Restaurant staff walks off en masse after owner floats serving cocktail called 'The Negro': report

A group of restaurant employees all reportedly walked off the job recently after the establishment's owner allegedly said they would soon be serving cocktails with titles such as "The Caucasian" and "The Negro."

The Gettysburg Times reports that 16 employees at Mela Kitchen in Gettysburg walked off in disgust after their boss insisted that they serve drinks with racially charged nicknames.

Staff members who spoke with the Gettysburg Times say that they tried to work out a change to the cocktail names with owner Donald Hoffman, who refused to heed their pleas.

Former shift manager Madison Melton tells the publication that "The Caucasian" was to have been modeled on the white Russian cocktail and that Hoffman proposed calling it the "Redneck Russian" as an alternative name.

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Former server Emily Kate Hessler tells the publication that when employees went to Hoffman with their concerns about "The Caucasian" cocktail, he said they should "buckle up" because he planned to start serving a cocktail called "The Negro" the following week.

In the wake of the walkout, Mela Kitchen was closed for at least three straight days. In a since-deleted Facebook post cited by Gettysburg News, Hoffman insisted that he is not "a bigot" or "a racist" and cited his position serving on charity boards.