Pizza house bakes its own fly to prove its case
Even though Roman's Pizza tried its best to remedy the mistake, the customer would hear none of it
A pizza lover claims he got more than he bargained for on Tuesday last week when he found a “specific creature of nature” on his meal.
Johan Radov alleged his pizza came with a little extra topping in the form of a fly.
Although Roman’s Pizza went out of its way to resolve the issue, Radov refused a new pizza or refund. One of the managers, Marlin, even caught a fly and baked it on a pizza in the oven to prove the fly was not cooked with the pizza but got there at a later stage.
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“I told them it was not about getting back my money or the pizza, it was about the safety and health of their customers. I need the people (Roman’s Pizza) to take responsibility and to keep their staff accountable for what happened,” Radov said.
Marlin said: “CCTV footage shows the customer going around the shop to other customers standing in line, showing them the slice of pizza with the fly on it, causing a scene, telling them not to buy pizza from here,” Marlin said.
The footage also shows that Radov’s wife was shown the pizza when she collected it.
Radov confirmed to EXPRESS that his wife was shown the pizza when she collected it, but only had a “quick glance”.
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Franchisee Graham Gillespie also contacted Radov to resolve the issue but to no avail.
“I’m not saying what happened is right, but the reality is, wherever you have an opening in the form of a window or door, flies will fly in and out of a kitchen, especially at a food outlet.
“The shop has pest control measures in place and we follow strict hygiene protocol according to food industry policies. The only thing I can do from here onwards is forward the matter to head office and conduct internal procedures with staff members to prevent an incident like this from ever occurring again,” Gillespie said.
Magdel van Biljon of Savage Jooste and Adams Attorneys, acting on behalf of Roman’s Pizza, in a letter to Kempton Express, reiterated that Radov’s wife and daughter were shown the pizzas on collection, as is standard Roman’s procedure. They accepted the pizzas.
“Where the specific creature of nature came from, and how and when it ended up on Mr Radov’s pizza, is at this stage unknown. Without admission of any fault, and as a gesture of good faith in order to retain Mr Radov and his family as valued customers, our clients offered Mr Radov a refund, as well as a complementary meal, which Mr Radov declined.
“Our clients follow strict controls in accordance with the Roman’s standards to prevent such occurrences and are committed to providing the best pizza, at the best price, to the satisfaction of its clients,” Van Biljon wrote.
She also requested that Kempton Express refrain from publishing this article, based on the mere fact that “it is not clear where the specific creature of nature came from, and how and when it ended up on Mr Radov’s pizza”.
