Jollibee temporarily shuts down BGC branch after 'fried towel' complaint

MANILA, Philippines — Fast food giant Jollibee Foods Corp. is temporarily shutting down one of its stores in Bonifacio Global City after a customer who ordered a fried chicken complained about receiving a deep-fried towel instead.

Jollibee’s branch in Bonifacio – Stop Over will cease operations for three days starting Thursday to “thoroughly review its compliance with procedures and retrain its store team” to avoid a repeat of the incident, the company said in a statement.

“We will also send out reminders to all stores to ensure the strict adherence to Jollibee’s food preparation system,” it added.

In a viral social media post, the customer claimed she was served a breaded fried towel instead when she purchased Jollibee’s famous Chickenjoy from the BGC branch via a food delivery service app.

“Ordered chicken for my son, while I was trying to get him a bite, I found it super hard to even slice. Tried opening it up with my hands and to my surprise a deep fried towel,” the customer said.

“This is really disturbing... How the hell do you get the towel in the batter and even fry it,” she added.

Jollibee said it is “deeply concerned” by the incident and has launched an investigation. “It is unfortunate that deviations from Jollibee’s standard food preparation procedures occurred on the part of certain personnel of the store,” it added. — Ian Nicolas Cigaral