Food & Drink

Manchester’s Bada Bing held to ransom over Instagram account

A hacker has demanded money for the account to be returned.

Georgina Pellant Georgina Pellant - 6th July 2021

A Manchester restaurant’s Instagram has been hacked – losing them thousands of followers and a key means of communication with customers.

Bada Bing sandwich shop – a Sopranos-inspired takeaway launched in lockdown by Meg Lingenfelter and Sam Gormally – had its social media infiltrated over the weekend.

The couple discovered they had been locked out of their account on Friday (July 2) – and now the account is actually being held to ransom.

A screenshot of the Whatsapp exchange, shared to Eatmcr’s story last night

The couple behind the successful sandwich takeaway project revealed they have received Whatsapp messages from the person who’s logged into their account, asking them for money to have it returned.

However, when they paid the $300 that was requested – the hacker asked for more money.

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A new small business, Bada Bing has only been trading for a few months but had managed to acquire over ten thousand followers in that time.

Now, they’ve had to create a new account @badabing.mcr, which they’re asking people to refollow and share.

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Bada Bing posted this image of Silvio Dante from The Sopranos to their new account over the weekend after their original one got hacked

Although the takeaway is on the food delivery app Food Stuff MCR, a large part of Bada Bing’s business is operated through social media – particularly Instagram.

Whilst orders can be made for click and collect through their website, social media is their main means of communicating with customers.

Bada Bing has contacted Instagram through the usual support channels but have not yet heard anything back about getting their original @badabingmcr account back. A quick look suggests the original account may have been deactivated or deleted.

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Just a couple of the brilliant sandwiches on the menu at Bada Bing / Image: Bada Bing

The duo have not said much publicly on the matter but have shared an image simply stating “The Bing got got. Don’t disrespect the Bing.”

Bada Bing is currently over at The Refuge – having extended their residency there for at least the next couple of weeks. You can find them selling their brilliant Italian American deli-inspired hoagie sandwiches as part of Eatmcr’s street food takeover.

Head down Friday-Sunday between midday and 6pm to show them some love – and make sure to follow their new account, @badabing.mcr.

Food & Drink

Irish Festival Village returns to Manchester with live music, fry-up pizzas and loads of Guinness

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Irish Festival Village returns to Manchester with live music, fry-up pizzas and loads of Guinness

A huge Irish Festival Village has returned to Manchester city centre today to kick off the St Patrick’s Day celebrations.

Over the coming 10 days, there’ll be live Irish music, street food, retail stalls and – of course – plenty of Guinness flowing.

The main event is now open at St Ann’s Square, where a gigantic marquee festooned in green, white and orange has been installed.

Inside here, the bar is being run by the O’Shea’s team, and the stage will host loads of live music and great craic.

Outside you’ll find Birchwood Pizza, who have got a menu of pizzas inspired by the Emerald Isle.

Pizzas include the What’s the Craic (a fry-up pizza with white pudding and Dubliner sausage) to The Black Stuff (black pudding, rosemary potato and streaky pudding).

The Irish Festival Village has opened as part of the wider Manchester Irish Festival celebrations across Greater Manchester.

The Irish Festival Village is back in Manchester
The Irish Festival Village is back in Manchester
Irish pizzas at the Festival Village on St Ann's Square
Irish pizzas at the Festival Village on St Ann’s Square
You can shop Irish treats outside
You can shop Irish treats outside

There’ll also be a Saint Patrick’s Day parade on Sunday 16 March, which will weave its way from the Irish World Heritage Centre all the way onto Deansgate.

The parade will showcase and champion local groups and organisations such as GAA clubs, Irish dance classes, marching bands, and pipe bands, along with a strong representation of the 32 counties in Ireland.

And it handily winds up around King Street, just beside the Irish Festival Village.

The gathering spot will be open from Friday 7 March all the way through to St Patrick’s Day itself – find out more HERE.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Food & Drink

A big US fast food chain said to be ‘much better’ than McDonald’s is coming to the UK

Danny Jones Danny Jones Carl's Jr. coming to the UK 100 locations Manchester

Fast food fans, feel free to get excited and potentially add another name to your rankings because a big US burger-driven brand hailed by many as ‘better’ than McDonald’s is coming to the UK. The rumours are true: Greater Manchester could very soon get a Carl’s Jr.

Carl’s Jr. is an American chain best known for chicken sandwiches and its trademark ‘charbroiled’ beef patties such as menu favourites like the ‘Famous Star’. You can even get star-shaped chicken nuggets.

First opening back in 1941, it’s very nearly as old as Maccies itself and although its profile is much smaller than that of the iconic golden arches, there are many who still firmly believe that it serves a superior product than the global conglomerate.

Well, hopefully soon you’ll be able to decide for yourselves as Carl’s Jr. is set to face off with McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Popeyes and all the other franchises that have made their way across the Atlantic over the last half a century or so – and it’s coming to Wales first.

In an announcement made via Restaurant Online, Carl’s Jr.’s country manager under parent company BRG (Boparan Restaurant Group), David Moffat said: “We’re looking at a steady rollout with a target of 100 restaurants plus in four years.

“We’ll open a number of corporate stores that we’ll retain as we go along and we’ll also be going into the sub-franchise market, which we hope to begin actioning towards the end of the year. We’ve had a lot of interest from big group franchisees already.”

Named after founder Carl N. Karcher, who set up the very first iteration of Carl’s Jr. after moving from his hometown of Ohio to California and purchasing a hot dog cart for $326, the brand then opened as a drive-in BBQ in January 1945 before opening its first real restaurants in 1956.

Although both he and his wife Margaret have long since passed away, there is a huge family lineage that has carried on the name and it’s only gotten bigger with each decade that’s passed.

So what separates it from its biggest and most dominant competition? Well, not only do lots of American diners swear by their charbroiled burger recipes over McDonald’s big a part of the Carl’s Jr.s over Maccies campaign front is said to come down to the chips – especially as they also do waffle fries.

Put simply by one user on X just last month, he believes “Carl’s Jr is the best fast food burger”. Current day Carl’s in the States now boasts everything from the classic burger and chicken to sandwiches, milkshakes, sides and desserts to a sizeable breakfast menu.

However, Moffat clarified that “the UK will probably have the smallest menu outside the US, which will be focused on the core products: burgers, chicken and fries. You’ve got to look at it culturally and in a way that ensures the brand has a broad, diverse appeal.”

For context, as well as five sites in Europe, there are locations in: Australia, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Russia, Singapore and Vietnam.

Judging by the endless expansion, Carl’s Jr. was always going to come to the UK, it was just a matter of when. This move was actually confirmed back in May 2024, when they reached a master license agreement with BRG to bring the brand to Britain, as well as the Republic and Northern Ireland.

carl's jr.s burgers
big mac
They have 1,600 restaurants in 25+ countries around the world to Maccies’ 41,800. Choose your fighter… (Credit: Carl’s Jr./McDonald’s)

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The first UK Carl’s Jr. restaurant in Cardiff is set to open in the St David’s shopping centre in April and a second site is due to launch somewhere in the south – you would presume London but who knows? – in time for the summer.

With that in mind, and given Manchester is the second city after London as well all know (sorry, Birmingham, we’ll die on this hill), you can expect at least one of the 100+ Carl’s Jr. locations to pop up somewhere in 0161.

However, before we get ahead of ourselves, we want to know if any of you have tried the chain before and do you agree that it’s ‘better’ than Maccies?

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Aditya Oberai (via Wikimedia Commons)/Ernesto Andrade/Willis Lam (via Flickr)

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