Man kicked out a group of pro-lifers from his cafe. Now his business is apparently flourishing
They did not want to honor the man's "choice"
In August, Kristan Hawkins (@kristanmercerhawkins), who identifies herself as president of Students for Life of America and CEO of Pro-Life Generation (both pro-life and anti-abortion groups), uploaded a TikTok video showing the owner of Wydaho Roasters asking her and her group to do their business elsewhere. “I said everybody is welcome, but I said I don’t want this group meeting here,” the man says in the video. As Hawkins confronts him, saying they have been there before, the man urges them to go to a public library instead.
In Hawkins’s video, the man makes clear that she and her group are not welcome to continue their pro-life discussions in his cafe because he and his wife do not support what they stand for. He says, “Did I make it very clear that I did not want you here? Yeah. I did a lot of work to get people on the ballot so women would have the right to choose in the state of Idaho. And this is something I do not support, nor does my wife. And it’s our business, so we have that choice.”
Hawkins, however, kept pushing back. At one point, the man appeared to draw comparisons between people representing the KKK and pro-lifers, saying that for him they were the “same concept,” which elicited a response from Hawkins. She said, “That is so beyond hard. Pro-lifers are those who advocate for the dignity of every human life, even children in the womb.” The video ended with the man standing his ground and asking Hawkins and her group not to meet at his coffee shop again.
Hawkins’ video gained significant attention and recently received approximately 24K comments. While the comments were divided, the first 4-5 scrolls were almost entirely supportive of the owner of Wydaho Roasters, and that support wasn’t limited to Hawkins’ post. An article published by the Idaho Statesman identifies the cafe owner as Jim Sheehan and reports that his “business has just exploded.”
Sheehan told the Idaho Statesman that the sales at his cafe the weekend of the incident were more than double the cafe’s previous record. “I can’t get anything done because everyone wants to keep giving us hugs. People are reaching out from across the country and ordering stuff,” he said. He added, “I’ve got so much stuff I still have to mail out that I can’t keep up.”
That said, Sheehan also faced a lot of hate. He and his wife were apparently doxxed, and several people made angry calls at his cafe as well, with some even giving death threats. The situation allegedly got so bad that the staff had to turn off their phones.
“Guarantee they intentionally went there”
The Wydaho Roasters incident involving the group of pro-lifers and Sheehan gained so much popularity that people even started discussing it on Reddit. In the comments, most people appreciated Sheehan for standing up for women’s right to choose, which has suffered setbacks in the past year.
One person wrote, “Good job! They’re hateful against women who are in much harder life situations than they are. They are hateful against women who are having miscarriages and need healthcare.” Another said, “He was respectful, kept his cool, and politely asked them to leave. Hats off to you, sir.”
On the other hand, some people thought Hawkins arrived at the cafe and started recording after deliberately provoking a confrontation with Sheehan to create a viral social media moment, despite knowing the cafe is pro-life. One person stated, “Guarantee they intentionally went there knowing it was pro-choice just to film rage bait content.”
Sheehan’s story serves as a reminder for everyone to stand up for what they believe in, regardless of support or pushback.
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