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Romans Pizza at the sharp end of the sword

One of the kitchen staff members at Roman’s Pizza in Middelburg was caught in the act of sharpening a knife on the sidewalk.

September 5, 2018

Sjani Campher 2 minutes read

A member of the public who happened to be waiting for his order captured the incident on camera.

In the video footage, the employee can be seen honing the blade of her knife on the edge of the curb.

Mr Hornsveld pointed out to www.mobserver.co.za how obviously unhygienic her actions were.
“She goes outside onto the pavement to sharpen a blade and who knows what happens on that pavement? Then she goes back inside to cut our food with the same knife!”

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A journalist from www.mobserver.co.za contacted the Branch Manager, Ms Helen Stamatiou, for a statement. Ms Stamatiou confirmed the incident and strongly rebuked the employee’s conduct. “Obviously it’s not allowed for any staff member to go outside with kitchen utensils.”

She spoke of her concern about how this incident will affect the franchise as a whole and that they’re handling the situation in an appropriate manner.
Management confirmed that the staff member is still currently in their employment until further notice.

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Operations Manager, Mr Carl Stoltzer, released a statement confirming that they’re taking the matter very seriously.
“Although we (Roman’s Pizza Head Office) try our utmost to ensure that all Roman’s Pizza franchisees adhere to our very stringent policies and procedures to ensure that the public gets the best pizza, at the best value from all of our outlets, some employees tenaciously evade our eagle eyes.”

He added that they appreciate the additional watchful eyes of the public and welcome any constructive criticism received from customers that will improve on their products and services.

“We however confirm that we have addressed this issue with the relevant franchisee, and that the necessary disciplinary action will be taken against this employee, seeing that her conduct is most certainly not condoned, and in no way meets the Roman’s Pizza standards, policies and/or procedures. In addition we confirm that we are investigating whether the relevant franchisee was aware of the employee’s conduct and/or whether the franchisee condoned same, and that we will take the necessary action against the franchisee if it is found that the franchisee was aware and/or condoned such conduct, in breach of our Franchise Agreement.”