© Getty Beans, eggs and lean red meat are good sources of protein. Getty
- A Connecticut restaurant has named its new breakfast spot Oak Breakfast & Coffee.
- Carmen Quiroga told City Insider that the name means "get up and drink coffee."
- Instead, the name drew opposition from some conservative residents.
A Connecticut restaurateur named his new coffee shop after a play on words, unaware of the word's political connotations, angering some supposedly conservative townspeople.
Carmen Quiroga opened Oak Breakfast & Coffee in Coventry, Connecticut on January 19, telling Insider that the name is "get up and have a coffee."
“When we were thinking about the concept, we obviously wanted a word for something related to breakfast. We wanted something that could be said quickly and easily," Quiroga told Insider.
The owner of the breakfast shop said the name was a stylistic choice because he knew he needed an egg and coffee bean logo.
"Wake up is the only wake-up word that has an O in it, because we wanted to represent the brand of the business, which is breakfast products, and the egg is the perfect way to do that," he said.
Quiroga, who immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico, said he had no idea conservatives were using the term as a derogatory term for liberals.
"I'm Mexican," Quiroga told City Insider. “I don't know what the word 'wook' means to some people.
The name has sparked controversy among city residents online, including an open forum for Coventry citizens on Facebook.
On Thursday, site administrator Tonya Landry Olund threatened to remove "inappropriate comments" about the new breakfast shop.
"If you're so narrow-minded that you don't understand that the name means it's a breakfast place and nothing else, just leave it at that and move on," Olund wrote. "It's disgusting to read that residents refuse to support a business that wants to grow in our small town because they don't like its name, without even knowing how they chose that name. Enough."
The small town of Coventry voted for Democratic President Joe Biden in the 2020 election, with Biden receiving 4,011 votes, or 51.7%, while another 3,545 residents voted for former Republican President Donald Trump. In 2016, the city voted for Trump by a narrow margin.
"This is a very purple town," Republican Councilman John French told the Post.
Since opening, however, Quiroga said no one has said anything bad to him in person, and the restaurant has been full.
“We are very, very busy. We had to close after an hour because people were waiting to try our food… Everyone said the food was great. So we think we have good support from the city," Quiroga said.
