The Florida pastor whose plans to burn copies of the Qu'ran put him on an Al Qaeda hit list is now running a French fries stand in a mall in Bradenton.
According to the local Bradenton Herald, Rev Terry Jones has opened Fry Guys Gourmet Fries in the food court at the DeSoto Square mall.
The pastor of the small Dove World Outreach Center church sparked worldwide outrage in 2010 when he announced that he would publicly burn a copy of the Qu'ran. A Qu'ran-burning in 2011 sparked riots and deaths in Aghanistan and another in 2013 led to calls in Iran for Jones' execution. Last year he said that he would burn 2,998 copies of the Qu'ran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks; he was arrested before he could do so.
Customers at the Fry Guys stand were greeted with a drawing of Jones' face beside pictures of two co-owners. Their slogan is "We Take Fries Seriously."
"At first I thought the pictures would not be so recognisable," Jones told The Bradenton Herald. "They were supposed to be more of a cartoon type of thing."
He said that the restaurant was the first in a planned chain.
Mall manager Robert Tackett said he was "shocked" by Jones' background, adding that the Jones family appeared to be "very nice people" to work with when they signed the lease.
Jones appears second on an Al Qaeda poster which also featured Stephane Charbonnier, killed in the attack on Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday. However, Tackett said that he had been contacted by a member of the Manatee County Sheriff's Office intelligence unit saying there were no security concerns at the mall because of Jones' business presence there.
Jones told the Herald: "We've always been concerned. I have about 400 to 500 death threats, and there's an award for my life for $6.5 million."
