Auckland cafe fires manager over anti-Muslim messages
A cafe in Auckland has fired a manager after he sent an abusive message to a potential customer on social media about halal food and the Muslim community.
Cocobeans Cafe tells the customer to “return to your country” and that “this country is brimming with bacon ham [sic] n beers.”
The Muslim housewife who received the messages was taken aback. “I was terrified, upset, and anxious – why was this person swearing on me?” she explained, requesting anonymity to avoid retaliation.
On Thursday morning, she sent a private message to Cocobeans Cafe’s Facebook page, inquiring about the cafe’s halal status. They responded that while the meat was halal, the premises, which served ham and bacon, were not.
The housewife shared the response on a Muslim community group that regularly posts updates on halal restaurants in Auckland. “It’s something that we as Muslims want to know, whether we can eat at a particular establishment or not.”
She received a barrage of abusive messages that evening.
She also shared those. “I had no idea it would grow to this magnitude,” she explained.
Cocobeans owner Radhika Naidu stated that the messages were sent by the cafe’s Facebook manager and do not reflect the cafe’s management or staff sentiments.
Shortly after Naidu learned of the incident, the manager was asked to leave.
“I would like to express my sincere apologies to the Muslim community once more,” she said via email.
