Sweet Dixie Kitchen in Long Beach California is known in the area for their ‘southern inspired’ menu, which features items such as sweet potato hash, chicken and waffles and bread pudding.
But, as Yelp user Tyler H. recently discovered, not “everything is made here” as their Facebook page claimed (it has been amended since this story appeared on Munchies.Vice.com).
After ordering his $13 plate of Chicken and Waffles at Sweet Dixie Kitchen, he noticed some employees bringing a bag from Popeyes chicken into the kitchen. Thinking it was probably a meal for the employees, he didn’t think much of it.
Until his order of chicken and waffles arrived at the table and he thought the chicken tasted very familiar. He called the waiter over who confirmed that Sweet Dixie Kitchen does in fact use Popeyes for their poultry source.
Things took an even more bizarre turn when Sweet Dixie Kitchen’s owner Kimberly Sanchez responded to Tyler’s Yelp review with rather convoluted response, including “So whatever to you and your little review like it was some great exposure, and whatever to you dude.”
Poor public relations skills aside, Sanchez does raise an interesting point about her need to or not to reveal where she sources her ingredients from. For example, nobody is going to care which produce distributor they source their sweet potatoes from for their sweet potato hash.
From my extremely limited knowledge of business law (although I did get a 3.2 in Professor Lee’s class 17 years ago), I believe it would be Popeyes’ decision whether they would require other restaurants who use their product as an ingredient to disclose their brand name on the menu or not. Munchies has reached out to Popeyes for comment but has not heard back yet.
Obviously the statement that “Everything is made here” was incorrect and misleading since Sweet Dixie Kitchen doesn’t even have a fryer in their kitchen.
My question is, since they have updated their Facebook page to clarify that “most” menu items are made “from scratch,” are they really cheating or lying to their customers but not revealing whom they source their chicken from? (Provided of course that Popeyes has no disclosure requirements)
What do you think? Should the chicken be viewed the same as any other ingredient and not need to have their source revealed on the menu?
And with her P.R. skillz, would Kimberly Sanchez make an excellent White House Press Secretary and should she be added to our next list?
Geeky Daddy 