Hyderabad restaurants cry foul over ‘fraud foodies’

Restaurant owners are alleging that customers are themselves placing foreign objects in their meals and creating a ruckus.

Hyderabad: Following the recent flurry of food safety inspections and the viral images and videos of unhygienic kitchen conditions, restaurant owners are crying foul over whom they call ‘fraud foodies’.

With an increase in skepticism when it comes to food quality, some say that hotels are facing unnecessary issues because of unruly customers. Given that authorities are conducting checks upon complaints of safety and quality violations, some consumers seem to be taking unfair advantage of that.

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Restaurant owners are alleging that customers are themselves placing foreign objects in their meals and creating a ruckus. They later seem to be demanding compensation, and threatening to call authorities or post videos on Instagram if the eatery doesn’t comply with their demands.

One restaurant owner took to Reddit to share an incident and called these inspections a PR stunt. “Ever since the viral reels on Insta, we’ve been getting a lot of fraud foodies. But honestly, restaurants have to deal with these idiots who place their own cockroaches in the restaurant food and then cry wolf,” he wrote.

He shares that a customer screamed and threatened to call GHMC, and news channels, while his female friends were taking videos. The restaurant first apologized and offered to replace his meal. The customer, however, even declined a compensation of Rs. 5,000 and asked to be served free food every time they visited.

Similar incidents were flagged with food delivery apps as well. A simple photo from the customer often forces their hand to credit compensation.