Family leave West Auckland restaurant after row over brought-in food

A mother claims she was told off by Lincoln Rd Nandos staff for bringing in food from a different takeaway outlet. Photo / Michael Craig

A mother says she will no longer go to a West Auckland restaurant after claiming she was told off by staff for bringing in food from a different takeaway outlet.

A manager of the restaurant - Nando's in Lincoln Rd, Henderson - says they are trying to take a tougher line on people who bring in food from outside as they have spent thousands on upgrading their site.

The mother, who did not want to be named, said she, her husband and their 5-year-old son were already planning to go to Nando's for dinner on Saturday night but they noticed the boy becoming irritable and hungry before getting there, so they decided to pick up a snack-size packet of sushi to tide him over.

After seating their child, they stood in the queue and were approached by a staff member.

"The man came up to us and said what our child was doing was not allowed because otherwise if other people see it then they will think that it's normal, and we were like, 'We're ordering anyway', and he said, 'Okay, a one-off,' but they won't allow it again."

The woman claims the staff member behind the counter kept talking about the sushi.

"We placed our order, but then in every gap in our conversation she would really insist that what my son was doing was not allowed and he shouldn't be doing that and we were going through the same thing, over and over again ..."

Annoyed, they cancelled their order and walked out.

Avin Jit, whose parents, Bishwa and Geeta Jit, have owned the restaurant for eight years, said his mother felt bad but they had been trying to be more strict about their policy as they had just spent thousands on renovating their restaurant.

"It was quite busy and we just can't allow that stuff, because all of a sudden at busy times we'll start seeing McDonald's wrappers or Burger King wrappers, and we'll be like, 'What's going on here? We're Nando's'," Mr Jit said.

"I know where they're coming from. If it was my child I might be annoyed too, but it's a policy."

Mr Jit said that earlier on the night, staff had to tell a regular customer not to bring in McDonald's.

Hospitality Association chief executive Bruce Robertson said most businesses would not expect people to bring in food unless they had certain dietary requirements or the age of their child was an issue.

"It's the exception rather than the rule and, to be fair, most consumers are reasonable about that and most of them will have a reason for it, like dietary requirements or things like that."

Andy Lucas, director and marketing manager for The Coffee Club New Zealand, said they "occasionally" experienced people bringing food into their cafes and restaurants, "especially if they are with younger children who might be teething or going through a fussy phase".

"However, as this isn't a hugely regular occurrence, we choose to turn a blind eye. We certainly wouldn't be asking any of our customers to throw their food away."