Karen's Diners are a Terrible Idea
“Staff who work at Karen's Diners should be performers who serve food, not servers who are told ‘just be a d*ck’ to the customers.”
Infamous Karen’s Diners are popping up across the US and Australia, as well as one planned for a short stay in Glasgow. Some are franchised and some not. To most, they feel like the embodiment of the British attitude to the ideal dining experience, results across the nations may vary of course.
The appeal of a Karen's Diner is the ability to have playful argumentative banter with a rude server while knowing that it’s not real, you’re paying for the experience of bad service, not actual bad service. Know what I mean?
This has led to scenarios where guests are not getting rude service but harsh verbal abuse and body shaming. A man in Brisbane's Karen’s Diner appeared on Tik Tok reacting angrily when the staff reportedly made fun of his hairline. While in his rage, he pointed out there was a sign outside stating ‘body shaming, racist, sexist or homophobic jokes' were not tolerated. He then went on to body shame the staff himself. This same diner has had other instances when staff have taken the brief ‘be rude to customers’ too far. This included a staff member telling one diner she looked 'bulimic'.
In Sheffield, a 'Karen's Kids Club' sells itself on kids having a cheap meal and a mocktail, while their parents are roasted by staff. This establishment has come under criticism after kids were ‘sworn at’. As they pop up around the world, this trend seems to continue with staff overstepping their mark.
It’s easy to dismiss this as guests being too soft or that they should have known what they were getting into. I mean what did they expect? If they didn’t want this kind of treatment they shouldn’t have come. It’s fair to want the fun, sassy or rude service without the threat of getting comments about your appearance. You wouldn’t go to a Disney Villains themed restaurant and expect an actual poisoned apple from an old lady for dessert. I mean what did you expect? They are villains for a reason. Visitors to the diners want the fun not the threat.
The clear reason for these recurring issues is the staff, should they prioritise experience or hospitality first? The theme park term is ‘cast member’. This is where performers get trained to deliver a certain experience while also providing some other function, like operating a ride, telling a story or serving food.
The way to solve this is to think about experience first, service second, (something that shouldn't be an issue if the selling point is bad service anyway). If you hire people whose primary work experience is serving food and then expect them to deliver a specific improvised character as well, that’s not fair on them. Of course they’re going to make mistakes and step over the line. As for ‘roasting guests’ the idea of a roast is to, from a place of appreciation or respect, take the p*ss out of someone in a funny way. Any comedian will tell you this is not easy and just making fun of someone for their appearance will not cut it. Again, it is unfair to expect someone whose main experience is as a server to do this well.
I’ve worked at a tourist attraction where the guests come to have a scary, unpleasant but fun experience and learn about history. All the cast-members dressed up in horrid costumes with horror-movie makeup. They were fantastic performers who were able to blend the Horrible History style ‘here’s a guy with the Plague' schtick with humour and guest safety in mind. It can be done but it takes work and casting the right people. Staff who work at Karen's Diners should be performers who serve food, not servers who are briefed to ‘be a d*ck’ to the customers’, it’s not that simple.
The whole idea of Karen's Diner where the staff are rude doesn't make sense in the first place. A ‘Karen’ experience is a person who is rude to staff over a minor or non-existent inconvenience that staff have to deal with. It’s not the workers who are deemed the rude ones. So how do we come to this being the commercialised narrative? It’s all the work of Big Karen if you ask me, trying to change the script so they are portrayed as the hero.
Themed dining experiences are not new but they are rarely successful. When’s the last time you went to a Planet Hollywood? They don't often succeed because they’re so expensive to run and get right. In the case of Planet Hollywood, most people went so they could say they saw a signed picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger on the wall and never went back. Successful restaurants stick around because they have good food and a good reputation. Themed joints are either a flash in the pan or ego projects for the rich and famous. I’m looking at you ‘Dive!’, a nautically-themed restaurant created by film director and producer, Steven Spielberg.
Is there an exception to the rule? We can’t talk about rude dining experiences and not mention The Wiener's Circle. A hot dog stand in Chicago that by day is a regular windy city hotdog place. But by night,it is famed for its hostile-friendly atmosphere among staff and guests where if you can’t hold your own, you are chewed up and spat back out. Oh, and you better leave a tip. There’s something about the Wiener experience that seems more authentic than whatever the Karen's Diners are trying to achieve. A more raw experience that has a bit of history and real grit, not a pretend puffed out chest just in it for a quick buck.