IKEA's Hyderabad Store in Trouble Again as Customer 'Finds' Insect in Chocolate Cake

Troubles for Swedish furniture major IKEA’s first-ever store in India don’t seem to end. The brand is in hot water again after a customer, who purchased a chocolate cake from the Hyderabad outlet, alleged that he found an insect in it.

On September 12, Kishore took to Twitter to complain that he had found an insect in the cake he bought for his daughter at the food counter in the IKEA outlet. He added that the insect "was moving and not flying" as suggested by the store manager.

The incident comes just a few days after a caterpillar was found in the biryani that was served in the store. After a complaint was registered with the food safety officer, the store was slapped with a penalty of Rs 11,500. A notice was also sent to Haldirams, the biryani vendor in Nagpur, from where the restaurant procures its food.

Ikea on Thursday issued an apology to the customer and assured steps to prevent recurrence of such incidents.

“In our Hyderabad restaurant when a customer was eating a chocolate cake which he bought, a fly was seen on the cake which eventually flew away. We regret this and apologize to our customer for the unfortunate experience. We are taking steps to avoid such occurrences. However, no samples were collected or inspection carried out by GHMC on the said incident. Further, IKEA has not been issued any notice or fined by the corporation," said an IKEA spokesperson.

Twitter users seemed divided over the incident, with many calling it an attempt to tarnish the reputation of the brand.