KFC

Vegan Woman 'Humiliated' After KFC Staff Swapped Vegan Burger For Chicken

Updated September 5, 2021

More and more restaurants are taking the time to ensure that their menus are friendly for people with specific dietary needs or preferences.

Regardless of how you may feel about the latest food trends, having options on their menus is good for the restaurants' bottom line because it increases the potential customer base, and gives more options to people with specific dietary needs.

Are some of the most vocal vegans, vegetarians, anti-gluten folks, etc. kind of annoying? Yes, but most are just trying to live their lives and maybe have an option when everyone else in their group wants a bucket of chicken.

Which is why no matter how much you may hate vegans, what happened to Vanessa Franco isn't cool.

Facebook | Vanessa Franco

Vanessa is a lifelong vegetarian who recently switched to a full vegan diet. When she saw that KFC was now offering a new Original Recipe Vegan Burger, she decided to head to her nearest London location and give it a try.

The new sandwich just launched throughout the UK after a very successful run in test markets.

KFC

The sandwich is made with a Quorn meatless breaded fillet and the famous 11 Herbs and Spices. It even uses vegan mayo.

I can see why a lifelong vegetarian would be interested in trying it, even if just to see what the fuss over that spice blend is all about.

However, after three bites, she felt like something wasn't right and returned through the drive thru to ask about it.

Unsplash | Brian Chan

Instead of simply apologizing for the error and making her a new sandwich, the worker at the window asked why Vanessa had taken a whole three bites before realizing it was chicken.

Vanessa explained that having never eaten chicken before, she didn't immediately know what she was eating.

Wikimedia | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Popcorn_Chicken_(Fresno_CA)_KFC.jpg

Plus, it was breaded and fried. Everything looks the same like that.

The worker told her to come inside to speak with a manager.

So Vanessa parked and woke up her sleeping baby so that she could go into the store, where she says that the manager also never apologized and instead laughed at her for not knowing it wasn't chicken before eating it.

At least he did replace her sandwich.

That's just not cool.

It's unclear whether or not the swapped sandwich was a mistake, but imagine if the wrong item was given to a person with an allergy.

Vanessa told SWNS that the incident left her feeling humiliated and traumatized.

It's not just a case of a vegan being upset over eating meat — though I can understand her shock.

This is a case of staff at a restaurant serving the incorrect order to a customer and not only failing to apologize but actively ridiculing that customer for taking a few bites.

Vanessa wasn't coming into a random restaurant and demanding special treatment.

She ordered an item off the menu and was given the wrong thing. Her dietary preferences aren't cause for ridicule.

KFC UK's representatives did take notice of Vanessa's incident.

Unsplash | Maxime Lebrun

In a statement, KFC said: "We’re following up with the team to remind them of the importance of getting this right and will be offering the guest a free meal on us to put things right."

And hopefully, they will be "reminded" of the importance of good customer service too.

h/t: INSIDER

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People & Society