The business partner of Chef claims that payments were held up while the company waited to get Covid support grants
The celebrity chef Andi Oliver’s east London restaurant has admitted waiting for weeks to give a minimum of PS6,000 worth of tips to staff after they dropped tools during a disagreement regarding the amount of pay.
Around 20 employees from Wadadli Kitchen, and Wadadli Roadside, both in Hackney both of which are now shut, told the BBC that they only received a fraction of the amount owed, after sending a letter to Oliver’s business partner, Garfield Hackett, in November stating that they were going to strike.
They stated at the moment, “We ask for nothing more in return than what we are rightfully owed.” They estimated that they were due PS9,000.
The restaurant was co-founded by Oliver, who is also the host of Great British Menu on the BBC Great British Menu, charged customers for service in addition to their bill. Customers could also add tips.
Presently, there is no legal requirement for distributing these non-cash tips or service charges unless a worker’s contract stipulates that they will be part of their compensation.
But, the government has announced that it will ban restaurants from retaining the service cost following numerous instances of staff members losing their jobs.
Wadadli Kitchen admitted it had not paid the service fee. The restaurant said it had been closed following the season’s conclusion, but due to government regulations following the planned winter barbecue scheduled for the latter part of November, not due to a strike. The company said it still employed two employees, and two of them were employed during the last few weeks.
The company said that it owed PS6,000 and that half of it was paid in October, while the rest was born in January. It also said the staff was asked to explain the issue in December.
The December letter to employees stated that management would receive one-third of the service fee, and 70% remainder went to waiters, and 30% went to the kitchen staff.
However, one employee said that they had anticipated the cost of service to be equally split between the kitchen and front-of-house staff. He added that “there are still part-time team members who haven’t seen a penny.” The worker said they had expected that the restaurant would be operational for at least one year.
Hackett explained: “Much like all other hospitality companies, we’ve experienced a tough time with the pandemic. We hoped that the Christmas season could help us return to a stable base.
“Sadly, due to the rout of Omicron, this wasn’t to be. Over 85% of our Christmas reservations at our venue were canceled within days. This caused a massive reduction in our already exhausted cash flow.
“All our employees, including three who were not invoiced in time for the payment schedule, were paid in full. We have agreed to payment arrangements with our suppliers; however, all of them are happy about the arrangements and are fully paid. We thank the staff for their being patient.”
He claimed that the payment was delayed due to waiting for the government Covid support grants. The company was required to obtain an interim loan to ensure that it could be able to make payments in the month of.
“We regret that we couldn’t pay for the entire amount of the service charge share promptly at the end of the pop-up’s run because we know that our employees depend on these funds.
“We recognize that this was a tough time for everyone, and we are devastated by our staff members’ loss. We’ve poured our hearts and souls into the last calendar year’s Wadadli kitchen pop-up.”
