A Burger King in New Mexico has become embroiled in controversy this week, after its employees were accused of serving a police officer food with a crudely drawn pig sketched onto the wrapper. Officer Timo Rosenthal revealed that he was incredibly disappointed to have received the defaced food, which has prompted an investigation from the Clovis-based restaurant and resulted in the sacking of the employees responsible. 

Rosenthal shared his experience through Facebook, where he posted an image of the wrapper along with the text, “When you order food in uniform.” He went on to caption the photo, “Well, while on lunch break (and in uniform) I ordered food at Burger King and received this. The patties were burnt and the burger was of very poor quality. Guess that was the last time I ate at Burger King in Clovis, NM.”

Rosenthal was supported by his superior officers at the Clovis Police Department, who went on to add that they were “disappointed” that a member of the force had been treated in such a way. The local police chief labelled the behaviour of the unnamed Burger King employees as “disrespectful and derogatory,” which perhaps prompted the fast food chain to take more direct action. 

As soon as the story became publicised, Burger King released a statement to Fox News, in which they admitted, “What occurred is unacceptable and not in line with our brand values.  When made aware of the incident, the restaurant owner immediately reached out to the officer involved to apologize and terminated the team members involved.”

In addition to removing the responsible employees, Burger King also revealed that the Clovis restaurant will be “offering free meals to uniformed officers and will provide a catered lunch to the police department as a gesture of goodwill.” Whether that will be enough to repair burned bridges remains to be seen.

A Burger King in New Mexico has become embroiled in controversy this week, after its employees were accused of serving a police officer food with a crudely drawn pig sketched onto the wrapper. Officer Timo Rosenthal revealed that he was incredibly disappointed to have received the defaced food, which has prompted an investigation from the Clovis-based restaurant and resulted in the sacking of the employees responsible. 

Rosenthal shared his experience through Facebook, where he posted an image of the wrapper along with the text, “When you order food in uniform.” He went on to caption the photo, “Well, while on lunch break (and in uniform) I ordered food at Burger King and received this. The patties were burnt and the burger was of very poor quality. Guess that was the last time I ate at Burger King in Clovis, NM.”

Rosenthal was supported by his superior officers at the Clovis Police Department, who went on to add that they were “disappointed” that a member of the force had been treated in such a way. The local police chief labelled the behaviour of the unnamed Burger King employees as “disrespectful and derogatory,” which perhaps prompted the fast food chain to take more direct action. 

As soon as the story became publicised, Burger King released a statement to Fox News, in which they admitted, “What occurred is unacceptable and not in line with our brand values.  When made aware of the incident, the restaurant owner immediately reached out to the officer involved to apologize and terminated the team members involved.”

In addition to removing the responsible employees, Burger King also revealed that the Clovis restaurant will be “offering free meals to uniformed officers and will provide a catered lunch to the police department as a gesture of goodwill.” Whether that will be enough to repair burned bridges remains to be seen.