The curse of most foreign owned establishments in Kenya seems to be discrimination. It seems as if these places were not created for Kenyans.
The Alchemist Bar, the popular hippy joint in Westlands, has had its fair share of discrimination cases. It started with black Kenyans not being able to access their premises, because well they are black.
Racism (or self hate) in Kenya's hospitality industry. Blacklist The Alchemist, @JuniperSocial. What's your story? pic.twitter.com/mynTZsdILI
— Muthuri Kinyamu ?? (@MuthuriKinyamu) May 16, 2016
They have since worked on their image and such denial of entry cases are unheard of now. However it seems the discrimination is still alive.
Yesterday at @AlchemistBar254 two of my friends were told that they couldn’t stand in an area because it was “only for Indians and wazungus” pic.twitter.com/zdVMJ4zvAP
— heri baharini ? (@Cynthia_Mbuthia) August 25, 2018
This past weekend, a customer was informed that they couldn’t access a certain part of the bar because it was reserved for Indians and white people. It is possible that this has been happening before but this is the first time we are hearing about it.
Alchemist’s response to the incident was compassionate and they promised to do something about it.
@Cynthia_Mbuthia Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention and speaking with us on the phone. Looking forward to meeting and working with you in person to address this issue more deeply. We hope you and your friends accept our apology! pic.twitter.com/Gk0WHLBTQD
— The Alchemist Bar (@AlchemistBar254) August 25, 2018
However, a lot of introspection is needed on the part of management and they need to ask themselves why this keeps happening. It’s all well and good to apologize but they need to put in place long term measures to ensure that incidences like this never happen at all.