Dismissed from family business for racist tirade
The Baron Group of restaurants will serve its steaks without basting from St George’s Fine Foods while it looks for a new supplier.
This is the reaction from the restaurant chain in the continuing fallout after a video went viral depicting St George’s Fine Foods director Adam Catzavelos‚ who has subsequently been dismissed‚ uttering the k-word on a beach.
St George’s Fine Foods in Johannesburg has been a supplier of basting sauces to the Baron Group‚ which said it had terminated its business dealings with the supplier with immediate effect.
In the video‚ which went viral on Tuesday‚ Catzavelos used the k-word while celebrating the fact no black people were on the beach. It was unclear exactly where the video was shot.
In a statement‚ the Baron Group of restaurants said it had been previously supplied its steak-basting sauce by St George’s Fine Foods‚ where Adam Catzavelos was the marketing director.
“[On] the morning of August 22 we were made aware of the recent racist video (from Catzavelos) and investigated.
“We found his video to be completely unacceptable and have with immediate effect terminated our business with St George’s Fine Foods‚” said Gareth Spencer‚ director of the Baron Group.
The decision by the Baron Group comes after a statement from the family-owned company and the Catzavelos family early on Wednesday‚ in which they said that Adam had been dismissed from the business with immediate effect.
The family said his minority shareholding would be unwound as soon as possible.
Catzavelos’s family business took a beating on Google Reviews as users took to the platform to lambast his actions. All of the 109 reviews gave the company one out of five stars.
In one of the reviews‚ someone using the name “Private Person” said: “Adam Catzavelos should hang his head in shame for the racist remarks he made whilst in holiday in Greece.”
The Economic Freedom Fighters in Gauteng said it would be opening a criminal case of racism at the Bramley police station and the Democratic Alliance Youth referred the video to the South African Human Rights Commission.
The SAHRC said independently on Wednesday it would be probing the incident. The commission’s acting head of legal services‚ Buang Jones‚ said: “We will institute a formal probe.”
The SAHRC has previously welcomed the two-year jail term handed down to Vicki Momberg for her repeated use of offensive language during a traffic incident‚ and lodged a complaint against Velaphi Khumalo following his 2016 “hate speech” Facebook rants against whites.