A Missouri restaurant was ordered to shut down after they violated the county’s health orders regarding coronavirus. However, the cafe was very brilliant in their response, defying the order by reopening the business as a “private club.”

The Jackson County Department of Environmental Health issued numerous warnings and citations to Rae’s Cafe in Blue Springs. Marshanna Smith is a Jackson County spokesperson, and she told KCTV-TV that the “enforcement of the health order requiring masks is complaint-based, meaning concerned community residents contact us about non-compliance.” Smith noted that Blue Springs residents have filed at least 10 complaints about Rae’s Cafe.

After investigating the complaints, the county revoked the restaurant’s food establishment permit. Rae’s Cafe was shut down on Friday by the Jackson County Health Department for not abiding by the mask mandate. The county declared the restaurant to be an “imminent health hazard.”

Amanda Wohlentz is the owner of Rae’s Cafe, and she admitted that she has “not honored the mask mandate this round; I did the entire last round.”

Well, apparently on Saturday morning she had had enough. In an effort to get around these draconian mask mandates, she made the brilliant move of reopening Rae’s Cafe as a “private club.”

There allegedly was a newly-posted sign outside the restaurant that read: “Welcome to Rae’s private club. A $1 membership fee is collected at the door at each member’s visit. Dress code: No masks allowed. Please sign your name upon entry to verify your club’s membership. As a member, you can suggest items to the menu.”

This sign also included various “club policies” including the following: “By entering this club you admit that you are not a member of the general public. By signing your name, you record your membership and attendance. You also assume any and all risks of disease transmission.”

Jackson County issued an order on August 4th that demanded that people wear either a mask or a face covering in an “indoor place of accommodation” and this is defined as “any place or business offering or holding out to the general public goods, services, facilities advantages, privileges and accommodations for the peace, comfort safety and health of the general public.”

The order from the county is also stating that this “public accommodation shall not include a private club.”

Wohlentz went on to explain that the mask mandate is simply not fair to restaurant workers, capping it off with the comment, “you can’t work in it.”

In regards to the mask mandate, Wohlentz had some choice words, telling KSHB-TV: “It didn’t work the first time, it hasn’t worked in two years, so why are you going to keep making restaurants and bars suffer that have already suffered for so long?”

“This is my livelihood,” Wohletz said. “This is my staff’s livelihood. It should be my choice for my restaurant.”