Spur 'won't entertain' New York Times 'white boycott' claims

Spur says it refuses to "entertain" claims that white South Africans continue to boycott the restaurant chain after an alleged "racist row" between two customers in 2017.

Two years ago Spur released footage that captured an argument between the customers in front of small children at one of its restaurants. In the video, a woman allegedly defended her son and branded another patron a "coward", before he lifted up a table and started shaking it.

Spur later apologised to the woman and banned the man from its restaurant for his alleged "aggressive manner and unacceptable" actions. The ban caused outrage within the white community as people demanded both customers should have been banned.

The New York Times recently published an article claiming that white South Africans still continued to boycott the restaurants following the incident. 

Johan Pienaar, who was a consultant for Spur during the boycott in 2017, told the publication that no one in the country thought it would be that effective, and that six months following the protest, the restaurant's sales had dropped by more than 9%. 

When approached by TimesLIVE, Spur spokesperson Moshe Apleni said the situation had been dealt with two years ago.  

"We told The New York Times that we would not comment, but they went ahead with the story. From our side, the story is old and we will not entertain it," he said. 

In an interview on CapeTalk at the height of the boycotts, Spur chief operating officer Mark Farrelly said many customers who had taken part in the boycott had "been misled" and "a lot of mischievous, malicious stuff has been put out on social media".