MISSOULA — Ninja Mikes -- a popular Missoula breakfast joint -- has decided to change their name to Golden Yolk Griddle after deciding the new name is more racially sensitive.
Owner and operator Ethan Siegel says that the Ninja name was a form of cultural approbation by him a white business owner and he wants to do whatever it takes to move past the mistake.
Siegel also told MTN News that the business has been thinking of making the change since 2016 and that now seems like the right time to make the move.
Responses to the name change have been varied but Sigel says that even offending one person with the Ninja title isn’t worth continuing to use it. He also hopes this can be an example for others who are looking to make similar changes
"I think that we don’t know all the right answers and we are still learning as well," Siegel said. "And it's time as white business owners to listen to the cultures and the populations that haven’t had a voice and make changes accordingly."
Siegel says that after the decision was made to change the name members of the BIPOC community have been helping with the new branding which also cost them thousands of dollars.
The Golden Yolk Griddle is located at the Mountain Line Transfer Station in downtown Missoula.
