World Desk : dhakamirror.com
Two teenagers who urinated into a pot of broth at a popular hotpot restaurant have been imposed a fine of 2.2 million yuan ($309,000; £227,000) to two catering companies in China.
The incident, which took place in February at a Shanghai branch of Haidilao, the largest hotpot chain in China, sparked widespread outrage after the 17-year-olds posted a video of their drunken antics online.
While there is no evidence that anyone consumed the contaminated broth, Haidilao offered to compensate thousands of customers who dined at the restaurant in the days following the event.
In March, Haidilao sought over 23 million yuan in damages, claiming this amount covered the compensation given to customers due to the incident.
Last Friday, a court in Shanghai ruled that the teenagers had infringed upon the companies’ property rights and damaged their reputation.
The boys’ parents were also found to have “failed to fulfil their duty of guardianship”. They were made to pay the compensation, according to Chinese state media.
This includes 2m yuan for operational and reputational damage, 130,000 yuan to one of the caterers for tableware losses and cleaning expenses, and 70,000 yuan in legal costs.
According to one report, Haidilao offered compensation to 4000 customers who dined between February 24 to March 8. The payout was a full refund and cash payment of more than 10 times the bill.
But the court has argued the extra compensation was a “business decision” and that the teens’ parents should not have to fork out added costs.
Haidilao has stressed to customers all utensils and associated equipment were disinfected and cleaned or thrown out.
The video shared by the two boys online showed one of them appearing to stand on top of a table and pee into the broth. It was spotted by Haidilao and reported to authorities.
The restaurant specialises in hotpot, which is raw food, such as meats and vegetables, cooked in flavoured soup.
Since opening its very first restaurant in Jianyang, Sichuan province, Haidilao has experienced rapid growth. Today, it proudly manages over 1,000 restaurants around the globe.
– input from bbc.com, nypost.com was used in this article.
