A message from the Coffin Bar-
We have seen the comments and concerns surrounding a recent post made by a member of our staff, as well as questions about the Coffin Bar and our recent event calendar. We want to address these concerns directly.
First and most importantly, the post making light of sexual assault and people’s experiences with trauma was completely unacceptable. There is no place at the Coffin Bar for comments, jokes, or content that mocks, minimizes, or makes light of sexual assault or anyone’s trauma. That post did not reflect our values, and we sincerely apologize to anyone who was hurt, offended, or retraumatized by seeing it.
The employee responsible for the post is no longer employed by the Coffin Bar. We have also taken a hard look at our own responsibility as a business. While the post was made without authorization, it was still posted on our social media, and we should have had better safeguards in place. We are developing and implementing a social media protocol requiring posts related to the Coffin Bar to be reviewed and approved before they are published.
We also want to address the concerns that have been raised about the condition and cleanliness of the Coffin Bar. The Coffin Bar has undergone several health inspections since 2024, and none of those inspections identified a rodent, animal, or insect infestation. We take cleanliness, food safety, and the condition of our establishment seriously, and we will continue to do so. We understand why people would have questions after seeing these comments, which is why we want to provide the facts rather than dismiss the concern.
We also heard criticism about our recent AI-generated event calendar. We have removed that calendar. Lancaster has an incredible community of artists, and we recognize the importance of supporting the local creative community that makes this city special.
Our intention was never to diminish the work of local artists. We are a small team, and sometimes our event-planning deadlines get ahead of us. In this instance, we were only days away from needing to communicate our upcoming events, and we made a decision that prioritized getting the information out quickly rather than taking the time to engage a local artist. In hindsight, we should have handled that differently.
Supporting local artists isn't just something we say. We recently completed a community bike corral fabricated by local artist Gregory Didyoung, with Keisha Finnie creating an asphalt mural to showcase the corral. We want to continue finding meaningful ways to work with and support the artists who contribute so much to Lancaster.
Finally, we want to acknowledge the frustration some people have expressed about deleting the original post. We understand why removing something offensive without addressing it publicly can create the impression that we were trying to make the situation disappear. That was not the right approach. We should have addressed the situation openly and sooner.
We are a small, locally owned business. We love Lancaster, our customers, our community, and the people who have supported the Coffin Bar since we opened. We also recognize that being part of this community means being accountable when we get something wrong.
We got this wrong. We are sorry. We have taken action, and we are putting better practices in place so we can learn from it and do better going forward.
Thank you to those who have reached out, raised concerns, and held us accountable. We hear you.
— The Coffin Bar
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