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Ryan Kropp (Photo/WISN)
When Ryan Kropp, cook at the Texas Roadhouse in West Bend, took revenge on a customer, I'm sure he never expected his disgusting act to go national.
It did. I heard the story mentioned by national ABC News Radio.
Ryan Kropp, this is your fifteen minutes.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
When Kevin Hansen visited the local Texas Roadhouse restaurant for dinner with family and friends last Saturday, he was served more than the nationwide chain's promise of "legendary food."
Hansen showed up at the police station Sunday complaining of hair in his steak.
"I started eating it," he said in an interview. "I noticed the hair after three bites."
A West Bend police officer observed "several strands of what appeared to be hair coming out of the middle of the steak," a criminal complaint says.
Ryan Kropp, 24, of West Bend, one of the two cooks responsible for steaks at the restaurant Saturday night, admitted to police that he placed a few of his own facial hairs on the steak, the criminal complaint says.
Kropp said he was angry with the customer for sending a different steak back to the kitchen earlier in the evening after telling a manager it was overcooked.
Kropp was charged Wednesday with placing foreign objects in edibles, a felony. If convicted, Kropp could face a fine of up to $10,000 and up to 3 1/2 years of imprisonment. He was released from jail Wednesday afternoon on a signature bond.
Hansen said that he had asked for a 16-ounce ribeye to be cooked medium rare - with a warm, red center - but it showed up medium, the criminal complaint says.
When restaurant service manager Michael Liberatore stopped by Hansen's table, the customer said the steak was overcooked but declined Liberatore's offer of a new steak.
Liberatore was persistent, the complaint says, and offered to provide Hansen with a new steak he could take home.
The manager then took what was left of the original steak to the kitchen and showed it to Kropp and the other cook "so that they could both learn what a medium rare steak was supposed to look like," the complaint says.
Kropp told police only a small piece of the first steak was returned to him. Since most of it had been eaten, he thought the customer was "just trying to get free stuff," according to the criminal complaint.
A second worker in the kitchen told an officer that Kropp placed the second steak on a plate, cut a slit in the center of the steak and pushed something into the meat.
The worker said Kropp then stated, "These are my pubes," in reference to pubic hair. Kropp next flipped the steak over on the plate so that the cut side was not visible, the criminal complaint says.
What can you say? GROSS! GAG! BLECH! YUCK!
I think Texas Roadhouse may want to take a look at hiring procedures for cooks. Psychological testing may be in order.
Kropp is every restaurant patron's nightmare.
Hansen clearly was not being a problem. He didn't want another steak. The manager insisted.
In any event, no restaurant customer deserves the service or the product that Hansen received.
I wonder if this was the first time Kropp prepared a "loaded" steak.
Texas Roadhouse motto:
Legendary Food, Legendary Service®
It's legendary now. No doubt about that.
Kropp's behavior may have an impact on business at the Texas Roadhouse in West Bend. That would be terribly unfortunate. Obviously the service manager there was very concerned about customer satisfaction.
Since the story has gone national, this incident could impact business across the country. I doubt it would suffer significantly because the problem is the result of a lone employee run amok, an isolated incident.
I've eaten at Texas Roadhouse many times. I will again, but certainly not today or tomorrow. Probably not on Saturday either.
Kropp is every restaurant owner's nightmare.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to get back at a customer by stuffing a steak with hair.
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