Hi!
I want to ask all of you here for help in bringing light to this issue. I tried to post to Kitchen Confidential as well, but I don't have enough karma yet to post there.
This past week, a coworker at Momotaro, a restaurant in Chicago, tragically died. Most of the staff found out that day, during preshift. The owners of Boka, the executive chef, and upper management made the decision to stay open that night, even using the phrase “business is business”.
All the workers were expected to continue working their shift that night, despite having just found out that their friend and coworker had passed away. They were even told that proceeds from the night would go to their coworker's memorial- as if to bait their love for their coworker into working harder. This restaurant made upwards of 20 million in 2022. They can afford to let everyone have a bereavement day AND donate to the memorial. Ridiculous.
The next day, all of FOH walked out during preshift- as a way to tell upper management that what they did was not okay.
Ironically, Momotaro had just that week committed to donating “$1 from each Momamaki roll to at namichicago” a nonprofit organization advocating for mental health in Chicago. As if this empty PR action is all they need to do to seem like a good, even barely decent employer.
I don't want this event to just get buried and for management to sweep this under the rug- as it so often is done with issues of conflict in the restaurant industry.
Please help comment on Momotaro, Boka Restaurant Group on social media to show your support. TheChaadproject on instagram has more info on this situation as well. Putting people before profits is not okay. This toxic work culture CAN change. Thank you!