Pizza Hut responds
October 19, 2007
This morning I received a comment from Mr. Lawrence Ding, Senior General Manager of Pizza Hut Restaurants Malaysia Berhad to the ‘How low can the racists go? Say no to Pizza Hut’ post.
As he had left his contact number, I called him and we had a chat.
He explained to me about the matter of the copies of the bills that were displayed in the post under comment. I offered to put his explanation up as a post if he would send it to me in writing.
He has.
It appears below.
_________________________
As discussed earlier, please allow me to give you a little background to the history of Pizza Hut Malaysia and how we arrived to this point of frenzied allegation in very race sensitive Malaysia.
KFC Holdings Berhad bought over Pizza Hut from Cerebos in Dec 1995. It was then a Quick Service Restaurants concept serving buffets and quick meals. It was operated as a fastfood chain concept then.
Over the years to remain relevant to our customers, Pizza Hut continued our journey of innovation to be a Casual Dining Restaurants Concept.
We have invested significantly since then, to change our image from a Fast Food Chain Concept to a Enhanced Dining Restaurant Chain Concept.
About 2 years ago, we began to roll out the new Pizza Hut restaurant image. The assets, image, etc were elevated. We also made significant changes to the Dine-In menu. It is a very significant change to our business strategy.
To make our investment viable in the long term, we conducted some research on all the Customers Touch Points namely, the Restaurant Assets, the Menu, the Uniform etc.
Thus for about 3 months, we had our docket capture our customers’ group size and race. This was done purely to see who or which segment of the population respond positively or negatively to our menu items. It is also very important for our New Product Development Team to develop menu items that will appeal to our customers.
We have had enough learnings from research and the exercise have stopped long ago.
I really hope, En Harris, that you will help promote the truth and publish this truth on your web, so that this lies will stop circulating….one day.
Your help is greatly appreciated.
Cheers and God Bless.
Lawrence Ding
October 19, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Ya..research…but why no service charge to those which is O type of race? and only to those which is C or I race?
October 19, 2007 at 6:19 pm
explanation accepted as far as i am concerned. case closed and they have moved on. and kudos to you Haris for being fair minded in allowing this posting.
guess bloggers are fairer than what some estbalishments wanted to portray.
October 19, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Pizza Hut, bah humbug!
Like other posts on this blog have said, what if the customers come in a mixed group? Or what if the customers look ‘mixed’ or are Sino-Kadazan, or like Haris Malay-Indian, then what letter code?
Do you expect your waiters to be able to differentiate between Japanese, Korean (I can’t) or mainland/overseas Chinese? Would those from China, Hong Kong or Taiwan be coded C2, C3 and C4?
Or be able to tell who is Kadazan, Kayan, Kelabit or the many, many other bumiputeras?
Furthermore, what item on your menu do you expect to taste differently on the palates of Malays vs Chinese vs Indians? Pizza Hut is serving Western food. Is creamy soup or salad more palatable to Haris than it is to me on account of our races?
What the company did was make its service staff profile diners according to race. If it had really wanted to know what ‘race’ customers belonged to, then pass a survey form for accurate info, giving diners the option whether they wish to divulge their ethnicity or not. What Pizza Hut did was impose an outrageous task on its staff, and imposing on the privacy of its customers.
Mr Lawrence Ding, you are fudging. Just admit-lah that Pizza Hut purveyed a negative, retrogressive strategy in – as you say – “very race sensitive Malaysia”.
Since we’re on the topic of how low can racists go … below are some thought-provoking words from Subang Jaya state assemblyman, Datuk Lee Hwa Beng, as posted on his platform http://www.hwabeng.org.my/blog/2 (btw, note his website is an “org” whereas, just as a matter of peripheral interest, The Star’s top man in editorial Datuk X2 Wong Chun Wai’s site is a “com’ … hmm, wonder where Wong gets the idea that his name is a brand).
Responding to the proposal mooted at the recent Gerakan congress (but in any case shot down double-quick by party president Koh Tsu Koon), MCA’s Lee says multi-racial parties are a bad idea because – in his own words (verbatim):
a) … the majority of the members will consists of Malay only
b) This means nominations for councillors at municipal levels, candidates for State and Parliament will be decided by predominantly or all Malay committees at all levels
c) We will then see no more or the very few non-Malays nominated at the pleasure of the Malay-dominated committees for councillorship, State Excos and Cabinets
Lee’s Freudian slip is showing. It is ‘edifying’ to see how low the MCA will go for their places on the councils, state excos and tokenism in Cabinet – paltry (4 out of 33 Ministerial seats) and low-priority portfolios at that for the supposed No.2 party in the coalition.
Two points I wish to highlight:
1) In the 1969 general elections, when the MCA was trashed and winning 13 seats out of the 33 that it contested, the party prevailed only in constituencies with a strong Malay representation. At subsequent polls, MCA has banked as much on Malay votes as it does on the race it carries in its ‘association’ name. Yet Lee claims that that MCA will not get enough Malay support to retain people like him in their lofty positions. Sounds like Doublespeak to me in the light of MCA’s perpetual claims on BN consensus and its solidarity formula …
2) I’ve observed that the talkbalk on the ‘Save the Judiciary’ petition came mostly from Chinese names. From this I infer that Chinese are backing this site’s operator Haris – who is not Chinese – to articulate their deep-seated frustrations. What does the MCA communal logic make of this bizarre phenomenon, eh?
My two posers for the party that is purportedly representing my race are:
1) What is the scope of your (MCA) brief within the BN’s Jurassic blueprint which is premised on race politics? Is not your notional national role – here, allow me to borrow Lee’s turn of phrase – “nominated at the pleasure of the Malay-dominated committees” as well?
2) Lee also avers: “The irony is that the existing BN tradition of quotas protects the other non-Malay seats.” Does it cross the party’s mind that the electorate would find it just as ironic that its representatives (I’m postulating that many of the rest of MCA Datuks are birds of a feather) show themselves more concerned about protecting “seats” than about protecting “rights”.
People either think right or they don’t. My Malay friend pointed out to me that when he balik kampung for Raya, he saw that the development projects in his hometown benefited only one ethnic group, and commented wryly: “They think nobody noticed?”
Right thinking – like my friend’s – is not predicated on one’s skin colour.
Interestingly enough, there’s a book on MCA president Ong Ka Ting titled “The Man and his ideas” containing his speeches and such compiled by the party think-tank, the Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research. And more interestingly, The Star carried a write-up on this book under the paper’s ‘Bookshelf’ section on Sept 7 headlined ‘Soft outside, strong inside’; and making the man sound like a reverse recipe for Baked Alaska (does Pizza Hut have this item?)
The main idea of the MCA is one which promotes communal over conscientious thinking. We need better ideas from better people. And back to Pizza Hut, it had a bad idea too — “They think nobody noticed?!” and to “menegakkan benang basah’ is a worse idea, doing the restaurant little credit.
Pizza Hut, you are a product of your environment. Please show us that you can do better than the lame response you’re giving now.
Pizza Hut, bah humbug!
October 19, 2007 at 6:45 pm
But the damaging point of the rumour is the charge of tax upon customers of different races, Mr. Ding, so perhaps you can explain why this rumour started in the first place. Otherwise your explanation seemed more like a deflection of responsibility. BTW I am sure that you are aware of this rumour as I had first received email about it last year (2006), so what have been done on your end about this until it resurfaced on this popular blog?
October 19, 2007 at 7:07 pm
One erratum. MCA has 4 out of 32 ministries, not 33 as I wrote. Slipped counting on my fingers and toes.
October 19, 2007 at 7:32 pm
[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptThis morning I received a comment from Mr. Lawrence Ding, Senior General Manager of Pizza Hut Restaurants Malaysia Berhad to the ‘How low can the racists go? Say no to Pizza Hut’ post. As he had left his contact number, I called him and … [...]
October 19, 2007 at 10:59 pm
Mr Ding, with your permission, may I write a satire, set in Pizza Hut.
A group of waiters sit around a table filled with dockets.
Waiter A: Through our 3 month survey, we have found out some very interesting information.
Waiter B: Yes, we have found out that most Indians don’t eat beef.
Waiter C: Amazing. It must be in their genes, a violent reaction to er, beef.
Waiter A: Salami or meat balls?
Waiter B: Both sir.
Waiter A: Hmmm. But as Indians are just 8% of the population, it doesn’t really matter.
Waiter B: But the most amazing discovery, the Malays will not touch pork.
Waiter C: You don’t say.
Waiter B: Only the Chinese eat our ham pizzas, but only if there are no Malays nearby.
Waiter C: Unbelievable. We would never have realised this if we hadn’t put race in our survey.
Waiter A: Ratio of Malays and Chinese in our outlets?
Waiter B: About equal sir.
Waiter A: That is a problem. Do we or do we not keep the ham pizzas?
They scratch their heads and eat a pizza instead.
October 19, 2007 at 11:14 pm
About 2 years ago, we began to roll out the new Pizza Hut restaurant image. The assets, image, etc were elevated. We also made significant changes to the Dine-In menu. It is a very significant change to our business strategy.
Thus for about 3 months, we had our docket capture our customers’ group size and race. This was done purely to see who or which segment of the population respond positively or negatively to our menu items. It is also very important for our New Product Development Team to develop menu items that will appeal to our customers.
We have had enough learnings from research and the exercise have stopped long ago
To Lawrence Ding,
Your reply quoted above is totally untruthful.
As of end of last year (2006), Pizza Hut branch at Jaya Jusco Skudai is still collecting racial data on the order form albeit with word Race black out. The Race cell was still filled with the letter “C” clearly representing Chinese/Cina customer.
October 19, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Quote:
“Thus for about 3 months, we had our docket capture our customers’ group size and race. This was done purely to see who or which segment of the population respond positively or negatively to our menu items. It is also very important for our New Product Development Team to develop menu items that will appeal to our customers.
We have had enough learnings from research and the exercise have stopped long ago.”
Please show us the supporting documents in the company that there is such a resolution to include group size and race in the customer bill ? Be transparent and show us this proof and this is the best way for Pizza Hut to defend its explanations.
Otherwise, this is just a credibility issue.
October 20, 2007 at 9:29 am
If i would want mt restaurant to cater for the needs of my customers, I would be having conducting a survey by getting my customers’ to answer some questions on their preferences. Could Mr Lawrence Ding shed a light on what have been acheived by profiling their customers’ race just by looking at the bills without information on the age-group, group size etc. It would be very interesting to know what have been acheived by this exercise as it baffles most of us here. And last but not least the root of the circulated e-mail was not properly addressed to : is the extra taxes imposed on all patrons or those with ‘O’ are exempted? Mr Lawrence Ding should put this to a rest.
October 20, 2007 at 9:51 am
A piece of advice for Lawrence Ding. If your company is to collect data for a mere 3 months. I don’t think it is wise for the company to design the order form with the Race cell included permanently. Which evidently is still being use.
Or maybe there is a more sinister long term plan which you have not disclose and are trying to cover up.
October 20, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Good on you, Haris, for starting this discussion. I find the response by Mr Ding too, raises more questions than it gives answers. The profiling complained of here goes beyond market research, if it is indeed market research. I have my doubts, there are far better and more acceptable ways of doing market research. Helen and other commentators have made the point more eloquently than I could even begin to.
The as yet un-answered burning question is why malay customers appear to have been exempted from paying the service tax.
Imtiaz
October 20, 2007 at 12:07 pm
But the question that bothers me is on the tax and service charge.
Haris, you implied. No you categorically stated that, for the bill marked “o” the tax and service charge was not levied! whereas for those not marked “o” the tax and service charged were levied.
As for accounting to the Customs and Excise and of course to the staff of Pizza Hut for the service charge, it is always of course possible for the company to foot the bill So that is not a problem.
But is it true about this that is alluded to on the tax and service charge.
If it is true, then the hocus pocus about studying and collecting information of spending patterns according to race stinks of high heaven. It is so easy to programme the system so that when “o” is keyed in the tax and service charge do not appear and the whole bill is taken as being inclusive of these charges. No doubt the company ends up with a smaller income. But if you are a racist, then this is not a sacrifice after all. Especially if this is comensated by the higher paying non-”o” patrons.
This looks no different from the the “discounts” given to bumiputra purchasers of houses from developers. Of course I have always called it for what it really is. Non-Bumis subsidising housing for the Bumis. And they don’t even thank you for it. But then again I always comfort myself that if they like staying in houses paid for by pork eating, alcohol consuming gamblers like me, then it is fine with me!
Paul,
Read the post again. I neither implied nor categorically said that. I merely posted without any edit what was sent to me.
In a comment of mine to a comment to this post, I intimated that personally, I found this no ’servixe tax for Malays’ somewhat implausible given that PH’s billing system is probably computerised with service tax built in.
I took exception to the fact that waitering staff, usually young, were being asked to profile or categorise customers by race.
October 20, 2007 at 5:48 pm
Hello Mr Ding,
Please grow up and face the facts.I have told many of my friends to stay away from PH and you will see the shortfall in your outlets operated in and around JB.
You are doing a disservice to your position.Your long winded reply appears somewhat like an extensive session in writing Business English.Full of ding -dong and crap.
You might as well do well in politics instead of representing PH.Our politicians double speak like you.
Just admit that it was done with racist objectives.
Using business and marketing jargon in your reply will not fool us.
Kudos to Haris, Malek and Warran.
And to Mr Ding -Dong ……I will recommend a zero (0) for your year end performance appraisal.Corrective Action Plan for you for 2008 -Listen more to Bob Marley And The Wailers.Esp the song “So Much Trouble In The World”
Regards
Rastaman -JB
October 20, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Lawrence Ding failed to address the issue of why service charge was levied on one group and not another. can he elaborate?
Otherwise I don’t consider the case closed.
October 21, 2007 at 4:57 pm
I’m going to have to go with Haris on this one. I find it offensive that some random waiter/waitress from the service staff gets to determine my race. I am not Indian, I am Malaysia. Where the hell do I fit in then? And they’re supposed to do this simply by giving me a once over during a meal? That’s just bullsh*t.
Mr. Ding, you want to conduct surveys like this for the purpose of market research, then do it right. Don’t ask the service staff to categorize your customers, instead get proper information from the customers themselves, which isn’t only more accurate, but so much less offensive.
I will never eat at Pizza Hut again, and not much loss there either. The pizzas still taste less than appetizing (cardboard comes to mind). So much for market research, eh?
October 21, 2007 at 11:13 pm
Yes. I will not eat at Pizza Hut again. Not ever. Not at restaurants that tell half truths. And I will relate this story to all my friends at every opportunity.
I don’t support liars and racists.
October 22, 2007 at 11:10 am
To all those people, demanding an explanation on the exemption of service & Govt Tax based on race, and calling Pizza Hut racists and liars.. “You have taken a posting a one person (whom you would have most likely never met) and have taken it as the gospel truth. Has any one actually gone to Pizza Hut to test out the allegation?
For those of you who are not Malay, have you asked your Malay friends to try eating at Pizza Hut, and see if this is true?
Or even simply just gone to Pizza Hut and ask any Malay customer there for a favour to take a look at their bill to see if a Service & Govt Tax has been added on to the bill, and compare it with other bills?
However, it is so much easier to rant and rave on the internet, based on one posting from a person whom you’ve never even met.
October 22, 2007 at 12:48 pm
In response to Mr Dominic Tan’s suggestion, instead of going on a while goose hunt, I have in fact written an email for an explanation to the customer’s service about the billing policies twice, quoting Mr Lawrence Ding’s reply here and the original text of the circulated email, but have yet to get a response.
October 22, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Gentlemen (and ladies),
The email that is circulated around for more than a year has proved to be a hoax. Pizza Hut has officially denied this, followed by reports from several press that went into investigation on this matter.
I only found one report from the web, it’s in Chinese:
http://www.merdekareview.com/news.php?n=1927
BTW, it said that this hoax actually boosted Pizza Hut’s business
October 22, 2007 at 6:41 pm
2 issure were raise on the website. only one was answer in the letter with regards to the race which confirm that at least one point is true,
as one other commenter mention where is the proff that Pizza Hut were doing a survey? I for one would like to see,the result of the survey (if any) what the different race go for.
as for the other issure here, on the tax part? why were certain race were charge the tax while the other were not? that have not been address at all. which is disturbing to say the least. If one bother to answer one question while leaving the rest hanging?
as a person from the F&B industry, I know that Kastam are very strict on this on the tax. In fact Kastam official were sitting at my work place for a month to ensure / verify that all the goverment tax or rather to be exact sales tax were charge properlly. Which leaves me wondering
October 23, 2007 at 3:23 pm
I have received a reply from Pizza Hut confirming that the unfair billing have never been implemented ( a copy of the reply was also send to En Haris here ). In this instance I am satisfied with the response.Perhaps En Haris would be kind enough to post the official statement for everyone here. As to the reason on the ‘race’ column in the bill, I will leave it to each individual person’s interpretation.
October 23, 2007 at 9:33 pm
Well, if the current menu is a result of this data collection, then congratulations Pizza Hut – I find your food a lot crappier today, compared to when you first started operating.
Racial profiling aside, Malaysianizing pizzas is tantamount to sacrilege… almost as bad as substituting traditional satay peanut sauce with hickory BBQ sauce.
But for the sake of research, I will make it a point to have a meal at Pizza Hut soon, taking note of whether or not the race box is entered, and whether I’m charged the 5% (hint: I am of the ‘O’ race… legally speaking)
October 24, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Lawrence u still had not answewr why u did not treat everyone fairly. a customer is still a customer, the ringgit do not devalue whosoever is holding it.
October 25, 2007 at 11:52 am
Racial profiling is very important for a business.
The lessons learnt & data derived are critical for a product manager.
As a former Product Manager, I would need to know:
i) the main race of my customer base;
ii) the linkage between race & “spend” amount;
iii) any other patterns that are obvious.
I doubt the “Truth” about the service charge. The tax laws are such, that if they dont charge the customer a service tax, then they have to pay it.
But one can see that there has been a major change in the restaurant menu.
I still wish that someone can make great “Swedish Meatballs”, I understand Ikea no longer does it anymore.
Guys, can u read the following “story”.
A holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said,’Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.’ The Lord led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in. In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew, which smelled delicious and made the holy man’s mouth water. The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful. But because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths. The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.
The Lord said, ‘You have seen Hell.’
They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man’s mouth water. The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The holy man said, ‘I don’t understand.’ It is simple,’ said the Lord. ‘It requires but one skill. You see they have learned to feed each other, while the greedy think only of themselves.’
SO LIKE the people in the 1st room, we can all bicker & complain, and starve. OR be like the people in the 2nd room, respect our differences, and treat each other humanely and brotherly. Lets see each other as Malaysians, instead of finding fault. Lets start that 1K mile journey, together…
Lets make this a Nike moment, JUST DO IT!
October 26, 2007 at 10:45 pm
What kind of a customer survey is this? Can anyone sincerely believe and can PH believe that the kind of “market research” that they have been doing will accurately reflect on what PH is looking for? Surely PH can afford to engage a professional market survey company to undertake this very important task quote “very important for our New Product Development Team to develop menu items that will appeal to our customers.” Please don’t hoodwink us. And Mr Ding please do not tell us the history of PH. Just answer the simple question honestly, “Why is the service/govt tax levied only for certain race?”
October 27, 2007 at 12:30 am
Dear all,
I have written to Haris Ibrahim about my letter and I appealed to him to post my reply to the two allegations
1. that pizza hut malaysia practices racial discrimination;
2. that pizza hut malaysia practices racial profiling.
Both of these allegations are lies and I categorically
deny them.
Take it from me, it is a hoax and a lie. Do not believe in it.
Please go and visit the pizza hut nearest to you anytime and find out for yourself rather than relying on hear say.
Thank you and bon apetite the next time you visit pizza hut restaurant.
lawrence ding
senior general manager
pizza hut restaurants malaysia berhad
lawrence.ding@pizzahut.com.my
019 329 8687