South African fast-food chain Steers is in hot water after a video circulated on social media showing restaurant staff performing gardening duties outside one of its outlets.
The incident took place at a Steers franchise in Menlo Park, Pretoria, which sparked a wide debate about labour practices and worker dignity.
The video, which has been widely shared on X, shows several Steers employees dressed in kitchen uniforms removing weeds and clearing overgrown plants outside the restaurant.
A member of the public filming the scene confronts the restaurant’s manager, accusing the business of abusing its workers by assigning them tasks outside their normal roles.
The confrontation escalated when the man took gardening tools, including forks and shears, from the workers and angrily threw them into the street.
The footage quickly drew strong reactions online, with many South Africans criticising the franchise for allegedly exploiting staff and blurring the line between kitchen work and manual labour.
In response, Steers confirmed that it was aware of the video and said it launched an immediate investigation into the incident.
The company explained that the situation arose after the landlord delayed maintenance services following the December festive period.
According to Steers, the restaurant manager decided to ask staff to remove excessive weed growth outside the outlet while waiting for the landlord’s service providers to attend to the problem.
“Steers is aware of a video showing team members performing gardening tasks outside one of our restaurants on 7 January 2026,” the company said.
“Following an immediate investigation, we established that the manager asked team members to remove excessive weed growth due to a delay in landlord maintenance after the December festive period.”
The decision was inappropriate
However, Steers acknowledged that the decision was inappropriate.
“While keeping a clean exterior is important, this work should not be carried out by team members. This is not standard practice at Steers and is unacceptable,” the company said.
Steers added that it has since issued a formal notice to the franchisee, is engaging with the landlord to ensure proper exterior maintenance, and is retraining all restaurant managers on labour practices and role boundaries.
The group also said it is introducing more straightforward operational guidelines to prevent a similar incident in future.
“Steers is committed to addressing practices that undermine our food safety standards and the dignity and working conditions of our staff,” the company said.
“We value our customers and team members deeply, and they are always our top priority.”
