Bad Manners Food's (Three-Year-Old) Rebrand
Formerly known as Thug Kitchen, Bad Manners Food shares plant-based recipes with attitude. They also make a great case study for embracing change.
10,000ft
Thug Kitchen began as a blog in 2012 when the US mainstream still mostly rolled their eyes at veganism. To break through, they wrote their posts and recipes with attitude, slang, and cursing. Oh, and talking like famous Black artists and figures.
When co-founders Michelle Davis and Matt Holloway revealed they were two white people, fans quickly pointed out the flaw in the logic. The duo explained away concerns with statements like, “We understand that thug is a loaded word, but want everybody to be a badass, to have that aggression.”
Bryant Terry, a Black vegan chef, penned a response via CNN. My favorite excerpts here:
‘Start with the visceral, move to the cerebral and then the political’ has been the mantra guiding most of my efforts…But the more I read through the Thug Kitchen posts, the more skeptical I became about the cerebral and political aspects, if they even existed.
‘Nobody needs mayo in their life;’ ‘Calm your bitch ass down like a boss;’ and ‘Don’t f*&k around with some sorry-ass ten-dollar takeout’ are hardly the language of a ‘Sopranos’ mobster or ‘Sons of Anarchy’ biker.
The contrast drawn between the consciously progressive dishes shown and the imagined vulgar, ignorant thug only works if the thug is the kind of grimy person of color depicted in the news and in popular media as hustling drugs on a dystopian block, under the colorful glow of various burger stands, bulletproof take-out spots or bodega signs.‘Those kind of people,’ the visual gag suggests,‘intimidating you into… preparing arugula or tempeh? How absurd, how shocking, how hilarious!’
Thug Kitchen finally took the feedback to heart in 2020, but only after national outrage around George Floyd’s murder. They even opted to announce the change before knowing what it would be.
When we first launched Thug Kitchen in 2012, we wanted our name to signal our brand’s grit in the otherwise polished and elitist food scene…We realize, however, that whatever our original intention, our use of it reflected our privilege and ignored the reality that the word is assigned to black people in an attempt to dehumanize them. That’s fucked up and not at all what we want to stand for. We apologize. We recognize we need to do better. - Bad Manner’s announcement
Two weeks later, they unveiled the new Bad Manners Food brand.
The spectrum
Scoop up our latest cookbook October 31 and get 100+ brand new recipes full of meals to live by and flavors to die for. - Web
If you try to make this chili with pumpkin pie filling, it's gonna taste fucked up so don't complain to us. That's on you.
- Recipe footnoteWe’ve been riding the crest of this veggie wave since before oat milk was even a glimmer in your neighbor’s eye so when it comes to all things veggies, vegan, plant-based, etc. we know exactly what we’re talking about. - Substack
Meals to live by, flavor to die for - Cookbook cover
Good Food # 1 NY Times Bestsellers - IG Bio
Packed with 100+ never-before-seen but must-be eaten recipes like Falafel Waffles, Queso Blanco, Eggplant Polpetti, Pepper Cheese Hoagies, Midnight Chocolate Cake and a fuckton more 🤤🍽️ - IG caption
We love your bottomless hunger for all things Bad Manners. Thanks so much for the support. We appreciate that shit. - Substack confirmation Email
My thoughts
There are ways of borrowing from culture that make people feel celebrated, and there are ways that make them feel taken advantage of. Doubling down on the latter eventually leads to doubling your losses. I have no clue about sales, but a quick Google Trends and Instagram #s review show their old audience still hasn’t completely caught on. How much less brand repair would they have to have done/have to do if they had handled this sooner?
Words can be your greatest ally or your worst enemy
Davis and Holloway saw the power of Black communities enough to borrow their vernacular but not enough to respect their concerns. Instead, they spent six years trying to distance themselves from the more overt appropriation. Captions and posts began borrowing more from generally trending places, keeping only the name Thug Kitchen and a playfully “aggressive” approach.
👀 Did you know a lot of "trendy" words and phrases are from queer and/or Black culture? Though Davis and Holloway saw themselves doing something positive, their impact didn’t line up. It is always, always worth double-checking if what you’re writing says what you hope it does. And if enough people tell you it doesn’t, acting with speed is your best shot at genuinely making it right. Not to mention, rebranding after six years and five cookbooks ain’t cheap.
Being yourself is easier and better—a rare combo
Whether or not you think the brand formerly known as Thug Kitchen was right or wrong, writing with a voice outside your every day is difficult. I bet their creative energy spiked when they switched to this more authentic voice. It’s this writer’s opinion that the quality of the content improved, too.
Cursing is funny, but it can get old.
I’m glad the team has found more clever ways to defy formality. A well-placed “fuck” is funny, but this curse salad gives me heartburn (I read it in that Last Week Tonight bit’s voice):
AN EPILOGUE: Is something you wrote facing pushback from a marginalized community? Here’s very subjective advice from my very personal experience as a white writer:
Take a deep breath. Because most of us aren’t familiar with every subculture and nuance, these mistakes are the rule and not the exception. Just don’t displace the defensive feelings that come up on the person who talked to you. They’re going out of their way to tell you something matters to them, knowing you might turn around and ignore it, get angry, or worse.
Remember that “right” is subjective and ever-evolving. Our language is so abundant that I promise you’ll find a better way to say what you need to say.
Try listening more than explaining yourself (shoutout to my ADHD/Capricorn/Type-A/oldest-daughters). You’ll want to defend yourself, but it’ll make things worse more often than not.
Find the courage to start fresh. Whatever it is won’t be the only great idea you have. Even if it is, is it worth hurting a group of people over?
Reflect on what the most honest version of you sounds like. If your voice or perspective differs from what the project requires, it’s time to find some collaborators.