Singapore — Two years after the stunt of live crabs in a claw machine, House of Seafood in Punggol attracted backlash once more after its staff was spotted walking crabs outside the restaurant.
Photos of the crab-walking incident were posted on the restaurant’s Facebook page on Jun 18, which has since been removed.
The restaurant explained that it has begun walking its crabs for sale, so they don’t atrophy.
“We love our crabs, the same way as everyone loves their pets! To make sure our crabs are really meaty can satisfy every of our food patrons, we would bring them out strolling along the breezy Punggol Beach, just to get enough exercises…cheers!” read the caption.
The post garnered backlash from members of the public, noting it was a form of animal cruelty. Others said it was a “crap marketing” effort.
On top of the crab-walking incident, customers brought to light the chaotic queuing situation in the restaurant during Father’s Day as they collected pre-orders.
In response to the two incidents, House of Seafood’s chief executive officer, Francis Ng, held a Facebook live stream on Jun 22 to apologise.
He explained his side of the story, wherein the six crabs were taken for a walk because he “sympathised” with them being tied up in the cage the whole day.
Mr Ng added that the walk only lasted five minutes. Four of the crabs also had their claws tied to prevent them from hurting passers-by.
The photos of the crab-walking incident serve as a “souvenir” of the Covid-19 pandemic when his business was severely affected, said Mr Ng.
The CEO later mentioned that he opened a new outlet requiring a transfer of experienced staff from the Punggol branch.
“If the crab’s claw drops, it is cruelty,” said Mr Ng, highlighting he had learned his lesson from the claw machine incident.
He also clarified that the crabs that went for a walk were brought home and not sold in the restaurant.
Regarding the Father’s Day crowd, Mr Ng said that it was due to an increase in orders by regular customers “reminded” of the restaurant after the crab-walking incident.
He did not turn down the additional orders as they were from regular patrons.
Mr Ng explained that the long waiting time was partly caused by crabs being cooked close to pickup time to uphold freshness.
Mr Ng covered other issues during his livestream such as the lack of manpower at the Punggol outlet and two experienced staff members being deployed to the new outlet.
This resulted in a drop in standard of customer service, said Mr Ng, addressing the concern of some customers.
Moving forward, Mr Ng said he would reduce the limit of pre-orders and spread out the collection timeslots to avoid another overcrowding issue.
At the end of the session, Mr Ng gave a shoutout to the eight or so customers who were upset over the service quality or long wait on Father’s Day.
He promised to deliver vouchers or crabs to unsatisfied customers. Those who are eligible for the offer can call 6466 9000 and look for Mr Ng.
/TISG
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Seafood restaurant owner makes public apology for live crab claw machine