Nando's employees claim its restaurants are cleaned by 'teenagers who don't know what to do'

An online petition started by Nando’s employees alleges that Nando’s restaurants are not cleaned by professional cleaning staff, and that servers and chefs are sometimes forced to clean them after hours without pay.

The petition, which has more than 4,000 signatures, alleges that “thousands of us are eating in unclean restaurants” because Nando’s does not employ dedicated cleaning staff in its UK stores.

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Instead, chefs and servers, known as ‘Nandocas’, are required to clean the restaurants after closing.

‘We take this very seriously’

Nando’s UK said it was standard in the British food industry for serving staff to also have cleaning roles. The company claimed that it was its policy to pay employees properly and said it upholds the highest cleaning standards.

It said, "Cleaning is an integral part of restaurant work and is crucial to maintaining high standards of health and hygiene, which we take very seriously."

But the petition alleges that managers often clock employees out early, and do not adjust for the hours they spend cleaning.

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Quoting a supposed former Nando’s staff member, the petition says, “If we complained, we were simply told we should have worked faster!

“Please change this, the staff cleaning after 10 hours [sic] shifts break their backs! And tbh, because they are tired, they really don’t clean that well.”

What does the petition demand?

The petition asks Nando’s UK CEO Colin Hill to hire trained cleaners to help clean restaurants, and to pay them, and other staff a living wage of £9 an hour.

The full text of the petition reads:

"To Colin Hill, Chief Executive of Nando’s UK and Ireland,

Please hire cleaners to help close the UK stores. Pay the cleaners and all Nandocas a living wage of £9 an hour.

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Please understand it from our perspective, we work all day on multiple sections then have to stay till 1-3am in the morning cleaning. Especially after an awful busy shift. The shopping centre restaurants have cleaners so why can't other Nando's stores?

Please get professional cleaners for the toilets and floor. Not teenagers who don't know what to do.

Sincerely,Nando's UK staff and customers"

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