Headquarters bar in Auckland apologises after rant at vegan's food request

Headquarters bar, Viaduct Basin, Auckland. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Auckland bar Headquarters, which was criticised earlier this week for a mocking message sent to a vegan customer, has apologised for the incident, telling vegans they are "welcome" at the popular venue.

The successful yet controversial Auckland bar sent the strongly-worded message to a customer who asked whether the bar had vegan options.

The woman, who wished to remain anonymous, messaged HeadQuarters Viaduct on Facebook, inquiring about the menu.

But instead of receiving a simple yes or no response, the bar instead mocked the customer and unleashed an attack on vegans.

Headquarters apologised today in a statement posted to Facebook, writing: "Earlier this week a senior member of staff decided to humour a reasonable request from a vegan, mimicking the boss who's abroad, thinking that it'd be ok on the basis that if the boss regularly takes the piss he could do it too."

"HQ isn't anti vegan (we're not anti anything) , granted we don't really cater for that group, but we try with the limited menu options we have, and we will continue to try to offer more vegan options if they fit our model."

Headquarters revealed that they are dealing with staff member concerned, stating: "The member of staff has been spoken to and we're seeking advice on how to deal with this breach, bearing in mind that he only thought he was being funny and didn't mean to target specific individuals."

They also offered an olive branch to the vegan community, saying: "The bottom line is it won't happen again so rest easy vegans, you're welcome at HQ."

In images obtained earlier this week by the Herald, the bar said they offered up "cardboard" and a three-course meal of water and said they could serve up pet food to patrons.

"We do a very nice lime in water, a small glass as an entree, a jug for a main [frozen if you like solids] with a gorgeous H2O sauce," the HeadQuarters page wrote in response.

The original message. Photo / Supplied

"Other than that we can offer the menu, it's cardboard, should taste like 97 per cent of vegan food, you could eat that maybe.

"We'll cut in three if you'd like three courses.

"Or we have two pet rabbits, pie and stew, you could have some of their nuts and lettuce. Let us know [BTW it's all carbon neutral food]."

"Can someone lock up the f**king chimpanzee, he's on Facebook again pretending he works here."

Despite the rant, HeadQuarters owner Leo Molloy told Newshub they're "not set up to cater to vegans" but would "cater to them" if one came into the restaurant.

The customer, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the Herald the response left her speechless.

"I was so shocked. I was pretty disgusted that someone would say that."

A number of Auckland vegans took to Facebook to hit out at the bar, with many saying they'll boycott the restaurant.

"What a s**tty business. We definitely won't ever go here," one said.

Another wrote: "Stuff like this makes me so angry, and stops me from going places like that, so while they may think they are 'hilarious' they aren't just impacting vegans, they are also losing business from people who are not vegan as well."

It's not the first time HeadQuarters has been in the spotlight.

HeadQuarters Viaduct owner Leo Molloy [left], seen here with Hone Harawira. Photo / Norrie Montgomery

In May, high-profile owner Molloy caused a stir describing rival restaurants as hangouts for "old white people", "girls with flappy lips" and "young mums in active wear with screaming babies".

He also took to social media in June to bag a rival venue, attacking Sky City's Sugar Club calling it a "god awful restaurant" and claiming the consortium it belongs to survives off gambling profits.

"When you live in a city that demands a certain amount of wankerage (new word) if you are to make an impression you tend to develop a certain tolerance for posers and tossers, even those from Ponsonby and Grey Lynn.

"But surely this tripe from The Sugar Club exceeds all reasonable levels of 'self pleasuring' and should come with an obligatory box of tissues."

Molloy told the Herald he was just "saying the truth, as I always do".