The Bizarre Reason Pizza Hut Apologized For Its Ketchup Bottles
Fast food chains have had to issue their fair share of apologies over the years. Sonic issued a statement in response to an insensitive ad featuring a spoofed personna of General Custer, McDonald's had to publicly apologize after serving a customer a cup of cleaning fluid instead of a coffee, and Dunkin' enraged its fans after serving New Englanders their morning coffee in Philadelphia Eagles' merchandise, prompting the company to quickly make amends (via So Yummy!). Pizza Hut now has the honor of joining the list of chains that have had to apologize for best intentions gone wrong.
According to Hull Live, Adrian Shann, a man in Hull, England, recently confronted a horrifying ketchup bottle on his first-ever visit to Pizza Hut. He noticed that the barbecue sauce bottles on the table read "squeeze," but the ketchup containers came labeled with the words "Shake, Squeeze, and Squirt." Shann immediately felt taken aback by the ketchup and told Hull Live, "It literally sounds like an app for swingers. I do not understand how someone could put that sentence together, it's awful." The diner immediately filed a complaint with Pizza Hut. The company has since issued a response, which added even more fuel into the bizarre fire.
How Pizza Hut apologized for their ketchup
Hull Live reports that Shann wrote a strongly worded message to Pizza Hut, demanding a refund, a ketchup label redesign, and an official response. Eventually, the fast food chain responded, saying, "I can only apologise if you were caused any offence or upset on your recent visit to our Hut, please know it is not our intention to make any of our guests feel uncomfortable. The wording on our ketchup is not meant to cause offence and sorry if this was interpreted this way. This has been the labelling of all ketchup bottles in our restaurants for some time now, and I can only apologise if this impacted the enjoyment of your email" (via Popculture).
Shann didn't accept this apology. In response, he has publicly stated, "I am not happy with their response. I can not imagine anyone looking at that sauce as tomato ketchup again. It is sexualised and even more so now they didn't deserve my custom. I felt like I was ripped [off] from the brothel because I never got [a] chance to squirt" (via LAD Bible). Next time you visit an English Pizza Hut, brace yourself for their ketchup packaging that had the power to upset an unassuming man and make sure to keep following the developments of this strange interaction for a unique restaurant apology saga that might just rank as one of the best ever.