Theobroma’s New Special: Cockroach à la carte

A video circulating on social media shows a cockroach crawling on a food tray at Theobroma’s Runwal Greens outlet in Mulund West, raising serious concerns over hygiene and food safety at the so-called elite cake brand. The clip, originally shared on Reddit by a customer a week ago, has since gone viral. Theobroma Foods Pvt Ltd has now confirmed the incident is genuine.

“At Theobroma, we take food safety very seriously and follow strict guidelines across all our facilities and stores. The incident is currently under investigation,” said Sukalyan Roy, Chief Operating Officer, in response to a query by The Free Press Journal.

The company also stated, “We have taken several steps to further reinforce hygiene measures across all our facilities.”

But customers are not convinced. “I am a regular at Theobroma. Be it a house party or the office, we usually order cakes from there. The rates are on the higher side, but the taste and quality were worth it. But after watching that video, I’m not sure I can reorder,” said Manish Hiranandani, an entrepreneur from Chembur.

“A big cockroach was crawling on the paneer roll. If that’s the condition out front, imagine the kitchen or storeroom. How didn’t the staff notice? It had to be pointed out by a customer,” he added.

The Reddit user who shared the video said, “I couldn’t believe this was Theobroma. My friend and I were about to place our order when we saw this. We informed the staff, and they removed the tray in front of us, but we don’t know what happened after that.” The tray in question contained the paneer roll the customer was about to order.

The post triggered a flurry of angry reactions. “I used to love their croissants. Now I don’t think I can ever step into Theobroma again,” wrote one user. Another sarcastically said, “That’s the food inspector doing quality checks.”

However, this is not an isolated case. Recently, the food business license of Zepto’s Dharavi warehouse was suspended by the Food and Drug Administration after an inspection found multiple food safety violations.

In another incident, Meraki Chinese, a restaurant in Navi Mumbai, faced backlash after a viral video showed an unhygienic kitchen. The restaurant responded on Instagram, refuting the claims and assuring customers of its quality standards.