A pizza restaurant owner who posted pictures of customers that complained about waiting nearly two hours for their food has revealed he may be forced to close.
La Pizza in Friar Gate, Derby, was at the centre of a CCTV spat after its owner posted snaps of a couple on Facebook claiming they were "very rude" and tried to leave without paying after an hour and 45 minute wait for their food.
The couple reluctantly coughed up after the lengthy delay because they didn't know their rights - but the row made national headlines with many punters siding with the customers, reports Derbyshire Live .
The restaurant, opened in 2016, has been closed for "emergency repairs" since last week following heavy rain, but the owner has now revealed he is considering closing for good as it isn't making any profit.
Mr Palermo said: "That place, I’ve done more as a hobby and a passion, you know. And I’m losing it at the moment. I’m really losing that interest, because we make no financial gains and I’m keeping it open.
"But now, recently, I have been thinking – is it even worth it for me to try to do everything I’m doing when actually there’s no financial gain from any of it?
"Put yourself in my shoes. I would love everybody to realise. I would love people to say ‘hold on a minute. Let’s stop being like this’."
As of Monday morning, there had been 279 comments on the Derbyshire Live Facebook page under the original story , published on Friday, about Arron May and his partner's customer experience.
Of those, 106 expressed an opinion on the argument. A total of 85 comments (80%) were in support of the couple, and 16 (15%) were in favour of La Pizza and Mr Palermo. The remaining five comments did not clearly take one side or the other.
Some questioned whether or not Mr May and his partner could have behaved better.
On the Derbyshire Live website, a commenter with the username FuriouslyAngry said they were in the restaurant at the time.
They wrote: "The couple seen in the CCTV had a right to be upset with the waiting time but I found their behaviour quite poor to be honest.
"From my experience the restaurant has always had good staff, but it does seem to be quite understaffed these days. The blame should be on the owner."
In response Mr May, of Sinfin, said he had already used privacy laws to request a copy of the CCTV from La Pizza and he claimed it would prove he was in the right.
He said of the witness's claims: "I say that is a complete load of rubbish.
"I am trained in conflict management and have worked doors and am used to dealing with aggressive drunks. I'm so disgusted in how we were both treated as I am used to dealing with people professionally, using good customer service, which this venue clearly needs training in.
"You will probably find the commenter is a member of staff or a friend of someone in the venue."
