Top Chef alum Mark Simmons is reminding his customers that immigrants are key to both America and their dining experience.
Simmons, who runs Kiwiana restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, has been printing a political message on his customer’s receipts. A line at the bottom now reads, “Immigrants make America great (they also cooked your food and served you today).” NBC News contributor Mary Emily O’Hara tweeted a photo of her Kiwiana receipt, and the image racked up nearly 100,000 Retweets over two days.
Breakfast in Brooklyn pic.twitter.com/JHEtfJhqPO
— Mary Emily O'Hara (@MaryEmilyOHara) February 5, 2017
“We were just looking for a place that wouldn’t have a long wait, and gave it a shot,” she told CNN. “When the check came I was surprised to see the statement at the bottom.”
Simmons came in ninth in the fourth season of Bravo’s Top Chef. As one could probably gather, he told the New York blog DNAinfo that he added the note in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order to bar refugees and visitors from seven majority-Muslim countries.
“I added that message to the bottom of the receipts recently, to remind ourselves [and] our customers that immigrants are quite often the backbone of the hospitality industry,” Simmons said.