Second Cup dumps Jewish General Hospital franchisee over video with ‘hateful remarks’

MONTREAL — Second Cup Canada is cutting ties with a franchisee operating at Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital who was allegedly filmed making hateful and antisemitic comments during a protest in the city last week.

Second Cup Canada announced Saturday it was cutting ties with a franchisee for “making hateful remarks and gestures,” and adding in a statement the actions breach the franchise agreement as well as inclusion and community values ​​held by the chain.

Peter Mammas, CEO of Montreal-based Foodtastic, which owns Second Cup Canada, said in an interview on Sunday that he was at the movies when his phone started pinging non-stop. He saw the videos and the company’s operations staff spoke to employees that knew the woman, and they confirmed it was indeed the franchisee.

Video shot during a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside of Concordia University’s downtown Montreal campus Thursday shows a woman walking around, masked, saying the “final solution is coming your way” — wording used to describe a Nazi plan to eliminate Jews in Europe during the Second World War.

Another video also shows what appears to be the same woman, unmasked, making a Nazi salute while walking away.

“We’re all for free speech and respectful conversations, but this wasn’t that,” Mammas said. “This was hate speech, and it was something that we thought could incite violence and we’re completely against that, so we sat down with our team and decided to revoke the franchise agreement.”

Attempts to reach the franchisee were unsuccessful on Sunday.

“Second Cup has zero tolerance for hate speech,” the coffee chain said in a statement on X. “In co-ordination with the hospital, we’ve shut down the franchisee’s café and are terminating their franchise agreement.”

Mammas said lawyers for the franchisee and Second Cup were expected to meet on Monday.

The regional health agency serving West-Central Montreal, which includes the Jewish General Hospital, said it was made aware of the video “containing antisemitic and hateful messaging.”

The video is related to a franchisee of Second Cup, one of the private tenants operating within the (Jewish General), Carl Thériault, a spokesman, said in a statement on Sunday.

“We fully support Second Cup’s decision to take swift and decisive action in this matter by shutting down the franchisee’s cafés and terminating their lease agreement.”

The hospital has two locations operated by the same franchisee and both were shuttered on Saturday by the owners of the chain.

The health agency “is committed to fostering a culture of inclusion and stands firmly against antisemitism and any other form of discrimination or hate speech,” Thériault said.

“We have franchisees who are Muslim, we have franchisees who are Jewish, we have franchisees that are Greek, French, we have employees from all different nations,” Mammas said. “So we definitely have no issue with that and we don’t take any political side, but … hate speech … you know we can’t accept that.”

The coffee chain said in another post on X that it would retain the café’s staff and continue to pay them “until the location at the Jewish General Hospital reopens under new management.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 24, 2024.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press