Cranbourne West’s Coffee Bean Cafe gives dog bowl of boiling hot water
A popular cafe is facing fierce backlash after staff served a dog a bowl of “boiling” water. And people aren’t impressed with the owner’s apology.
South East
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A Cranbourne West cafe has come under fire after a staff member served a dog a bowl of “boiling” water.
Dog lovers have lashed out at Coffee Bean Cafe in the Quarters Estate following the incident on Sunday, calling for people to boycott the cafe amid animal cruelty claims.
Tracy Kenyon told the Leader she went to the Strathlea Drive cafe for breakfast with her rottweiler, Bobby, most weekends since it opened a few months ago.
But she said she’d “never be going back” after the waitress gave her beloved pooch an ice cream container full of hot water, causing him pain.
Ms Kenyon was at the cafe with other members of her dog walking group on March 21 when she asked a waitress for some water for Bobby.
“The dogs were hot after a 5km walk so I asked the girl for some water and she brought it over and put it about 2m away from us,” she said.
“That was fine, I just thought maybe she was scared of the dogs and didn’t want to come closer.
“Bobby put his nose into it, pulled his head back really suddenly and yelped and when I checked the water is was super super hot.”
Ms Kenyon said when she looked over at the staff member she was pointing and laughing about the incident with colleagues.
“I saw red, I was furious,” she said.
“I call her over and started telling her off and she just kept giggling at me.”
Ms Kenyon said she contacted the owner that day but his response had been “unsatisfactory”.
“He told me ‘next time bring your own water,” she said.
In the private exchange, seen by the Leader, Coffee Bean Cafe’s owner acknowledged the staff member had filled the bowl with hot water and “she has since been shown which tap to use and will never give out warm water again”.
Bobby wasn’t seriously injured in the incident and did not require veterinary care.
Ms Kenyon detailed her experience in a Facebook post which has been shared hundreds of times.
“I had no idea it would explode like this — I just wanted people to be aware,” she said.
“I only decided to go public with this after he refused to apologise to me.”
Coffee Bean Cafe manager, Steve, has since issued a public apology via Facebook, saying “it was a coincidence” and urging people to “give us another chance”.
“We are truly apology (sic) for the coincidences earlier on Sunday,” he wrote.
“We will ensure that a higher standard of quality will be provided. We ensure all staffs (sic) are trained and knowing where to get cold water.”
He promised to “lift the management standard to the next level” to ensure nothing like that happened again.
But the apology has been slammed as “hollow” and “not good enough”.
Ionee Reid wrote: “Your staff member intentionally hurt an animal! … this was not an accident”.
“If you have a staff member who willingly tortures animals, I’d be considering suggesting they need to be psychologically assessed,” Belle Scully wrote.
“Shameful behaviour that is beyond forgiveness.”
Rachel Taylor wrote: “too little too late, charges should be laid and the staff member dismissed”.
“How can other staff in their right mind stand around and laugh at a dog copping a burn? You’ve employed a whole bunch of psychopaths,” Karen Caruso wrote.
The cafe’s Facebook page has been bombarded with angry messages and posts and has deactivated it’s “reviews” page following the incident.
It has also received a string of one-star reviews on Google since the incident.
But others have jumped to the cafe’s defence, saying “there’s no way” the incident could have occurred because “the dog would have been able to sense the water was boiling”.
Wendy Powney wrote: “If it was boiling hot water like (the owner) stated wouldn’t you see the steam? Plus, dogs would not drink hot water”.
James Bush wrote: “Great cafe and customer service. Any sensible dog owners knows a dog would not drink boiling water, just sad trolls trying (to) ruin a great cafe and nice business”.
Many were quick to point out the owner had confirmed the incident had occurred in his apology post but had tried to make excuses, by “implying the staff do not know where the cold water tap is”.
Ms Kenyon said she “never ever, ever wanted” to put the cafe owner out of business.
“That’s not what I wanted at all but by the same token, all he had to do was apologise to me privately when I told him what had happened,” she said.
It is understood the staff member no longer works at the cafe.
Coffee Bean Cafe has not returned the Leader’s calls.
