A CUSTOMER of a St Helier takeaway has been refunded for a portion of chips – after they were served with an unexpected topping…
Alicia Warren said she was served a fried cigarette as part of her portion of cheesy chips, which she ordered from Big J’s in Sand Street.
The Islander took to social media to highlight the incident, posting a photo on the ‘Good or Bad Jersey Business’ Facebook group.
Speaking to the JEP, she said: ‘Me and my friends bought the chips on the 28 October, and were eating them when we found the rollie. We went to complain the same day, but the staff members working at Big J’s said that they didn’t smoke rollies and showed us a pack of straights.
She continued: ‘The staff proceeded to accuse us of putting the rollie in the chips when it had clearly been fried; the cigarette was orange-brown.
‘They were also rude and spoke in Portuguese to my Portuguese friend saying: “If it was me, I wouldn’t have given you a fresh set of chips”. So we made a complaint.
‘If the staff were polite then I wouldn’t have posted the image, however they were incredibly rude and disrespectful.’
She confirmed that the owner of Big J’s, Mark Cilliers, had since reimbursed her and informed her that there would be an investigation.
Mr Cilliers said that he had spoken in depth with Ms Warren after the incident and understood that she felt upset.
He explained that, as the chips in question were served over a month ago, there was no possibility of tracking down the batch that they came from as ‘thousands of chips have been served between then and now’.
However, he agreed that the staff ‘didn’t hand the situation well’ and confirmed that ‘reminders and re-training will be given to staff about customer service and handling complaints’.
He also expressed his confusion as to how the rolled-up cigarette had ended up in the chips, as none of the staff members working at Big J’s smoked them. He added that the chips arrive pre-packaged from manufacturers in the UK who were ‘sterile’ and ‘hypersensitive’ when it came to hygiene measures.
Mr Cilliers re-iterated that Big J’s Takeaway maintains a four star Eat Safe Rating, which was last updated in July this year.
