Auckland cafe fires manager over anti-Muslim messages

An online row erupted over an Auckland cafe's halal offerings. Photo / Michael Craig

An Auckland cafe has fired a manager who sent abusive messages about halal food and the Muslim community to a potential customer on social media.

Screenshots of the exchange show Cocobeans Cafe telling the customer to "go back to your country" and "this country is full of bacon ham [sic] n beers".

The Muslim housewife on the receiving end of the messages was shocked. "I was scared, upset anxious - why was this person swearing on me?" she said, asking not to be named for fear of retaliation.

She had sent a private message to Cocobeans Cafe's Facebook page on Thursday morning to ask if the cafe was halal. They replied to say the meat was halal but not the premises, which served ham and bacon.

The housewife shared the response on a Muslim community group that regularly posts updates on halal restaurants in Auckland. "It's something we as Muslims want to know, you know, whether we can eat at a place or not."

That evening, she received a slew of abusive messages.

Screenshot of the exchange between the cafe and a potential customer. Photo / Supplied

She shared those as well. "I didn't know it would become this huge thing," she said.

Cocobeans owner Radhika Naidu said the messages were sent by the cafe manager handling their Facebook account and do not reflect the sentiments of management and staff.

The manager was asked to leave shortly after Naidu found out about the incident.

"Once again I wish to extend my sincere apologies to the Muslim community," she said over email.

Naidu had made a Facebook post a week earlier about the cafe's "100% halal" meat , prompting comments and questions online that the cafe also served alcohol and pork.

"It got heated, there were abusive comments both ways," says Aneez Jalil, a former president of the NZ Muslim Association who volunteered to help the cafe manage the kerfuffle.

The cafe's Facebook page had been bombarded with messages and accusations about its halal offerings for days and the former manager who was handling the page had written the abusive messages "in the heat of the moment", he said.

Jalil said the owners are distraught that an employee lost their job over the incident. The cafe wants to serve Muslim customers but did not understand what a halal kitchen involved, and the incident has been a steep learning curve for the business.

He is now working with Naidu to ensure the cafe runs a proper halal kitchen.

They have taken down the cafe's Facebook page in the meantime.