After going viral, restaurant has permission to hang its 'offensive' sign

Hope Schreiber
·Writer
The restaurant sign, which has since been removed, in Keene, N.H. (Photo: Facebook)
The restaurant sign, which has since been removed, in Keene, N.H. (Photo: Facebook)

An owner of a French-Vietnamese restaurant on the verge of opening in Keene, N.H., is butting heads with a city manager over the eatery’s name, which sounds like a profanity.

Pho Keene Great, which combines the Vietnamese dish pho (pronounced “fuh”) and the name of the town, is scheduled to open in March; however, Fox News reports that City Manager Elizabeth Dragon said the owner, Isabelle Jolie, never received permission to hang the sign outside the restaurant.

“City manager has deemed our business name as offensive and a permanent sign with our business name, will not be allowed. The one that is pictured, is a temporary sign, and it was requested that we take it down due to her opinion that it is offensive name and a contract violation as it relates to City ordinance,” the restaurant’s social media post read. Jolie agreed to remove the temporary sign.

The restaurant polled users and found that 3,400 found the sign to be not offensive, while 117 voted that it was offensive.

“The issue is pending a meeting with the city manager and her team,” the restaurant said.

Several users said the restaurant should be allowed to call itself whatever it likes due to freedom of speech, and many thought the “clever” name was funny. “I’m Pho Keene impressed,” commented one Facebook user. However, others were more vocal about how they felt about the “crass” name.

“Cute until your child uses it. Sad commentary on what has become publicly acceptable. Class is a thing of the past,” one woman wrote.

Depending on how the name situation is resolved, the T-shirts that the restaurant had made may become local collector items.

On Jan. 18, Pho Keene Great won the city manager’s approval to hang its sign.

“I’m ready for a new restaurant to open in our community, and I’m excited to see what they might bring,” said Dragon.

The restaurant’s Facebook page made the announcement, “We have great news. City Manager Elizabeth Dragon has done the right thing and signed off on our sign on behalf of the city and the Community Development Department has determined that the sign is in compliance with the sign code.

“Now let us focus on Pho.”

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