Franchise’s topping response to Aussie needle sabotage

Australian farmers have been having a tough time recently, and the recent spate of saboteurs placing needles in strawberries across the country has made matters worse for many. The Cheesecake Shop has announced action to support the farmers and safeguard consumers by hand-slicing all fresh strawberries and resume their use on some of the franchise’s best-selling cakes.

Managing Director Ken Rosebery says, ‘We want to support our Aussie farmers and show we won’t be intimidated by these malicious saboteurs. We are also encouraging our franchisees to be extra generous with strawberries on our cakes.’

‘Cheesecake Shop franchisees throughout Australia have expressed their support for Strawberry farmers and want to continue to use fresh strawberries on their cakes. They will put in the extra time to hand-slice strawberries and support our farmers and customers.’

General Manager of Marketing and Operations Peter Dable says, ‘Across our 200 Australian cake bakeries, we use over 200,000 punnets of fresh strawberries per year. We have issued updated decorating procedures and look forward to getting strawberries back into our bakeries.’

Countdown is now warning New Zealand customers to cut up strawberries before eating them after needles were found in fruit bought in an Auckland supermarket. The chain has withdrawn the Choice brand strawberries - in which the needles were found - from the shelves. All major supermarkets here said last week they had stopped distributing Australian-grown strawberries as a precautionary measure. Locally-grown strawberries are expected to be available soon.