Massimo Hout Bay

Customer gets kicked out of a local pizza restaurant and then ‘owned’ on his bad-review on trip advisor for judging a pizza-chef by a plaster on his face.

 

Massimo & Tracy are an amazing couple who opened an Italian restaurant in Hout Bay called Massimo’s in 2009.

They are incredibly passionate about food, their clients & South Africa!

They started a “pay-it-forward” campaign at the beginning of 2015 to make it easier for the Hout Bay community to give back. Massimo’s clients can buy one or more R10 ‘virtual’ slices of pizza and for every 6 slices sold, Massimo’s will deliver an entire pizza to a local charity or institutions.

The list of the beneficiaries changes regularly as they are voted by customer suggestions and just last month, they delivered 47 pizzas to various charities! 

Massimo’s have also introduced a community project system where selected foods automatically give a donation to selected charities, so you get to enjoy your favourite meal and give back without any effort.

But Massimo’s also stands for doing what is right, as can be seen in a recent altercation with a customer.

One Friday night a local came to their restaurant, caused a complete uproar and was asked to leave… the angry customer took to trip adviser to complain & Massimo’s replied.

“Very disappointing – 1 of 5 stars”

“As a local Hout Bay residents who frequents Massimo’s regularly, we were very disappointed at the owners attitude to our complaint regarding the fact that the main pizza-maker had a large plaster on his face!!”

“With out gloves and was making pizzas in full view of the entire restaurant.”

“In conversation with the owner, he expressed indifference to my opinion, and stated to me that I was not a “doctor” but did say that the member was from west Africa where communicable diseases are rife.”

“We were asked to leave and only invited back if we were considered doctors!!”

“If someone is ill, don’t put them in full view of clients! Be more professional, and don’t treat your customers with disrespect”

Massimo’s took to trip advisor to reply to the customer’s review:

“Sir, you forgot to write on your review that the first thing you told me is that you were already tipsy.”

“You then told me that as you are from Zimbabwe, and you recognised my pizza chef as a fellow Zimbabwean and because he is skinny and had a plaster on his eyebrow he must have HIV. When I told you that he is actually from DRC, you said then he must have Ebola and you did not want your food touched by him.”

“At that point I had no choice to ask you to leave as I can’t pick and choose my staff according to the racism of my clients.”

“Incidentally the pizza guy hit his head on a beam during loadshedding. I would gladly ask you not to frequent my restaurant in the future.”

Massimo went as far as to ask TripAdvisor to remove the original post that the customer had written… as it was not a review but just a racist rant.

“We have asked tripadvisor to remove this review as it is NOT a review, just a racist rant & we do not agree with racism. Let’s hope he behaves himself in other Hout Bay restaurants… otherwise he will only be able to eat food touched by white hands”

The restaurant also took to Facebook to offer a free drink to any of their clients who came in that weekend but only if they wore a plaster on their face in solidarity. The restaurant was full the entire weekend… and the all the staff joined in to wear a plaster too!

Massimo does so much for the Hout Bay community and we love him even more for his passion for South Africa & the people here!


Sources: GTG interview
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About the Author

Brent Lindeque is the founder and editor in charge at Good Things Guy.

Recognised as one of the Mail and Guardian’s Top 200 Young South African’s as well as a Primedia LeadSA Hero, Brent is a change maker, thought leader, radio host, foodie, vlogger, writer and all round good guy.

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