PrimaDeli investigating after customer says she faced racial discrimination from staff

Most businesses operate on a first-come, first-served basis, but that did not appear to be the case for one customer.

In a Facebook post on June 26, Izah Ramizah Fahrin recounted her unpleasant experience while buying waffles from PrimaDeli.

Izah wrote that she visited the bakery chain's Bedok Mall outlet at around 9pm to buy waffles.

When she went to the counter, two female Chinese staff told her that waffles were sold out for the day. Another Malay woman who also asked for waffles got the same response, she noted.

But as Izah was about to leave, she overheard a Chinese man asking the staff if they had any waffles left in Mandarin.

To her surprise, the staff told him there was one left and prepared the waffle for him.

Izah, who understood Mandarin, confronted the staff, asking: "Why you tell me no more? [sic]"

One of the staff gave her a blank stare and ignored her despite being her questions, she said.

In her post, Izah claimed "just because the uncle is Chinese" and spoke in their language, the staff chose to serve him instead.

Responding to comments, she said that she has filed a complaint to PrimaDeli.

Izah added: "[I] hope you take action against your racist staff. I feel so upset as I am a paying customer, I am not begging for free food."

The Facebook post was shared over 1,300 times before it was taken down on Monday.

In response to AsiaOne's queries, a PrimaDeli spokesperson said: "We are aware of the experience that one of our customers faced at a PrimaDeli franchise outlet which has been shared in a Facebook post.

"At PrimaDeli, we take a very serious view of the matter as we do not tolerate such disrespectful behaviour. We are investigating this matter with our franchise outlet owner to get to the root of the incident.

"We have also reached out to the affected customer so that we can keep her updated on this."

mardhiahhaslan@asiaone.com