An Australian man was told the racial slur on his receipt was a "typo" after dining at a Melbourne outlet owned by prominent chef Neil Perry.
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Rutendo Ruth Muchinguri posted a photo of her husband Nick's receipt from Burger Project to social media on Friday, describing the use of the 'n' word on the receipt as "disgraceful".
"My hard working black husband went to your Collins Street store to have lunch with his friends and this is a photo of his receipt for the order," she wrote.
"It is so disappointing that in a place where my husband spent his hard earned money, he received this sort of disgracefully discriminatory treatment. It's exhausting that in 2017, in a modern and multicultural society some of your staff remain insensitive to the impact that this insidiously nasty and vile word has."
Nick Muchinguri wrote on Twitter that the initial response from the restaurant alleged the word, written next to his order number, was an error.
A second response by The Burger Project described the Rockpool Dining Group is a "caring and inclusive community" and confirmed the staff member had been sacked.
"We do not condone this kind of behaviour from our staff, or accept this treatment of our customers," they wrote on Facebook.
"As soon as we became aware of the matter this afternoon, when we were contacted on the behalf of the customer, we acted: we reached out and apologised and the employee's position was terminated."
Late Friday evening. Ms Muchinguri denied the group has been in contact.
"At no point have you tried to reach out to personally apologise to my husband. Come on, aren't you ashamed of this? This is not my Australia," she wrote.
On Saturday afternoon, another statement issued by the Rockpool Group said Mr Perry had apologised to Mr Muchinguri.
"Neil reached out to Nicholas directly this morning and apologised personally, conveying his deep disappointment that this occurred.
"We continually talk to our staff about our philosophy of care, and will continue to do so, so they understand our company's core values, and respect for our customers and community."
Australia's Racial Discrimination Act states racially abusive comments in a public place or while receiving a service are against the law.
