Frankie & Benny's has been blasted over a school holiday scheme handing out free kids' meals.
The family-friendly restaurant chain is letting struggling families call up their local branch to order free children's meals to takeaway.
In a bid to help parents feed their kids over the summer holidays, families can telephone between 11am and 12pm each day to order the meals and then arrange a time to collect them.
Read more: Things to do with the kids in and around Manchester this school summer holidays
But despite such a generous initiative during the cost of living crisis, not all customers are happy about it.
The fact it launched in English restaurants, led to complaints.
Responding to details of the offer on Frankie & Benny's Facebook page, Stuart Haswell said: "Eh? So Scotland, Wales and Nothern Ireland are treated differently? I would class that as racism. England OK but your stores in other countries in the United Kingdom don't benefit from this?
"I'm Scottish, I have friends that are Welsh and also good friends from Northern Ireland. Shame on you and I will screenshot this."
Others questioned the policy too, including Lyn Steell, who said: "Great offer… but why only England Frankie & Benny's?" and Karen Lesley Gray, who added: "Why is this only in England????"
The company has since extended the offer to cover the whole of the UK.
Yet customers have raised further concerns about what is available, with one even questioning why there is no offer for childless customers.
Does this apply to gluten and dairy free food?" said Mandy George. "Sadly poverty doesn't negate allergies and autoimmune conditions, those families need to eat too. Really great thing to do, shame it's needed."
While Nonie Sinclair asked: "Does this apply to vegan meals please?" and Imogen Brooke - who acknowledged this is 'a lovely thing' to do - added: "What about adults that don’t have kids, do they count too??" and asked whether any purchase was necessary.
The restaurant chain responded to each of the queries, explaining that yes, it does apply to allergens, all food items on the kids menu are available and 'this offer is for kids. No purchase is necessary'.
In the Facebook post that attracted such negative responses, Frankie & Benny's outlined why it's offering the meals and how the scheme works.
"Serving families and delicious comfort food is what we pride ourselves on at Frankie's and we want to help in offering that to everyone," it said.
"We know times are tough at the moment, particularly for parents who need extra help feeding their kids over the holidays. We want to show our support for the #NoChildGoesHungry plea and contribute in our small way:
"All you have to do is call your closest Frankie & Benny's between 11am-12pm to let us know how many meals you need and book a slot to collect. All calls will be treated with strict confidentiality and you can pick up your meal at our takeaway pick-up point at the entrance.
"Collections can be made from Monday-Friday, from 12pm-6pm until August 31st. All operating* Frankie & Benny's In the UK will be participating, please check the contact number on our website."
The M.E.N has approached Frankie & Benny's for a comment.
What do you think about the complaints? Are customers right to raise the issues they have? Let us know your views in the comments here.
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