A North Vancouver cafe owner says she is receiving an overwhelming amount of support from the community after a racist attack by a customer earlier this month.
Dooyi Kim, owner of Kim’s Café in Central Lonsdale, said the interaction started May 2 just after 4 p.m., when a customer picked up the wrong order during a food rush.
The customer returned an hour later, after the store was closed, and asked for a refund without returning the food. Kim first refused as it wasn’t her mistake and she had to fix the other customer’s order. But the interaction started to escalate.
“I will make sure none of my police friends come here,” the customer said in a surveillance video posted on Kim Café’s Instagram last week. “We will stop all business here.”
Kim relented and processed a refund. But the customer returned to the store, threatening to call government agencies to look into her immigration status.
“You are the business owner. It’s your responsibility. You should do like Starbucks,” the customer said in the video.
While walking out the door, the customer was swearing and saying other offensive comments.
“Go back to f— Korea where you belong,” the customer said. “Go back to your f— country.”
Kim said she’s had difficult customers before, but not like this.
“This situation was different because the customer was yelling very loudly, using racist comments and swearing at me. I honestly just stood there listening,” Kim said. “She was also someone who had come to the cafe before, so I stayed quiet. If it had been a stranger acting like that for the first time, maybe I would have said something back.”
After the interaction, Kim began to wonder if she handled the situation correctly, so she decided to post the video on Instagram asking for advice.
“To be honest, I don’t feel deeply hurt by it. At least she said it directly in front of me,” she added. “These days, there are so many people leaving anonymous hateful comments online, so I remember thinking, ‘She’ll probably just yell for a while and leave.’”
However, Kim didn’t expect the response from the community, both online and in-person. Customers flooded in to support and comfort her. Even other North Van businesses reached out, sending flowers, she said.
T&T Supermarket’s CEO Tina Lee also took notice. She announced on Instagram that between now and May 15, those who spend $20 at Kim’s Cafe and save the receipt can get a $10 coupon at Osaka Supermarket at Park Royal Mall in West Vancouver.
“Let’s surprise Dooyi this week and show her what real Canadian love looks like!” Lee wrote in the Instagram post.
Kim said she now gives many thanks to all those who have shared kindness since the incident. She said she's even seen an uptick in people ordering food.
“I really want to say thank you for all the kindness and support,” Kim said.
Although Kim hasn’t reported the incident, North Vancouver RCMP said police have seen the Instagram post and are looking into it.
