taken from the Ranger magazine www.theranger.co.uk
Little Chef prides itself on its committed policy of using only free range eggs.
It boasts about the fact on the front of its menus. It asks its 20 million customers a year "How do you like your eggs? We like ours free range". And it even sells a "Free Range
Omelette".
So imagine the surprise of free range farmer Gareth Hart when—while breakfasting at a Little Chef—he saw members of staff unloading a consignment of cage eggs.
BFREPA member Gareth was so angry he not only confronted staff on the spot he fired off a letter of complaint. And now the company with 192 eateries across the country has issued a detailed apology.
The caught-in-the-act incident happened at the Little Chef at Beacon Hill near Needham Market, Suffolk.
"As we were finishing breakfast," said Gareth, who farms 16,000 free range birds as well as 100,000 broilers near
Stowmarket, "we noticed that the staff had been to the local Tesco and were unloading the food they had purchased. We saw them unloading large quantities of eggs, which
we noticed were the Tesco Value range of eggs from caged hens.
Gareth approached the two staff members unloading the eggs and asked if they were free range. He was told they were.
He then told two other members of staff that the eggs were from caged hens. One agreed that they were cage. He was told that Tesco had run out of free range eggs, so they could not buy any.
So on his way home he called into the local Tesco and found that there was a large supply of free range eggs on offer.
Later his wife, Alice, rang the restaurant, to ask if they had omelettes, and if they were made with free range eggs. She was told that they are normally made with free range eggs, but the restaurant had run out earlier in the
day.
Gareth, who fired off a letter of complaint to Little Chef, said: "Of course there will be occasions when restaurants have to use local supermarkets to top up their food supplies.
But if you are advertising on your menu that you only serve free range, then you must be prepared to pay the extra money at the supermarket to buy free range. If it is not
possible to obtain free range eggs, customers should be very clearly informed that the food on sale is not as advertised. No customer likes to be misled."
In a reply the company's marketing director, Cathy Stevenson, said: "I was most disappointed that you witnessed the selling of non free range eggs in our business. This is certainly not company policy.
"Restaurant managers do on occasion need to purchase locally if they run out of items or if our food distributor fails to deliver.
But they are given clear guidance on substituting. I can only assume that on this occasion it was the decision of the individual manager not to purchase free range. Please
accept my sincere apologies and believe me when I say that this is not common practice in our business.
"Please feel assured that this matter will be taken very seriously. I have forwarded your letter to the regional manager with responsibility for this restaurant and I know
that action will be taken promptly."
