Dunedin restaurant Pier 24, at St Clair Beach, has apologised to Havoc Farm Pork, after its staff told a customer it used free-range Havoc pork, when it did not.
The Valentine's Day customer was Havoc Farm's sales manager, who knew Havoc did not supply Pier 24.
Under previous owners, the 26-room Hotel St Clair's restaurant Pier 24 won several culinary awards.
While dining at Pier 24, Havoc's sales manager queried staff about the source of the ''free-range pork'' offered on the menu, and was told it was Havoc. Staff then admitted it wasn't, once the manager identified herself.
Havoc Pork founder Linda McCallum sent a Dunedin lawyer's letter to Pier 24, which was received late last week, requesting Pier 24 ''cease and desist'' from telling customers Havoc pork was on its menu.
''Pier 24 has a good reputation. How long have people been dining there, thinking they're eating local pork and it's actually not,'' she said, after contacting the ODT about the issue.
''It's not our pork, because we don't supply them,'' she said.
Pier 24's Auckland lawyer Joseph Kim of Morrison Kent responded to the Dunedin lawyer's letter yesterday, saying a ''mistake was made'' on February 14 when both a waitress and duty manager advised the customer the meat was Havoc pork.
''This is a genuine mistake for which our client [Hotel St Clair] unreservedly apologises,'' Mr Kim said in statements to both Havoc and the ODT.
Mr Kim cancelled a prearranged interview between the ODT and Pier 24's owners, scheduled for today.
The company Hotel St Clair Ltd is 50:50 owned by Gun Kim and Jeong Kim, of Dunedin, and was incorporated in November 2015, according to Companies Office records.
Pier 24 lawyer Mr Kim offered to answer any further questions from the ODT on behalf of Hotel St Clair.
However, Mr Kim did not respond to emailed ODT questions on the source of Pier 24's pork or whether it was free-range.
Havoc owner Mrs McCallum said she was ''angered'' not only that Havoc's brand was allegedly being used illegally, but that Pier 24 restaurant customers had been duped into thinking they were buying locally-sourced produce.
Her lawyer's letter outlined that Havoc's reputation was for supplying ''high quality, humanely raised and butchered pork''.
''The reputation of these products is vital to my clients [Havoc],'' the lawyer said.
Havoc's crate-free free-range pork is grown with minimal intervention between sows and litters, without using antibiotics or growth promotants, and some products are nitrate and gluten free.
Pier 24 is part of the Hotel St Clair, which was sold by co-developers Calder Stewart to Korean interests in February 2016, having been on the market since mid-2014.
The value of the multimillion-dollar deal was undisclosed. The hotel's rateable value at the time was $6.85million, plus an adjoining section, which was valued at $765,000. The hotel opened in December 2009 and was named Best New Hotel 2010 by the Hospitality Association of New Zealand.
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Comments
The sky is falling the sky is falling. It was a simple mistake, the training of the staff as to where the products come from should be sufficient instead of superfluous legal action which benefits no one but the lawyers.
Makes me think should I buy havoc pork if this is their attitude.
When I eat bacon I have no idea how it was raised from the taste, humanely or otherwise...the only way this mistake could damage havoc's reputation is if it tastes bad.
The point is, the restaurant has been using someone else's brand reputation to make themselves look good, when they had no grounds to do so. If two staff members were saying it - they must have got that message from somewhere. Surely the kitchen staff would know exactly who their meat suppliers were. Not hard for wait staff or a duty manager to find out. It's dishonest, whether intentional or not, and they've been caught out.
Havoc are quite within their rights to challenge this. They have worked hard to establish their reputation and business, and it's not ok for a restaurant to use Havoc's name to promote their food. I have bought Havoc pork regularly at the Farmer's Market, and have always found it to be a high quality product. For those of us who eat meat and who also care about animal welfare, it is important to know that what we order at a restaurant is what it claims to be. I have no issue with Havoc standing up for their rights.