New York Serves Up Hatgate

It may only be Monday, but here is the strangest coffee story that we are likely to see this week.

If anything does top this, then I will (proverbially) eat my hat…

For the past two decades, John Frangioudaks has operated a coffee and food cart in some of the busiest parts of New York. He has a clean slate and is properly licenced. As we would say in this part of the world, he is a man who knows his onions.

So, you can imagine his surprise when he was flagged and ticketed working at the corner of 14^th and Irving Place.

“I was shocked,” he said.

“When [the New York City health inspector] was about to leave, he says, ‘I’m going to give [you] a ticket for the hat.”

The hat in question belonged to his friend Jorge Perez, who operates the cart’s grill, and was labelled as being “ineffective” by the inspector, who stated that it was “made of paper and capable of falling off.”

For wearing the hat, Perez and Frangioudaks received a $200 fine, which represents a good day’s profit.

But was the hat lousy?

The pair knew that something was wrong when upon inspecting the ticket it said that the grey-haired Perez had “long blonde hair” – and that they had been wearing that style of hat while working in the food industry for years.

One local New York news station, Eyewitness News, picked up this story and did a little bit of investigation on behalf for coffee and foodservice veterans.

The team there found the official video used by the NY health department to train staff members on correct food safety techniques. And guess what? The hat featured in the film was the same one that Perez was reprimanded for wearing.

Eyewitness News brought this to the attention of the Department of Health who quickly dismissed the outstanding violation and sent the ticket-happy inspector to undergo further training.