Columbia professor starts food fight

NEW YORK -- A Columbia University professor caused a panic among restaurateurs across the city after he sent letters to 240 restaurants falsely complaining of food poisoning as part of a study on how they respond to complaints.

The form letter was sent last month on school stationery by Frank Flynn, a professor in the business school, though the study was not authorized by Columbia, The New York Times reported Saturday.

In the letter, Flynn said he suffered "extended nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps" during a meal with his wife on their wedding anniversary.

The note sent the staffs of many of the restaurants scrambling. They searched through credit card records, menus and delivery tickets to track down when Flynn might have visited their establishments, what he might have eaten and what the possible causes of the poisoning could have been.

Jean-Claude Baker, owner of Chez Josephine, said he "ripped" his cooks apart because of it.

"This was a very traumatizing experience," Baker said.

But omissions in Flynn's letter caused suspicion among restaurateurs such as Laurence Kretchmer, a partner in Mesa Grill.

"It had no date, no reference to anything suspicious," he said. "There were so many things that stood out indicating a scam."