Cafeïtroon
| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Cosplay restaurant, Coffee houses |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Headquarters | Sint Arend, Vorpest |
Key people | Sofija Marlies (CEO) |
| Products | Coffee, Baked goods, Tea, Cannabis |
| Owner | Bjørn Trust |
Number of employees |  400 |
| Parent | Brogs |
Cafeïtroon (KT, a portmanteau of the Vistarian words for Caffeine and Throne, founded 2014) is a Vorpestian-based company operating a number of stylized cannabis coffee shops in Vorpest and parts of mainland Vistaraland. The company is a subsidiary of Brogs, a larger Cosplay restaurant enterprise under the ownership of the Bjørn Trust.
Cafés operated by the company are themed after a fantastical depiction of a medieval palace, with the overwhelmingly female waiting staff, called performers, dressed up in revealing depictions of clothes worn by maids and servants, akin to depictions in foreign animated media. Though the company tends not to outwardly advertise itself as such due to advertising standards across the Vistara Commonwealth, it has a well-known reputation for the proactive and risqué nature of some of its performers and their dress. According to the company itself, Cafeïtroon offers its diners the experience of being served on like royalty, with performers expected to courtesy and follow a number of traditional etiquette rules when addressing customers.
The menu offers a variety of baked goods, specializing in items such as brownies, cookies and cakes. In some provinces, subject on legality, the option of having such cakes as edibles is offered. Food is often served alongside hot drinks such as coffee, tea and hot chocolate - as well as the option of smoking cannabis. As of 2023, the company operates 38 locations, having decreased in number following several scandals.
Controversy
In a similar vain to its parent company, accusations and legal action taken against the company primarily revolved around its promiscuity, both on the grounds of inciting the objectification of staff as well as the promotion of degeneracy. Following numerous issues, the company's reputation only further worsened following the Ljótsson harassment scandal, when the company's founder was charged with multiple counts of sexual harassment and gross misconduct.
Legal issues
Since the company's expansion outside out Vorpest, Cafeïtroon has faced a large amount of legal controversies and challenges towards its continued existence on a Provincial level. Only a month after its first attempt to open a location on the Vistari mainland in the city of Halvartvet, the Municipal Council of Tulpveld formally requested Cafeïtroon to cease all operations within the Duchy due to complaints from residents and neighbouring businesses, including a children's minigolf course directly across the street. Successive operations were also mired with legal issues, primarily around the regulation of provocative images used in advertisements depicting the staff.
Legal issues were only further accelerated following the arrest of Sven Ljótsson, founder and then CEO of the company on 4 April 2019. According to the Vorpestian Dominion Police Force, Ljótsson was reported anonymously as having repeatedly harassed and followed young women - allegedly offering them a job within the company in exchange for illicit favours, and threatening them if they refused. Soon after his arrest, several women came forward to back up the allegations - and Ljótsson was officially fired from his position by CEO Lina Lovland, later pleading guilty to all charges.
Despite the removal of Ljótsson, the scandal further enshrined popular outrage at the company, and several provinces across mainland Vistaraland officially barred the company from operating there, causing a number of locations to be closed indefinitely.
Religious objections
Cafeïtroon's reputation, as well as its combination of revealing outfits and the open use of cannabis, saw the company criticized heavily by both Ademarists and Viktorists as a blatant display of vices and degeneracy, with the Viktorist Church of Vorpest officially writing an open letter of condemnation to the Bjørn Family - requesting the locations be shut down in order to protect "the sanctity and decency of the Vorpestian people".
In addition, several Vierist political organizations, including the Ademarist Democratic Party protested outside several café locations, with an alleged report from Gildehaven concluding in the death of a member of staff, although the claim has not been sufficiently verified. Such protests included the "outing" of women who were seen to go into the shop to their families and places of work, with the intention of seeing them dissuaded from going back.
Accusations of objectification
Several feminist and women's rights groups across Vistaraland, notably including the National Women's League, expressed criticism towards the company online and in the media - accusing the company of promoting prostitution, as well as encouraging archaic conjugal roles through its portrayal of subservient woman. The costumes and promiscuity were also heavily criticized as promoting objectification through utilising and advertising based upon the male gaze.
Employee treatment
In addition to concerns about the objectification of the staff, several issues were raised amongst the waiting staff relating to their working conditions and interactions with customers. Younger waitresses within the company have alleged to have been harassed, verbally abused and occasionally stalked by customers without sufficient action taken by the company for their safety. There have also been several reported cases of wait staff being encouraged by management to fulfil unreasonable and demeaning demands of customers, especially those to which managers had close relations with.
This resulted in the mass firing of management staff in 2019, though a number of workers have come out and said they had seen little to no improvement of conditions in or outside their workplace. Additionally. Employees complained about the thin material used for their costumes, with the company's policy demanding no wearing of coats, scarves or other winter accessories causing a number of staff to develop the flu after being outside for extended periods in temperatures below 0 Celsius.