East Village's Newest Bar Donates All Profits to Anti-Trump Causes

Prolific restaurateur and owner of hip cocktail bars Ravi DeRossi doesn’t expect to make any money from a new bar he’s opening in the East Village. Instead, he is sending all the profits from Coup, opening next week, to nonprofits — particularly ones that are fighting against the policies of President Donald Trump, according to the Times.

The new bar, taking the place of his former seafood restaurant Bergen Hill at 64 Cooper Square, is DeRossi’s way of fixing “political paralysis” incited after Trump won the presidency, the Times reports. The restaurateur, who’s also behind bars like Death & Co. and Cienfuegos, wanted to do something about issues he cares about.

As such, 100 percent of profits from the bar will go toward organizations like A.C.L.U. or Planned Parenthood: nonprofits that could lose government funding or that have galvanized for a cause in the face of opposition. To reflect the political mantra, artist recreations of protest signs that have popped up since Trump went into office will decorate the space.

Exactly what organizations will receive the money will depend partly on the rotating list of guest bartenders, who will work one of Coup’s two bars and pick a nonprofit to support. People like Natasha David of Nitecap, Giuseppe Gonzalez of Suffolk Arms, and Ivy Mix of Leyenda have already signed up. Visiting bartenders from out of town have also agreed to guest bartend.

“Coup is our opportunity to use the influence that we have and the good nature of our guests to highlight some of those works that need both support and visibility,” Sother Teague, a partner in the project and head bartender at Amor y Amargo, tells the Times.

It’s not the first time DeRossi has changed his business to reflect political ideas. Last year, he decided start turning all of his cocktail bars and restaurants vegan. He’s a partner in more than a dozen restaurants and bars, and he decided that the environmental impact of serving meat at restaurant was not worth any extra sales. Already, Mother of Pearl and The Bourgeouis Pig have turned vegan, the latter into a bar called Ladybird.

DeRossi and Teague say that Coup, opening on April 14, is just a pop-up bar. But it will at least be open for the next four years — as long as Trump is still president.

• Coup, a New Manhattan Bar, Aims to Serve Up an Antidote to Trump [NYT]