South African restaurant customers are complaining that the use of the word tsunami by local eateries leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.
The Mugg and Bean chain has been selling its spicy tsunami chicken burger for over a year but will rename it in April, its managers say.
Johannesburg's Tsunami Seafood Emporium opened just three weeks before the giant waves devastated parts of Asia.
The Japanese sushi bar manager said he could not have predicted the disaster. "A lot of research went into the name," said Claudio Goncalves.
He said that some people thought the restaurant was trying to cash in on the disaster.
One woman has asked what he would think if someone had opened a 9/11 grill house, he said.
Mr Goncalves, and his counterparts at Mugg and Bean, said they would donate some of the profits to victims of the tsunami.
Mugg and Bean's marketing manager Mike Said explained the choice of the name for the chicken burger, topped with bacon, cucumber pineapples and Thai sauce served in a bagel: "We named it 'tsunami' because the burger is big and powerful."
