A Calgary man is expressing his frustrations after a piece of metal was found sitting on top of his family’s pizza he ordered from a fast-food chain.
Matt Sommerville says on Friday, Sept. 22, he placed an order for a few Hot and Ready pizzas through Skip the Dishes from the Little Caesars Pizza located on Fairmount Drive SE.
When the family sat down for dinner, Sommerville says they started digging in and that’s when they found the unexpected topping.
“All of a sudden one of the kids says what the heck is that, so I look over, I come over there and there’s a big piece of metal on top of the pizza,” he says.
“I was like this can’t be real, this is a joke, I thought it was an absolute joke. A lot of things went through my mind at that point.”
Sommerville says the rusted piece of metal wasn’t baked into the crust, or buried under toppings which made the discovery that much more concerning.
“I was like, how can somebody miss this? How is this possible? Like when you pack that, aren’t you looking at the pizza before you close the box?,” he questioned.
When Sommerville called the manger, he says they admitted that the piece of metal which is used to separate the crusts fell from the top shelf and that it came from their store.
What he was told next by the manager, he says, came to him as a shock.
“He said, well, it’s a big piece of metal, your kids aren’t gonna swallow it or anything and I said are you kidding me. I said even with all the health and safety concerns these days, you know they could have got sick,“ he says.
Little Caesars Pizza tells Global News that it is aware of the situation at the independently-owned and operated franchise.
In a statement it says that it “takes product quality very seriously and both the franchisee and a corporate representative have reached out to resolve the situation with the customer.”
Sommerville says he’s been in contact with the Little Caesars Pizza corporate head office and that they offered him a credit.
“I said no thank you, we won’t be eating there again, not a chance,“ he says.
Sommerville has received a full refund from Skip the Dishes, however he says he has yet to receive any compensation from the store where the pizzas were purchased.
Alberta Health Services has confirmed with Global News that it has received a complaint about the situation regarding “allegations a piece of metal was found in pizza ordered on Friday September 22,2023.”
AHS will be investigating the complaint and says it will be following up with the complainant and the business.
Little Caesars Pizza says it will be conducting an inspection of the restaurant’s equipment to ensure product quality.