toronto a&w staple

Toronto restaurant owner says he found staple in his A&W order and is not happy

This could have been very dangerous. A Toronto restaurateur was in for quite a surprise when he bit down onto a staple, embedded in his hamburger meal.

Nathen Mazri, behind the shuttered GarfieldEATS restaurant concept, was ready to chow down on his Papa Burger from A&W Canada, when his lips met something that wasn't 100 per cent Canadian, grass-fed beef.

"Nathen Mazri ate a stapler pin in his Papa Burger yesterday evening in Toronto by A&W Canada delivered by Uber Eats that scratched the surface of his upper gums and could have seriously injured him. He spat it out onto his burger bun," Mazri's assistant told blogTO.

So what exactly happened? How did a staple end up in Mazri's meal?

Since the burger was delivered by Uber Eats, it's assumed the metal item was from restaurant staff closing the bag with a stapler before handing it off to the delivery person. 

Stapled or sealed bags are common practices from restaurants using delivery apps to ensure food is not tampered with.

Tagging A&W Canada on Twitter, the chain responded by saying "We're very concerned to see this, Nathen and sincerely apologize for your experience. Please DM us with your email/phone # and the A&W you visited so we can get in touch."

A&W Canada has yet to respond to requests sent from blogTO asking for further information.

Uber Eats Canada did respond to blogTO's request and said they would be notifying the restaurant.

"We want Uber Eats to be enjoyable for everyone. If an eater has had a bad experience or a quality issue with a merchant, we encourage them to give feedback for each item in their order through the app as it's the best way to share feedback directly with the merchants," read part of their statement. 

Mazri shared his unfortunate experience on his social channels and said his restaurant, GarfieldEATs never used staplers and also had a strict quality-control process.

"We believe that stapler pins should not be used on food bags and use less adhesive dangerous risky material like scotch tape to close bags but again uses of plastic are not sustainable," read the statement from his assistant.

Back in 2020 the Garfield-themed restaurant selling Garfuccinos and pizzas on Bloor Street closed permanently after many rounds of lockdowns.

The space has since been transformed into a Maker Pizza location.

"Nathen is empathetic and gets it. But what if he swallowed the pin? What if he ruptured an intestine? What would've happened?" 

Lead photo by

Nathen Mazri


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