Cafe Owner Fights Back Against 'Vindictive' Gluten-Free Customer Review

Celiac.com 10/02/2021 - Faced with what she calls a "vindictive" gluten-free patron, who "tried to get them shut down with Facebook witch hunt," the owner of a small cafe in Cornwall is fighting back.

Emma Price, who co-owns The Lighthouse café in Mevagissey, Cornwall, says the problem began when her staff informed the female patron that they could not guarantee their ingredients were completely free of gluten to be safe enough for a person with celiac disease.

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Despite café staff being clear and honest with the woman, and putting "customer safety above their profits," Emma claims the woman became angry and later took her complaints to a Coeliac group on Facebook, where she exhorted its tens of thousands of members not avoid the café. After discovering the harsh comments, Price later learned that the customer even reported Emma's café to local authorities, when she received an inspection visit from the local supervisory authority, called Trading Standards, during a busy lunch rush.

Despite the inspection finding no breach of any rules and regulations, Emma says the incident has left her feeling "extremely upset" and "vulnerable." She decided to share the cafe's ordeal in an effort to encourage people to consider the potentially negative effects such "vindictive" and "untrue" reviews or comments can have on a small business.

"The problem with Facebook is that people can say what they want, then there's this huge pile-on of people who have never visited our café, never looked at our products and had never spoken to us yet threatened us with physical violence...It makes you feel quite vulnerable and you know it's not just us working in the café," says Price.

Eating gluten-free at restaurants can be challenging and stressful for people with celiac disease. However, very few, if any, restaurants anywhere will absolutely guarantee that a given meal is 100% gluten-free. The best most places can do is to repeat the measures they take in sourcing the ingredients, and preparing the food. Guarantees carry legal implications, and are practically unheard of, even in establishments that reliably offer gluten-free menus. If the owner of a restaurant is honest and let's you know that they can't guarantee that your food will be gluten-free, you should thank them for their honesty rather than to take revenge.

Read more in Walesonline.co.uk