An Australian celebrity chef who does not wish to be named has allegedly been paying his staff fair and just wages for over a decade.
The celebrity chef is terrified of being outed as it will mean he will effectively be ostracised from Australian restaurant-owning celebrity chefs.
“If they find out I’ve been paying my staff reasonable wages they won’t be happy. Australian celebrity chefs don’t fork out for their employees. It’s kind of their thing. If they find out what I’ve been up to I’ll be shunned.”
This comes off the back of Celebrity chef Neil Perry’s Rockpool restaurants being forced to repay workers $1.6 million after unpaid overtime allegations.
Last year, nearly 200 staff at George Calombaris’ restaurants have been underpaid $2.6 million, with the celebrity chef blaming “historically poor processes” for the bungle.
Calombaris underpaid 162 of the 430 current staff at restaurants including The Press Club, Gazi and Hellenic Republic, which form part of the chef’s Made Establishment Group, over the past six years.
And former employees of celebrity chef Shannon Bennett say their share of tip money was regularly confiscated by managers.
