Domino’s Japan Apologizes for Nose-Picking Employee; Pizza Giant to Consider Taking Legal Action Against Part-Timer

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:14 JST, February 14, 2024

Domino’s Pizza Japan, Inc. has apologized for an incident in which a part-time employee in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, picked his nose and wiped his finger on pizza dough while kneading it.

The Tokyo-based pizza giant announced Monday that it has temporarily closed the Amagasaki store after a video showing the employee’s unsanitary actions went viral.

Domino’s said it would consider taking legal action against the employee.

Another employee at the Amagasaki store recorded the video at around 2 a.m. on Monday after the shop closed, according to the company.

The video, which shows the employee putting his gloved finger in his nose and then wiping it on the dough, had gone viral on X by Monday afternoon with the hashtags “nuisance act” and “part-time terrorism” in Japanese.

When interviewed by the company, the employee said: “I did it because I thought it’d be kind of funny. I really regret it.”

The employees involved in the video had been fired as of Tuesday.

The pizza dough seen in the video was disposed of and was not served to customers, Domino’s said.