Rameshwaram Cafe, a popular south Indian restaurant chain, has responded to a recent raid by the Telangana Food Safety Department that uncovered expired food items at their Hyderabad outlet. The raid, which took place on May 23, found 100 kg of expired urad dal, 10 kg of curd, and 8 liters of milk.
The cafe's co-founder, Raghavendra Rao, acknowledged the mistakes and apologised to customers in a video message. However, Rao also claimed that the expired items were intended for dispatch, not for use in preparing food. Additionally, he refuted reports of unlabeled products, stating it's not illegal, and denied the presence of cockroaches in their kitchen. “We are here to deliver the best product as we were promising and coming using the best ingredients forever. Little mistakes we have made and I sincerely apologise for it,” he said.
Rao however didn’t explain what he meant by dispatch. The video was posted by several influencers on social media.
He said that the cafe has taken some corrective actions. They've launched an internal investigation and are cooperating fully with the authorities. Hygiene and standard checks have also been ordered across all their outlets. “Our vision is to play globally. We know we can’t make a single mistake. I take it as a lesson. Said the same thing to my entire team to correct each and every step so that we can’t go wrong anyway. This is how we probably learn. And again I am promising you, and I want to tell you very strongly that all our raw ingredients are premium quality.”
A day after the raid, Raghavendra and co-founder Divya released a statement on social media. They reiterated their commitment to hygiene and safety standards. “From the consumption perspective at our Hyderabad outlet alone, we require over 500 kgs of urad dal weekly, 300 liters of milk daily and 80 to 100 liters of curd daily. The stocks found were sealed and unattended, intended for dispatch and not for consumption.”
The statement also addressed the unlabeled product claims and the alleged presence of cockroaches, which they say originated from a different restaurant. “The law does not prohibit the use of unlabelled products. We uphold the highest hygiene standards, and some reports have falsely claimed that cockroaches were found in our kitchen. The official report does not mention this; in fact, the cockroaches were found at a different restaurant, not at The Rameshwaram Cafe. At our cafe, we conduct deep cleaning daily and pest control every month to maintain our standards,” the statement read.