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The owner of a ramen shop made news last week when he placed a cash bounty on the heads of customers who leave a negative review for his restaurant. He posted his threat publicly on Instagram after two customers left one-star reviews.
The owner of TOYOJIRO, a Jiro-style ramen restaurant in Kyoto, Japan, not only posted his threat, he also shared photos of the customers with a cash reward for anyone who would be willing to identify them for him. The customers had complained about the customer service and the quality of the food at the restaurant.
According to Anime Galaxy, the owner of the ramen restaurant, after seeing the negative reviews, wrote on Instagram, “If you write a stupid review, we’ll find you. We’ll beat you up.” In addition to the threat, he also shared photos of the customers and offered a reward of 100,000 yen ($662) to anyone who could provide the customers’ personal information, location, or that would be willing to take action against them.
“I saw your post, and you seem a bit weird. We try not to treat people like you as customers, so it’s fine,” the ramen shop owner continued. “But you should probably avoid eating out. Someday, someone like you will get screwed. I don’t care — just come directly, and I’ll deal with you. We run a planned business, so if you get in our way, we’ll get in the way of yours too.”
The owner added that he will continue searching for them until they come back to the ramen restaurant, eat another meal there, and leave a positive review with a photo.
“The only thing he can do is come back, eat again, and write a good review with a photo,” the owner wrote in a another message which went viral with over almost 36 million views. “I told him I won’t forgive him otherwise — not even for the safety of his family. If he does that, he’ll be killed right away. This kid is so scared. He’ll really do it, so he’d better just come back and eat.”
After much backlash, the New York Post reports that the ramen shop owner walked back his threats, at least publicly.
“Our restaurant, which achieved champion status on Japan’s largest ramen site, Ramen Database, just one month after opening, deeply regrets the recent incident we have caused,” he would later write. “…this incident has resulted in a shameful outcome for us. We are committed to transforming ourselves and becoming a ramen restaurant that is truly supported by customers from around the world.”