Most customers don’t expect to receive threats after leaving critical reviews of businesses online. But that’s exactly what happened to Lia Berman earlier this month after she called Babettes Pizza and Pane, a Longmont restaurant and bakery, to complain about a loaf of bread she’d received as a gift.

Berman had just moved into a new home in Denver in November. Her real estate agent, who is also a friend of hers, had ordered her a gift box from Colorado Crafted — a company that sources items from local makers to create customized gift boxes — after the sale of the house. The gift box sent to Berman contained a loaf of bread from Babettes, a cutting board and a tote bag.

By February, the box still hadn’t made it to Berman, so her friend paid for a second order. When that box arrived on March 2, Berman opened it to find what looked like a burnt loaf of bread. Berman said that even after trying to cut off some blackened parts of the crust, the bread was so stale and hard she could not cut into it. She snapped a photo of the bread and sent it to her real estate agent friend.

Her friend, who had paid $100 for the gift box, was less than impressed, and suggested that Berman call Babettes the next morning to try to get a new loaf of bread.

So the next morning, March 3, Berman called the bakery. A woman answered the phone. When Berman asked to speak to a manager, the woman identified herself as one of the owners. “I said, ‘Listen, my real estate agent paid $100 for these boxes to go out, and mine’s burnt. What’s going on with this?’” Berman said.

According to Berman, the woman replied, “You know, we have nothing to do with that.” Berman believes the owner meant she had nothing to do with the third-party service that sent her the bread.

Then, in a tone that Berman described as “ironic,” the owner said, “Welcome to Longmont!” and abruptly hung up the phone.

‘Are you joking me?’

Berman was so taken aback by the owner’s behavior that she decided to leave a Google review for Babettes. The review stated the bread was “so old and stale and burnt” that it was inedible, and that the owner had hung up on her after she tried to call the bakery.

“Terrible product and terrible service. Big NO from us,” the review concluded.

Within minutes after Berman posted the review, she received a call from a Longmont number. She had been cooking breakfast with her husband at the time and didn’t answer the phone.

The call was from Steven Scott, who owns Babettes with his wife, Catherine Scott. Steven Scott left a 38-second voicemail message in which he identified himself and said Berman had “greatly upset” his wife, that they knew who she was and where she worked, and that Berman’s job was in danger if she did not take down her review.

“We need the review to come down in the next 10 minutes,” Steven Scott said in the voicemail. “And if not, I’m going do everything in my power, and I’m not going to sleep, and I will make sure you lose your job. Do you understand every (expletive) word coming out of my mouth? You have 10 minutes to remove the review. Everyone involved knows who you are.”

“Are you joking me?” Berman said of her response to hearing the message. “You sent me a burnt piece of bread, you hung up on me, and now you’re threatening my job?”

Berman immediately called the Longmont police, who then directed her to call the Denver police. Initially, the police told her they were understaffed and busy, and asked her to call back if she was contacted again.

Frustrated, Berman went online to upload a recording of the voicemail onto YouTube. Steven Scott called Berman again later that day and sent her a message saying he wanted to apologize. In a subsequent message, he said he would be “taking legal action” against Berman unless she took down the recording of the voicemail.

Berman has since taken the voicemail recording down, but the YouTube video received 7,000 views within 24 hours, and it has been reposted by another user.

After receiving the additional call and messages from Steven Scott, Berman again contacted police and spoke with an officer who asked if she wanted to press criminal charges. As of Friday, she had not yet decided whether she would do so. She said she plans to speak to a detective with the Denver police to learn about her available options.

Once the recording of the voicemail had gone viral, the bakery started to receive fierce blowback on their social media accounts, including their Facebook page, which has since been either made private or deleted.

A March 4 post on the bakery’s Instagram page contained an image of a separate post they had made acknowledging they were the ones who had left the message, saying they were “so sorry” for the voicemail and admitting that it had been a “snapping point.” The post also stated that during the initial call with Berman, they had “listened patiently then apologized for (Berman) not liking the bread and welcomed her to Longmont.”

The caption below the image, apparently written by Steven Scott, said the voicemail was a “mistake I will carry to my last day.” The caption said Berman had been “abusive and extremely angry” while on the phone with Catherine Scott, and that Catherine Scott had ended the call “in tears and distraught.” After experiencing “weeks of customer abuse” toward staff and now his wife, Steven Scott “snapped” and left the “aggressive and threatening” voicemail.

“Some (on social media) have written that I must feel powerful to do what I did,” the caption continued. “I don’t. All I felt was the same anger (Berman) had. I am ashamed and humiliated by my actions and have tried to make amends which I absolutely do not deserve as I caused her fear and anguish over a loaf of bread. @liadenver303 please except (sic) my sincerest apologies for my actions.”

The Instagram post has since either been made private or deleted.

Others have posted positive reviews

While Berman had felt upset during the initial phone call with Babettes, she firmly denied having been “abusive” toward Catherine Scott.

“Was it not the happiest tone? Sure,” Berman said. “Was it verbal abuse? Absolutely not.”

Berman also said that in the Instagram post, the bakery owners identified her by her full name (which she does not use on her social media profiles) and tagged her social media handles. Since that post was made, Berman said she has gotten a flood of angry and threatening messages from people “in (the bakery’s) camp.”

When contacted last week, Catherine and Steven Scott declined to comment on the incident.

Some details of the initial call between Berman and the bakery remain unclear and disputed. But overall, Babettes enjoys a 4.6-star rating out of 5 stars on Google, and many customers have left positive reviews over the years.

The Times-Call also found several instances of the owners of Babettes writing less-than-cordial responses to customers who have left negative reviews. One customer left a three-star review in late February, complaining that the bread oven was broken, the pastry they ordered was overpriced, and that the staff had been “unaccommodating and unfriendly.”

In response, the owners stated, “I work with our counter staff every day, and I can say honestly they are very friendly and accommodating and frankly very tired of being abused by certain customers. You clearly didn’t take a second to realize what a down piece of equipment does to a business or the fact that we have to explain the issue to each and every customer patiently every day.”

Westword reported that in 2021, when a customer left a one-star review over the price for a loaf of bread, the bakery fired back at the reviewer, saying, “You are clearly not interested in supporting small businesses that cut their teeth on technique and high quality!”

Numerous other customers over the company’s decade in business have complained about bread that appeared to be burned. But in a January 2014 interview with Westword, Steven Scott said that not all customers understand the baking process he uses. He clarified that the bread is not burnt; it simply looks dark because it is caramelized due to sugars naturally present in the wheat, “which helps with fermentation and caramelization during the baking process — and it creates flavor.”

Before Babettes Pizza and Pane opened in Longmont in 2019, Catherine and Steven Scott had owned Babettes Artisan Bread in the RiNo neighborhood of Denver since 2013.

The company website’s About Us section reads, “Babettes is the home of epicureous (sic) eaters led by husband and wife team Catherine and Steve Scott. Steve is the mad-scientist maestro, adjusting methods and seasoning regularly in search of the most enjoyable food offerings. An architect by training, Catherine runs the numbers and compliments (sic) Steve’s approach in guiding the business together through creating a welcoming environment for all guests.”