A California cafe owner is charging customers a $5 fee if they wear a face mask or are 'caught bragging' about getting vaccinated

• The owner of a northern California cafe will charge customers $5 if they wear a face mask, NBC News reported.
• The cafe owner previously offered a 50% discount for customers who threw their masks away.
• The owner will also charge customers if they're "bragging" about getting vaccinated.

The owner of a cafe in northern California is reportedly charging customers $5 if they order while wearing a face mask.

According to NBC News, the owner of Fiddlehead's Cafe in Mendocino, California, put up signs informing customers they will incur an additional $5 charge if they're seen wearing a face mask while ordering.

The same sign informing customers of the policy also informs them they'll receive the same charge if they're "caught bragging" about being vaccinated, according to the report.

Chris Castleman, the cafe's owner, told NBC News the proceeds from the fee would first benefit Project Sanctuary, a local organization that supports survivors of domestic abuse. In two weeks, Castleman said he would name a new charity to receive proceeds from the mask fee.

"I don't think $5 to charity is too much to ask from mask wearing customers who claim to care so much about the community they live in," Castleman told NBC News in an email.

"It's about time that the proponents of these ineffective government measures start paying for the collateral damage they have collectively caused," he added.

As NBC News reported, Castleman last year temporarily shut down the cafe when county health officials mandated that employees and customers at the cafe wear face masks inside. He previously offered a 50% discount to customers who threw their masks in the trash, according to the report.

"I don't believe in mask wearing," he told NBC News.

SFGate reported that the cafe had previously had a sign that advertised customers could get a "free COVID-19 vaccine card." The sign has since been removed, according to the report. It is against the law to create or purchase fake vaccination cards, the FBI previously warned.

Nearly all states have rolled back their mask mandates after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier in May said they weren't necessary for fully vaccinated people in most indoor and outdoor settings. People who aren't fully vaccinated for COVID-19 should still wear a mask in most indoor settings, according to the CDC.

The state of California still requires masks and will keep the guidelines in place until June 15.

Castleman told SFGate he plans to leave the sign up for several months because he doesn't believe officials in Mendocino County will reside their mask mandate when the state does so next month.