Target error drives customers away from Ponsonby café

A Ponsonby cafe is angry at Target after a sampling error means that it possibly was not their chicken that had a high reading of faecal coliform, despite that fact being broadcast on TV3.TV3 consumer affairs show Target issued an apology last week after an element of one of it's café hygiene segments contained an error.

The June 16 episode of Target stated that a high level of faecal coliform was found in the chicken at Ponsonby's Café Cezanne. Further investigation by the shows producers found an error in the way an employee had coded the samples from each of the café's featured in the segment. This therefore means that Top Shelf Productions was unable to confirm which café actually had the high reading of faecal coliform in their food.

Top Shelf Productions is said to have fired the employee responsible, saying the error was "completely unacceptable".

Café Cezanne owners Rod Williams and Jackie Wilkinson say they have taken legal advice on the issue as they have experienced a large drop in customer numbers since the episode was broadcast on TV3.

"Sometimes we hear people walking past and saying 'That was the dirty place on Target'. It's horrible," said Wilkinson.

Target producer Laurie Clarke admits the mistake was embarrassing for them, but is satisfied it was completely down to the error of the now former employee.

While we do know that a mistake was made with the coding of the samples, one of the café's featured in the episode of Target - including Café Cezanne - still did produce the high reading of faecal coliform, there is just now no way to confirm which of them it was.

Perhaps Target should re-test each of the café's to confirm their levels of hygiene once and for all.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

The people responsible for allowing this to air on TV should be sued into oblivion. It is obvious that these people do not have a clue how hard it is to build a successful business in NZ.

Anonymous said...

too true

Anonymous said...

Have you really thought this through? After years (I think 10) of Target and hundreds of episodes that help people save money... One employee makes a mistake and you want all the people who work on target to lose their jobs?

I'm guessing that Cafe Cezanne has had so much free press that this mistake has most likely kept their business in business.

The girl who made the mistake has been fired and by all accounts is near suicidal.

Good job.

Jess

Media Blogger said...

I do agree about Target doing far more help than harm over the years!

Veronica said...

The point is: The person working for TV3 responsible for approving the material to go on air despite knowing the results were inconclusive should face the music. All of you who do not own a business in an industry that relies on good hygiene practices and good reputation should not comment. A formal apology to Cafe Cezanne's owners should be published and aired. And dear Anonymous, with no courage to tell your name: No, bad publicity does not equal to an increase in business. It's not a reality TV celebrity we're talking about: it's a business. Grow up.

Anonymous said...

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