — to get the free entrée, side and drink at Pollo – A Gourmet Chicken Joint in Louisville.
Owners Troy King and Selena Johnson, who are open about their support of Biden's campaign, posted the promotion on Facebook after Biden and Kamala Harris' win was called Saturday.
“Once I had seen that Biden was the confirmed winner, I thought, all right, we got that part, but we've still got to figure out how to come together,” King said. “It's not going to make a difference to have Biden as president if we don't work together.”
So, King came up with the idea to exchange free food for the now “useless Trump merchandise” and decided with Johnson to post about it on their restaurant's Facebook account.
Some commenters applauded the idea, with one saying he wished he were a Trump supporter so he could get the free food, while others said they would no longer go to the restaurant because of it.
King said he knew the promotion “might ruffle some feathers,” but it was intended to be “a sincere olive branch.”
Sunday morning, though, someone called King and threatened him to take down the post “or something bad would happen,” he said.
Instead, King decided to offer the promotion at his second restaurant, Six Forks Burger Co., and extended it through the rest of the month.
If a Trump supporter does decide to take up the offer — and nobody had as of Monday — King said he has instructed his employees not to make them feel bad about it.
“I don't want anything negative to come from what we're doing,” King said.
Johnson said she would love for someone to come in while she or her husband are there so they can sit down and have a conversation.
“I think the country feels so divided,” she said. “At the end of the day, we all just want the best.”
King hasn't decided what he would do with the merchandise if anyone responds to the offer. A few Facebook commenters suggested burning it, but King said he's not going to do that.
“This is a way for us to be all fun and bring some lighthearted comedy back to this, because we've had to be so pins and needles and serious for so long,” King said. “Why can't we laugh together?”