Woman who called 911 over pink BBQ: She says was too pink

11/4/2022

On Friday reports spoke to the woman who ripped into a local barbecue restaurant for serving her pink meat.

Annie Cooke said she has had BBQ at other restaurants, and it was never pink.

The issue started, she said, when she returned to Clyde Cooper’s to either have the restaurant cook the BBQ longer, serve her something else off the menu or give her a refund. Cooke said none of these things happened after she talked with the owner of the restaurant.

Cooke said she wrote the negative review because she felt the owner was being dismissive of her concerns, explaining, “That’s just the way I felt — that’s the reason I called the cops, because I couldn’t get my money back or I couldn’t get a different plate.”

Debbie Holt, owner of Clyde Cooper’s Barbecue, said she did offer the customer a different meal, but Cooke refused. When that happened, Cooke was given one piece of chicken in a brown paper bag, and not the full chicken plate she expected.

Cooke told WRAL News on Friday she is considering filing a civil lawsuit.

Clyde Cooper’s is seeing an influx of customers since the incident. The restaurant posted to Facebook on Friday thanking people for the “pink bbq” love after Cooke’s critcism.

Holt said Cooke, didn’t understand that it’s normal for the restaurant to cook pork barbecue that way.

Cooke eventually called 911 after leaving the restaurant, Holt said. Before the 911 call, Holt tried to explain several times to the disgruntled customer why the meat was pink. Even other customers tried to chime in.

“I kind of snickered a little bit and told her, ‘Honey, that’s when the barbecue is smoked. It turns pink,’” Holt said. “And she was insistent it wasn’t done.”

Holt said she offered to bring another meal, white-meat chicken. She said Cooke did not make a fuss, left and dialed 911.

“I had ordered some food from there and the BBQ is pink,” the woman told 911. “I asked for either for them to cook it some more or exchange my order.

They are saying that the meat is supposed to be pink. I asked for them to change my order and they said they are not giving me my money back or they are not going to trade out the food.”