The Nando's restaurant chain - famous for its witty advertising and grilled 'Peri-Peri' chicken - found itself on the butt-end of jokes after a staff member made a rude comment about a customer.

The errant staff keyed in the comment "C**** customer" on a receipt. It is a Hokkien term that most Malaysians consider highly offensive.

Photographs of the receipt, issued by Nando's IOI City Mall branch on May 17, have been widely shared on Facebook .

Nando's responded swiftly by posting a comment on the photograph, accompanied by an apology.

"Dear friends of Nando's, this incident has ruffled all our feathers at Nando's and we do take matters like these very seriously.

"As of today, the staff in question has been officially terminated from employment.

"We thank all of you for your support and we apologise on behalf of our staff for any offence he may have caused anyone else," reads Nando's post on Facebook .

In a separate post, Nando's said the affected customer has accepted the company's apology.

"We feel really bad for such disrespectful behaviour from our crew member," the company added.