Restaurant Apologizes To Police Officer Their Cook Refused To Serve

Noodles & Company, a popular sit-and-serve restaurant chain with locations throughout the U.S., has apologized to a police officer that one of their cooks refused to serve in Alexandria, Virginia.

Employees of Noodles and Company on Duke Street Alexandria accused of refusing to serve uniformed police. @wusa9 pic.twitter.com/drdNu6V28s

— Scott Broom (@scottbroom) July 26, 2016

The incident happened on Monday night. The female officer, who was on duty and dressed as such, was waiting in line to place her order when one of the cooks came over and said, according to an article by WUSA9.com, that he or she would not serve “that one.”

“As the officer was waiting to place her order, she told her colleagues that a cook walked to the cashier and said, ‘I’m not cooking for that one.'”

Crystal Nosal, a representative of the police department where the officer works, gave a statement to the press, as The Washington Post reported.

“Nosal said the cashier looked confused before spotting the officer and laughing. The officer then said, according to Nosal, ‘I guess you don’t want my money,’ and left.”

The officer, who requested to remain anonymous, got the cook’s message loud and clear and immediately exited the establishment. She notified her superior officer shortly thereafter.

Noodles & Company did apologize to Police Chief Earl Cook during a visit he and the manager had at the restaurant on Tuesday.

“‘I’m extremely disappointed; you don’t want your officers treated in this manner,’ he said. ‘We have a very supportive business community — that’s the last thing I would have expected to happen.'”

Cook goes on to address the current nation-wide tension between police officers and radical left-wing groups like “Black Lives Matter.”

“He said that given recent anger directed toward police across the country, ‘we are all sensitized to being careful and being safe.’ He said he thought the officer handled the situation perfectly by simply leaving the restaurant.”

In addition to the apology, the Alexandria Noodles & Company has agreed to advertise respect for police officers by displaying a “Blue Lives Matter” sign for the public to see.

The restaurant also publicly stated that they’re actively working to “get to the bottom of the matter as quickly as possible.” Management has stated that the employees involved in the incident are to be disciplined accordingly.

This is not the first time in recent memory that apologies have had to be made to police departments in America. Other restaurants have had this exact same thing happen where their employees have refused service to law enforcement officers.

A Taco Bell in Phenix City, Alabama was forced to apologize to two officers after one of their employees refused them service and told them to leave. The altercation occurred on July 16.

AL woman says sheriff deputy husband denied service at Phenix City Taco Bell. https://t.co/ncm4aWccZO pic.twitter.com/sKXU2ixoGU

— WSFA 12 News (@wsfa12news) July 17, 2016

The officers, as in this most recent case, were dressed in uniform. At first, they didn’t take the employee seriously, according to The Washington Post.

“Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said the deputies initially thought the cashier was joking when she wouldn’t serve them late Saturday night at Taco Bell in Phenix City, near the Alabama-Georgia border.”

But the girl, who worked there as a cashier, was not making a joke. She told the officers that she wasn’t kidding and told them to leave.

The officers were given an apology and the employee was terminated.

Just days before the Taco Bell incident, the owner of Lucky Teriyaki, a small Chinese establishment located in Washington state told an entire police department that he wouldn’t serve them anymore and not to bother returning, Inside Edition reported.

“Four deputies with the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office were finishing lunch at Lucky Teriyaki in Sedro-Woolley, about 70 miles north of Seattle, when the restaurant’s owner asked them not to eat there anymore, Sheriff Will Reichardt said in a post on the Department’s Facebook page.”

https://www.facebook.com/SkagitCountySheriffsOffice/posts/1166872153333431

The restaurant owners allegedly told a different news outlet that there was a miscommunication and that police were more than welcome to eat there. But the sheriff denied that such a miscommunication took place. The sheriff also said that officers would respond to incidents at Lucky Teriyaki just like any other place in the county, but they would no longer be eating there.

There could be multiple factors at play as to why people are refusing to serve the country’s police officers. Apologizing is necessary, but unfortunately it doesn’t address the deeper problem of why it happens in the first place.

[Image via Tymur Pylypenko/Shutterstock Images]