Minneapolis Restaurant That Offered Free Meals to Protest ICE Raids Announces Closure

Modern Times Café, a Minneapolis restaurant that attempted to eliminate prices, has announced it will be closing for good by the end of the year.

{snip}

Alverson announced on Instagram in January that his business, which rebranded as Post Modern Times, would operate as a “free and donation-based restaurant” where everyone would be welcome “except ICE” in protest of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations happening in his state, partly in response to the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

“We absolutely cannot go on as we have. I am sick of generating money for the soldiers in our streets and for a government that won’t protect us — a government who is actively inflicting daily harm on its citizens,” Alverson wrote. “Effective tomorrow we are done making money for the fascists that occupy our city.”

{snip}

The Modern Times Café operated without prices for about six months until it briefly closed in July. The establishment returned to using prices once the store reopened in August but announced that it would continue serving 25 free meals per day.

By October, Alverson told The New York Times he was operating under a “zero profit margin,” hoping that his place could be used as a model for other restaurants.

{snip}