Chandarana Food Plus apologises over offensive remarks

An apology message by Chandarana Food Plus Supermarket over a statement deemed discriminatory. PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • The email, written in broken English, informs the staff about elaborate incentives put in place to attract Caucasian customers.

Chandarana Food Plus Supermarket has been forced to issue an apology after an email written by its staff caused uproar.

This comes after the email addressed to a marketing/event manager informing the individual that the food chain has shifted its focus to attracting only white shoppers, found its way to the public who accused the supermarket chain of being racist and discriminatory.

The email, written in broken English, informs the staff about elaborate incentives put in place to attract Caucasian customers.

"We are delighted to inform you that our supermarket chain, [sic] would like to give you free vouchers to winner/raffles/best performer/runners up candidate in upcoming events. As we are now focusing on white people [sic] to attract our supermarkets [sic]," part of the email sent by Mrs Rima Patel, the supermarket's Marketing Specialist, reads.

APOLOGY
But in damage control, the supermarket's management have been quick to cool the tempers elicited through social media.

"The immense magnitude of this error undoubtedly comes to us as a severe embarrassment and all the apologies in the world cannot make such a wrong a right again.

"We will take all the stern and strict steps necessary to ensure it never happens again," the letter says.

However, the move seems to have further infuriated some online users who felt the apology only served to worsen an already bad situation.

FLAK

Mohamed Hersi wrote: ""At this rate your right to speak or write in English maybe withdrawn. You cannot be allowed to drag the Queen’s language in mud. From racism to messing up the English Language."

Another user, Samia Omar, said: "I was first mad, then read the replies from Chandarana Foodplus, The grammar wah!! Now I think this email might just have been written by the same person managing their account and s/he just doesn’t know English. What does “white people to attract our supermarket” mean???”