Hampstead barista fired for alleged swastika froth on Jewish customer’s coffee

A 19-year-old trainee barista at Hampstead’s popular eaterie The Coffee Cup was fired by his manager on Sunday afternoon, after adding cocoa powder froth in the alleged shape of swastika to a Jewish customer’s coffee. 

Speaking to Jewish News, the 45-year old man from north London, who wishes to remain anonymous, explained that he “went out for breakfast this morning with my family. We decided to try and find somewhere to have a snack. We didn’t have a booking but managed to get into the Coffee Cup. I know it very well. They were very, very helpful and got us in.”

My wife ordered a cappuccino, and “when it landed, I saw that and said, ‘surely that is a swastika?”

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The father of two “didn’t want to make a scene, though, normally I would, but I did call the manager over and said: ‘Listen, we’re Jewish, maybe visibly, so to me, that looks like a very obvious symbol, and we’re not okay with it.’ Fair to him, he was mortified.”

The general manager, Bekim Haradini, “took a picture of it himself, and he went into the kitchen, came back and said, ‘Listen, I’m absolutely sorry. I don’t think the intention is there at all. There was no intent there. We’ve got a trainee barista. He’s a 19 year old kid. He says he doesn’t even know what a swastika is himself. He was trying to do a swirl. We’re terribly, terribly sorry.'”

The customer adds: “That was the end of it, to be honest with you but it just goes to show how quickly something can escalate when it’s symbols like that. I didn’t necessarily need the kid fired, but I wanted him to at least acknowledge that it was not OK, which he did: very, very quickly. The management were great about it.”

Confirming the incident occurred today, general manager Bekim Haradini told Jewish News: “This has never happened before. I was really upset. I fired him. He’s young, and he started to cry and was shaking, but I got so upset. I fired him. He’s no longer working here.”

The young man, called Mesut, working at the venue on weekends, told his boss he didn’t know what he had created, with Haradini claiming: “He said he didn’t know. I said, ‘What do you mean you didn’t know?’ He said, ‘I swear I didn’t do it.”

Jewish News has reviewed the CCTV footage of the coffee being prepared and found no evidence that the swastika was created deliberately.

The manager, clearly upset, added that he wanted to demonstrate to Jewish customers how seriously he had taken the incident.

“I did take immediate action. He was lucky, because I got so upset and I’ve got a really bad temper. I kicked him out straight away.”

Haradini doesn’t believe the barista knew what he was doing “because it’s never happened before. I’ve seen him making flowers when he was doing designs in the cappuccinos.”

In a text to Mesut seen by Jewish News, Haradini wrote: “Because of this sign, you’re fired. I know you didn’t mean it, but I just can’t stand it.”

The Jewish father adds: “I didn’t see who made the coffee. Ultimately, if there was intent, then I’m glad he got fired. If there wasn’t, then it’s a really harsh lesson for the kid. Symbols carry weight whether we like it or not.

“I wouldn’t hesitate going back to the Coffee Cup. I don’t think there’s a problem there with antisemitism and I’d like to thank the management again for taking the matter so seriously.”

Hampstead High Street’s Coffee Cup was established in 1954.