Harassment suit: Four Barrel Coffee’s founder agrees to leave the company amid allegations.
Four Barrel Coffee co-owner Jeremy Tooker agreed Saturday to leave the company he founded, a day after eight former employees filed a sexual assault and harassment suit against him.
The company’s remaining owners announced that Tooker will divest from the company and no longer be affiliated with it. In a statement issued Saturday, they said Tooker had already withdrawn from his position as CEO in November.
Four Barrel has three locations in San Francisco and a thriving wholesale business.
In the suit filed against Tooker and the company in San Francisco Superior Court, the plaintiffs allege that Tooker committed assault by pinning one former employee, partially unclothed, on a hotel bed, and that he grabbed another one with enough force to cause soreness on her neck, among other allegations. Most of the alleged incidents took place more than two years ago.
In their statement, Four Barrel co-owners Tal Mor and Jodi Geren said they take the suit “very seriously” and that they are “deeply saddened.”
“Four Barrel will not tolerate inappropriate behavior in the workplace,” the statement continued. “It’s essential that our employees and co-workers understand that they are valued and respected. We will continue to take prompt action to address any and all employee concerns, as we have done in the past.”
Tooker’s decision to divest from the company is a step further than those taken by other figures in the food world who have been accused of sexual harassment in recent months. That includes Charlie Hallowell, chef-owner of Pizzaiolo and two other Oakland restaurants, who has temporarily stepped away from his company because of sexual harassment allegations from 17 former employees but has not announced plans to divest from it.
Four Barrel did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations from The Chronicle until after the paper published a report on the lawsuit Saturday that included interviews with 14 former employees. The employees described a workplace where sexually explicit merchandise and conversation were the norm, as well as company parties with excessive drinking and sexually charged behavior between management and employees. They also said that their complaints about alleged harassment were not taken seriously by management.
When reached by The Chronicle on Saturday, the plaintiffs declined to comment while they coordinate a response to Four Barrel’s statement with their legal team.
In their statement, Mor and Geren said they have hired an outside firm to “facilitate reporting of any concerns by employees.” However, they disagreed with some of the lawsuit’s descriptions of the company. “Due to the lawsuit, we can’t comment as fully as we would like, but we can say this: We take issue with the claims being asserted in the lawsuit, and the mischaracterization of our current culture.”