Anya Fernald is co-founder of Belcampo restaurant and butcher shop in Santa Monica. She is seen here addressing customers in a video posted May 26, 2021. (Instagram)
Call it camaraderie among carnivores.
Local meat fanatics are rallying around Belcampo boss Anya Fernald as she tries to extinguish a public relations dumpster fire that threatened to send her pricey butcher shop business to the slaughterhouse.
Fernald — who claimed to offer only the highest grade organic and grass feds meats — was exposed this week in a shocking social media post for secretly serving customers lower quality pre-packaged products.
>>SEE ALSO: Belcampo Butcher Shop Exposed For Duping Customers
“I deeply apologize for the mislabeling and poor sourcing in our Belcampo Santa Monica location, that I learned about from a video posted by a former employee,” she said at the beginning of a four minute message posted to Instagram Wednesday.
“I built trust with you, our consumers, over the past decade by building this business by inches… We made the hard choices. We built your trust by making the hard choices. So that video and what I saw in that video is heartbreaking for me.”
The beleaguered beef boss — who also operates locations in San Mateo, Oakland, West Hollywood and downtown Los Angeles — insists her heart has been “bursting to apologize” since the scandal arose.
“I was taken by surprise and I needed to take a minute to understand what had happened and be able to process and respond appropriately,” she said.
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Fernald also noted there are no longer any externally sourced products in her stores and vowed to regain the public’s trust.
Luckily, the majority of customers seem willing to forgive and forget.
“Everyone makes mistakes or falls short of the mark from time to time,” customer Khalil Rafati commented. “No one as far as I know is perfect. I don’t care what that guy had to say in fact I didn’t even bother finishing the video. He seemed sinister and vengeful and not entirely honest.”
What other customers are saying..
Krissy Lefebvre: “I truly believe in your efforts to make big change in this industry. Thank you for being transparent and for your continued commitment to the process.
Collins Huff: “You’ve taken the first big step in the process. You’ve been a hero of mine for a while now and I applaud your dedication to your goals and support you in the difficulties you and your organization face.”
Ariel Welch: “You got my support lady!! I know you will make this right.”
Watch Fernald’s entire message below.
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