Ellis Watson visited a Toby Carvery in Swansea with a friend on July 9. Her friend struggled to finish a meal of gammon, stuffing, roast potatoes, vegetables and a Yorkshire pudding. Ellis asked for the leftovers to be packed to take home.
She claims staff said they had no takeaway boxes. A waiter offered to “wrap it up”. The leftovers were bundled together in cling film and formed into a cylindrical parcel.
Cling Film Parcel Instead of Box
Ellis says she questioned the wrap but was told no takeaway containers were available, even though she noticed some stacked for deliveries. A video taken at home shows the squashed meal being unwrapped and emptied onto a plate before she threw it away, describing it as “slop”.
Ellis, from Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, said: “I was out with a friend catching up and she can't eat much due to medication. Instead of paying for a child's meal she paid for an adult one to take [any leftovers] away. She only had about four bites. We noticed they had the takeaway boxes and that's why we asked. [After asking for a takeaway box] the waitress said 'I haven't got a box but I can wrap it up for you'. I thought it would come out in a takeaway box. I'd just watched them give one out to a delivery driver. Then they came out with it all wrapped in cling film. I got up and said 'is this a laugh?' to the chef behind the counter. I asked for one of the [takeaway] bowls and he said 'I'm not allowed to give you one'. I went 'you are kidding me?' and he said 'listen, I'm on your side, it's not me. Go and speak to the manager'. So even the chef knew it was wrong. How do you put a whole Sunday dinner in cling film? I spoke to the manager and he still wouldn't give me one. He said they were running short, but I saw them for takeaways. It's not even like a Yorkshire pudding wrap, it's literally all poured in. It looked like a dog's dinner, like slop.”
Complaint and Response
Ellis lodged a complaint. In an email, Toby Carvery said: “With our takeaway boxes we purely use these for takeaway use, which are prepared by guest at the deck or by our team in the kitchen. These are then taken by our guests straight away. This avoids the temperature dropping too low and needed to be reheated. Our food is intended to be ate straight away not reheated. We have a duty of care to our guests to ensure we are providing temperature controlled food so food can be ate straight away and not reheated. This takes away the element of human error of the food being underheated and possibly making themselves ill.”
Ellis responded: “They're a multi-million pound company, I think they could invest in a few takeaway containers.” The Mirror has approached Mitchells & Butlers, who own Toby Carvery, for comment.
