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I've had a lot of people reaching out to me about situations at their restaurants. Some horrifying. An example- restaurant closed, laid everyone off, the employees made a gofund me, the restaurant told them they couldn't use the restaurant's name in the GoFundMe.
So then the restaurant signs onto a sponsored thing by @MakersMark to do restaurant relief for workers. Meanwhile, the staff is left out in the cold. https://leeinitiative.org/#la
This is the formula that a lot of small restaurants are doing in order to avoid accountability for their employees. They'll sell merchandise like shirts, sweatpants, and other things too but who knows how much is actually going to employees? $50? $100? Nothing?
Some people will be like, "Eric, what are you doing....OMG stop". That point of view is the mask placed over the voice of workers and people that don't own the business.
Thing is, the well regarded and award winning restaurants have issues too, not just the chefs/restaurateurs I mentioned in the article.
Locally, in Seattle, there are plenty of examples of this happening in the same way. Tom Douglas fired hundreds, closed everything, and did cute little salmon bakes while hundreds of people are lost. Decimated the industry with their greed.
Ethan Stowell, same, but the difference is you don't see him out and about helping or cooking meals or anything. From what I've heard he's on the San Juan's chilling.
Ethan received a loan and in a local story said he was going to hold onto the money destined for the ppp program until they would change the laws so that he could pay utilities and sales tax instead.
There are tons of restaurants doing shady shit to stay open or to deflect from the problems they have caused. A GoFundMe me over here while they do that over there. Less accountability and unless they.
I have zero fucks left to give for any of those restaurants, chefs, and more that don't understand what I'm saying. People like myself have been told forever that this is the way things go. Problem is, the reset button has been hit and there are more people like me than them.
