A new “te reo Māori only” cafe in Rotorua has generated enormous media attention and praise from activists and cultural commentators. But from a business perspective, it may be making a fatal mistake: deliberately shrinking its customer base. Hospitality businesses succeed by making customers feel comfortable, welcomed and included — not anxious about saying the wrong thing or failing a cultural test. We’ve seen similar experiments before, from Melbourne’s feminist “man tax” cafe Handsome Her to Los Angeles’ highly ideological Sage Regenerative Kitchen. Both became media sensations. Neither proved sustainable. In hospitality, symbolism and applause rarely pay the bills for long.