A spur for training in how to handle bigots

Selling burgers is broadly speaking not controversial - even when your tagline is "a taste for life", but you are selling, well, you know what I mean, and your company has had to deal with accusations of cultural appropriation for its logo.

And so for JSE-listed Spur Corporation, its Spur Steak Ranches was a business that was ticking over fairly nicely, sort of.

The business was started in 1967 in Newlands in Cape Town, and after the founder Allen Ambor opened the second outlet in Sea Point its popularity sparked a plan to franchise.

The group now has 590 outlets in South Africa and several other countries. It includes Panarottis Pizza Pasta, Captain DoRegos, John Dory's, The Hussar Grill and RocoMamas in which it has 51% interest.

Last month, Spur Corporation reported that for the six months to December 2016 total franchised restaurant sales from continuing operations rose 10.4% to R3.8-billion. And profit was up 20.7%. So things were looking good. Except, actually, trading conditions were quite tough.

Captain DoRegos sales plummeted almost 16%, which the company said was due to the "financial stress of consumers in the brand's lower-income market".

And at its mainstay Spur Steak Ranches, sales rose just 4%, as spend per head dipped even though market share and foot traffic were maintained.

Coming to the rescue were the 50 RocoMamas, where business was incredibly brisk, driven by millennials with money.

Also helping was The Hussar Grill, John Dory's and Panarottis Pizza Pasta.

But Spur Steak Ranches is the mother ship with sales that dwarf the group's other brands, meaning that calls this week for a boycott won't help - if, in fact, it gains traction.

This comes after Spur was sucked into the vortex of social media and is busy being spat out at the other end.

The call to boycott the brand could also hit those who work there. With 291 Spur stores each employing on average 75 people, one is talking about more than 21,000 jobs.

In case you haven't been paying attention: the Spur incident happened last Sunday when a man accosted a woman at a Spur restaurant, grabbing her child and threatening her.

Spur's initial response was inadequate - to be generous - when it referred to the man as a gentleman.

The incident raised such ire because of the man's entitled aggressive behaviour. The staff seemed unable to intervene, unsure perhaps how the incident would play out and what it could mean for their jobs if they did remove him from the premises.

Now we know, if there was ever any doubt, that even in the apparently happy climes of a family restaurant racism still plays itself out - as it does elsewhere over and over again in this country.

Some white people are now calling for a boycott of Spur Steak Ranches, unable to grasp why the banning of this man is the minimum that should have been done.

This is a lesson for all companies that staff need to be trained in dealing with racism. It's simple. Kick the perpetrator out. Each time racism is tolerated it makes the space for racists that much bigger.

Never keen to let an opportunity pass, the fakers are it at again, this time with fake Nando's advertisements.

Nando's has distanced itself from the ads that poke fun at the Spur incident.

But it did put out a video that makes a sharp point about how unaware most people are of their own prejudice.

Ignorance is no excuse. And for those who want to boycott Spur, my advice to the company is to put up a sign at the entrance to each restaurant, saying: racism and sexism are not tolerated here. Don't like it, well, then cheers.

I am sure they can find some consultant to put that into corporate speak.

Enslin-Payne is deputy editor of Business Times