Pho goodness sake, restaurant name dispute heats up New Hampshire town

FACEBOOK

The pho restaurant with the controversial name is next door to Keene's city hall.

ASAM NEWS

THE OWNER of a pho restaurant in New Hampshire is being forced to reconsider the “offensive” name of her restaurant, according to Thrillist.

Pho Keene Great, a French-Vietnamese restaurant, plans to open in Keene, New Hampshire on March 1. It will be located in a publicly owned building adjacent to the town’s city hall. Isabelle Jolie, the restaurant’s owner, placed a sign in the window on December 21 to announce the upcoming opening.

The Keene Sentinel reports that the morning after Jolie placed the sign, city officials asked her to remove it. Jolie wrote, in a Facebook message, that City Manager Elizabeth A. Dragon asked her to remove the sign due to a contract violation and “a concern about the appropriateness of the ‘intended play on words’ on a city building.”

Dragon told The Keene Sentinel that businesses who lease through the city are required to get permission from the city before putting up signs. Jolie’s sign violated the contract she had with the city.

Dragon says that the city is not attempting to disrupt Jolie’s business. She even praised Jolie, calling the name of the restaurant a “clever marketing strategy.”

“We really do want them to be successful,” Dragon told The Keene Sentinel. “I’m personally looking forward to frequenting her restaurant, but I do want to have a conversation with her about the sign and make sure that we are all comfortable moving forward.”

Jolie has removed the sign and says the restaurant wants to work with the city. However, she has no intention of changing the restaurant’s name. She argues that if pho is pronounced with the proper inflection as if one is asking a question, the name should not sound offensive.

Regardless of how the name is pronounced, Jolie says it is still protected by the First Amendment. She also believes that calling the name offensive is discriminatory. (Say it fast and use the correct pronunciation of pho as "fuh.")

“It is discriminatory to say that a Vietnamese word, a popular food item combined with the name of our city is considered offensive,” Jolie wrote in her Facebook message.

The restaurant also claims that they notified Dragon about the name on February 21, 2018 and received no objections. The business contract, which had the name on it, was ratified in April 2018.

Jolie and Dragon are scheduled to meet on January 11, but Jolie hopes to postpone the meeting to early February, according to Thrillist. Jolie requested the postponement after noting that a city lawyer would be at the meeting. She wrote on the restaurant’s Facebook page that the postponement would allow them to obtain further legal advice and allow all members of the restaurant’s team to be present.

The restaurant has posted more information about the events on their Facebook page. Those who wish to further support the restaurant can like the page or buy a Pho Keene Great T-shirt.

_____________________________________________________________________________