George Calombaris begs public not to ‘punish’ his staff by boycotting restaurants
Former MasterChef judge and restaurateur George Calombaris has pleaded with the public not to boycott his restaurants in the wake of an almost $8 million underpayment scandal, saying it would only punish his staff.
Calombaris pledged to be a “voice for change” in cleaning up wage theft in the hospitality industry and said he took full responsibility for the $7.8 million underpayment of 515 staff members, which he put down to “back end” bungling.
“You know, you’re running a million miles an hour, being creative,” he said in an interview on ABC’s 7.30 program.
“You are being someone that can inspire the team with the food that you’re cooking, the way you’re serving, all that stuff. And you assume that in the back end, things are happening at the same speed, but they weren’t. But now we have a great audit system. Incredible people back at house, that can make sure this never happens again.”
Calombaris was emotional in his mea culpa telling host Leigh Sales how much he loved the hospitality industry.
“We’re not closing our restaurants, we’re here,” he said. “And it’s my job as their leader to keep pushing forward and keep spreading this message, not shying away from the mistake we made. But also acknowledging that we fixed it, and you know, I love these people.
“Great restaurants are voted by bums on seats. Don’t punish my people. Just know when you come into one of our restaurants, know when you pay the bill, that my people are getting paid and paid correctly.”
Calombaris, who was fined $200,000 fine by the Fair Work Ombudsman, said he was now focused on setting a better example after his “terrible mistake”.
“We’re obviously multiple restaurants, there’s single restaurants out there, and I understand it’s hard … they haven’t got the opportunity where they can have CEOs and infrastructure, but doesn’t mean they can do this,” he said.
“They have to seek advice, they need to make sure they’re on top of that just as much as the food, the service, the great wine, the great dishes … that at the back it needs to be just as delicious.”
Sheridan Randall, 1st August 2019
