Diners baffled by 'guilt-trip' water rule at restaurant - but owner defend it

16 November 2023 , 11:16

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Morten defended their decision (Image: Kennedy News/Köd London)

One London restaurant owner has been forced to defend his "cheeky" menu after offended customers said that they felt "guilt-tripped" for ordering water with the food they were eating.

Jane Breeds and her boyfriend visited Danish steakhouse Köd London, northeast London, on Sunday November 12 to take advantage of their all-you-can-eat roast dinner - but they were horrified when they read a certain part of the menu. The £30-per-head menu read: "You can have tap water…but please remember we're running a restaurant, not a charity - wink, wink." It then goes on to add: "If you want to have just tap water, we encourage you to donate £1 to Red Cross. Everybody wins."

Jane and her boyfriend weren't impressed with the menu message (Kennedy News/Köd London)

Jane, 27, said that she and her partner "made a point" then of not buying a drink, and instead ordered a jug of tap water, and branded the menu message as "wild behaviour" - despite the fact they paid a 15% tip due to "great service." The civil servant has since labelled the request for a donation "guilt-tripping" and "cheeky" given they'd spent £60 at the swanky venue.

But Köd owner Morten Ortwed has hit back at the criticism, sharing that his restaurant wouldn't be able to able to run the "great" Sunday-exclusive deal if nobody purchased drinks. He adds the note is "Danish humour" and admits he has "things to learn" about it working in the UK. The chain founder only opened the London branch in March following more than a decade in Denmark and Norway. The dad-of-two was keen to emphasise that Köd isn't forcing customers to buy drinks or donate but believes it would be a nice thing to do.

Morten, 38, a Red Cross ambassador, and Jane locked horns on Twitter where he attempted to explain the joke but she insisted his "snarky" message was putting customers off buying drinks. Jane, from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, said: "It's a bit cheeky to imply that I'm treating the restaurant as a charity when I'm spending £60. When I first saw the menu I laughed and told my boyfriend that we're not ordering any drinks. He asked why and I passed him the menu. He found it funny too and agreed to just stick to tap water.

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She continued: "I was given a jug and I didn't request for it to be refilled but I'm sure they would have done so. [The donation] is a nice idea but I don't think I should be guilt-tripped into donating to charity just because I only wanted to drink tap water. I didn't make a donation but I did happily pay the 15 per cent tip that is automatically added on though as the staff were great. They didn't say anything about us only drinking tap water and gave great service."

Köd has a cheaper Sunday menu - but a couple weren't impressed by the 'cheeky' message (Kennedy News/Köd London)

Jane's tweet, accompanied by a photo showing some of the message, said: "Made a point of not ordering drinks at Köd steakhouse by Liverpool Street after seeing this on the menu. Wild behaviour lol." Morten replied and said: "Thanks for [the] attention. You forget to say this is only for our Sunday special where we offer an all-you-can-eat roast for £30.

"We can't do that if everybody only do tap water. We try to add humour, not offence. Tap water is still free, Red Cross donation [is] optional!" Jane hit back: "I guarantee that you are turning more people off ordering drinks with your snarky messaging than you are encouraging people to order more drinks."

Morten added: "We are a Danish restaurant and maybe it's too much Danish humour, maybe it's not. We'll see. So far, you are the first we have heard a negative comment from. But we will take it into consideration in our evaluation. Thank you for the feedback."

One user commented: "Are they really expecting to turn a profit by selling water? Just close down the restaurant at this point bro." Someone else said: "I was ordering the Malbec, but having read that. Tap water please?" Another wrote: "That's a long-winded way of saying your business model doesn't work."

Danielle Kate Wroe