Boycott against Spur has some branches on the brink of closure
SPUR restaurants should fire its public relations company and listen to its customers.
This is the advice Dirk Hermann, chief executive of the Solidarity trade union, wants Spur CEO Pierre van Tonder to hear after its handling of a racial incident at it’s restaurant in the Glen, Johannesburg, in March.
CCTV footage showed a white man, who threatened a black woman, grabbing the Johannesburg mother’s child by the arm.
The white man threatened to hit Lebohang Mabuya after grabbing her son by his hand. The man was banned from all Spur restaurants – for life.
The war of words between the pair has escalated with Van Tonder taking a swipe at Hermann and accusing him of initiating the countrywide boycott.
In an open letter to Solidarity, Van Tonder wrote: “I would have expected that you, as a trade union with influence in the Afrikaans community, would have informed yourself thoroughly before expressing support for a boycott of this kind.”
Van Tonder wrote that the boycott would not only affect franchises financially but may leave current employees jobless should any of them close.
“In fact, your union Solidarity has members in the franchises against whom you are encouraging a boycott. Their livelihood is at stake now...”
He said Solidarity is using recent incidents at Spur restaurants to serve a political agenda.
“… but instead of acting in workers’ best interests, you seem more interested in scoring political points from the hate campaign against Spur orchestrated by Front Nasionaal on social media.”
Yesterday, Hermann responded by saying that Van Tonder could have handled the incident better.
“I am on the side of the franchisees, waiters and especially the clients, who have spoken and decided to spend their money elsewhere. You can’t call your customers racists and expect them to come back,” he said, referring to Spur’s earlier assertions that many of its franchises were on the verge of closing as a result of the boycott, “mainly those in strongholds of the old Conservative Party”.
Hermann urged Spur to heed customers.
“I don’t want one Spur restaurant to close. But the customers are angry. I just have one piece of advice for them: listen to them, for once,” Hermann said.