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Known for its vegan-friendly dishes, a gluten- and dairy-free restaurant in New Jersey has come under scrutiny for changing its menu to introduce more protein.
Goodbeet in Haddon Township introduced local, organic, pasture-raised chicken and wild-caught, Jail Island salmon to its menu two months ago.
Michael Hughes, the front-of-house manager, has worked at Goodbeet for seven years. He told Fox News Digital that adding the new items was a business decision.
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"My boss is pretty on top of market trends… so she's been following what popular vegan restaurants have been changing and how they're staying afloat," said Hughes.
"It's not something we were eager to do, but it was something that we thought we had to do to stay open."
The change sparked outrage among some people.
Some animal-rights supporters posted numerous negative messages on social-media accounts, with certain customers even choosing to boycott the shop.
"There's no way you can serve the flesh and secretions of the innocent animals and still respect their rights," said one person on Instagram.
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Another user wrote, "You have failed the vegan community - a community [that] is based on the selfless ethos that we should not exploit animals."
The same person added, "You could've [stood] for something. You could've [stood] for the powerless, the most exploited beings [on] the planet. But instead, you made a business decision."
"Slaughterhouse supporters," commented yet another person.
While the restaurant is known for its vegan offerings, Goodbeet has never called itself a fully vegan restaurant, said its staff, but has instead been known as a gluten- and dairy-free spot.
"We were really trying our best to let [customers] know that we really do hear you, but … some of those comments were so hard to respond to because they were just hateful," said Hughes.
He added that the restaurant's intention was not to hurt people. Instead, it made the menu change to give existing customers a protein option and to bring in new customers.
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"We really do want to just get new people in to try our plant products," he said. "I do have a lot of customers that have been coming in for years that haven't requested chicken or salmon, and they don't have any inkling of it."
Hughes went on, "But once I've added it, you know, their partners are usually like, 'Yeah, I would love this with some chicken on the side.'"
"I do have a lot of vegan customers who are belief-based," said Hughes. "It really doesn't have anything to do with their diet, but they don't want to harm animals, and they don't agree with how it's done."
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He stressed that there's been a great deal of local support.
"A lot of people in the community have been coming in and just saying, 'We want to support [you].'"
If those who are bashing the restaurant decide to come back in six months, he said, the restaurant's team will "be here with open arms and will be happy to see them again."
Owner Ashley Coyne told FOX 29 she remains committed to providing healthy options for customers.
"Our food is legitimately healthy. No seed oils, no refined sugar. So, people do come here multiple times a week. It has definitely evolved over the years. And now, since we've added the chicken and the salmon, we are hoping to bring in a whole lot of new faces," she said.
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She also said rising costs in the restaurant industry for things such as labor, food and paper products contributed to her decision.
