IKEA opened its doors for the first time in New Zealand on December 4th 2025, and its well-meaning, foreign-language signage, was pathetically incorrect / mistranslated. Pathetic because, all that the global home furnishing giant had to do was ask a native speaker.

The signs at the Auckland store, which points to the Swedish restaurant and café, reads “wharekai & kāfe swīni”, but there are no letter Fs or Ss in the Māori alphabet.

Not much more story here, just a PR nightmare. LITB advises all visitors to checkout the Wharereddit for further developments.