Table Talk
Prison break-in
The new Malmasion in Oxford was originally a prison, and CEO Robert Cook thinks it'd be fun to invite some of the old lags who've done time there to come and stay. The "Old Lags' Night in the Nick" is offering guests and their partners a night in a former cell with inside toilet and breakfast including porridge - but in the brasserie, not on the landing. Cook explained: "I am all for prison nostalgia, but luckily our staff are not screws and guests aren't banged up for the night."
Titillating the taste-buds? Don't ever let it be said that contract catering is boring. According to the Financial Times, Sodexho is looking to "expand its role" at Le Lido in Paris, the Champs-Elysées rival to the Moulin Rouge. Although Sodexho already does the catering at the venue, best known for its half-naked, feather-flapping dancers, it is in discussions with Le Lido as a potential investor. It seems that Sodexho's got a little bit more va-va voom than previously thought.
Hoax couple finger work colleague The married couple who tried to swindle the Wendy's fast-food chain by planting a severed human finger in a bowl of chilli claimed it was the finger's owner who hatched the plot, according to a probation report. Anna Ayala, 40, who initially claimed to have bitten into the finger while eating chilli at a Wendy's restaurant in San Jose, California, was sentenced last month to nine years in prison. Jaime Plascencia, 44, who bought the finger from a colleague who lost it in a workplace accident, was sentenced to more than 12 years. Before they were sentenced, both told their probation officer that it was the colleague who had initially pitched them the idea of finding another use for his severed right ring finger. Plascencia told the probation officer that his co-worker had convinced him the scam "would be easy, and no one would ever find out". The finger-less colleague wasn't charged in the case, although prosecutors said they could still bring charges against him if sufficient evidence was uncovered.
