A caterpillar poses serious threat to IKEA's image in India: Here's why

IKEA recently launched its first ever store in India and now the Swedish furniture giant is dealing with a problem it never expected it would. Ikea's biggest challenge in India is turning out to be a caterpillar in its biryani. A customer from Hyderabad took to Twitter to complained about that he found a different crawler in the in-house restaurant of Ikea in Hyderabad. 

Abeed Mohammad said that he found a caterpillar in the vegetable biryani served to him. The incident, according to him took place on Friday morning. He also tagged the Hyderabad Police handle on the micro -blogging on site along with Telangana Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development K T Rama Rao, and IKEA Hyderabad in his post.

Taking note of Mohammad's complaints, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) issued a notice to IKEA, and had also imposed a fine of Rs 11,500 for flouting norms related to waste segregation and use of plastic covers. Food safety officials also visited the store and collected food samples on Sunday. 

#Ikeahyderbad Today I found caterpillar in my veg biryani. Very unfair of food @TV9Telugu @KTRTRS sir @hydcitypolice @THHyderabad @Abnandhrajyothi pic.twitter.com/jumiED25fs

— Abeed Mohammad (@abeedmohammed9) August 31, 2018

Responding to the tweet, IKEA apologized and in a statement said, "We apologize for the unfortunate experience. We are investigating the matter and will take immediate corrective action. At IKEA, we have the strictest guidelines when it comes to food quality as customer health and safety are something we care about deeply."

IKEA marked its elaborated entry in India on August 10. The firm had opened its first store in Telangana's capital Hyderabad and would soon launch its second store in Mumbai followed by Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR respectively. IKEA reportedly had surveyed around 800 homes in India to study the living pattern and the Hyderabad store launch came after 12 vigorous research on the Indian household. 

IKEA said that it will provide delivery and assembly service to its customers who are not familiar with the DIY (do it yourself) concept. The store has as much as 1000 products under Rs 200. 

But how was IKEA's day one in India? To the company's delight, massive crowd turned up for its store opening in the city. The shop's opening saw a stampede-like situation. People standing in long serpentine queues were seen pushing each other and grabbing the products showcased in the store.