Accused noted chef returning to work
Chef Charlie Hallowell, who has been absent from his Oakland restaurants since December after dozens of employees accused him of sexual misconduct, is making plans to return to work, according to restaurant management.
“Charlie agreed to take six months off without pay. That time is coming to a close,” said Donna Insalaco, the company’s chief operating officer. Insalaco said Hallowell might start by dining in one of the restaurants with his partner, buying produce at the farmers’ market and holding off-site staff meetings. She did not rule out the possibility that Hallowell would go back to working in the kitchen.
“That absolutely came up in a discussion, but we have not solidified a plan,” said Insalaco, who wouldn’t specify the timing of his return other than this summer. “I really want to know how the staff feels.”
Managers have invited employees of Hallo-
well’s Pizzaiolo and Penrose to meet on Wednesday to discuss the matter.
The news came just weeks after a bar manager at Penrose resigned because of complaints, including sexual harassment, according to an employee who spoke on condition of anonymity, and before Hallowell is due to begin mediation Monday with five women who were part of the original sexual harassment complaint.
“I’m disappointed that Charlie feels that he can just step back in before a lot of work has been done,” said attorney Mika Hilaire, who will represent the five women in mediation Monday. “It’s a pretty brazen step to do before there is any clarity on what has been done and how he is going to change.”
Hilaire’s clients were among the 31 women who told The Chronicle that Hallowell had subjected them to inappropriate touching, unwanted sexual advances and lewd language. Hilaire said that one of her plaintiffs’ main goals, in addition to possible monetary claims, is “making sure that no one else is injured or harmed” in the restaurant.
“What is being done to protect the women to make sure nothing happens again?” Hilaire said.
Hallowell is among several high-profile chefs nationally who have been accused of misconduct — and are now looking to reinstate their careers.
A partnership between New York chefs Gabrielle Hamilton and Ashley Merriman with restaurateur Ken Friedman at his restaurant the Spotted Pig quickly sparked controversy, the New York Times reported. Friedman was accused of sexual harassment by multiple employees in December.
Insalaco said that though she, as well as staff and Hallowell himself, are “conflicted” about him coming back, she has seen him change.
“I absolutely have seen evidence of it,” she said. “I see a tremendous amount of vulnerability. There’s not a time that I’m with him that he doesn’t get emotional about it, the idea that he has caused the people he cares about pain.”
Insalaco said that since December the restaurant has been training employees on sexual harassment and has an outside human resources firm that employees can contact, which they did in the case of the bar manager who recently left the company. The HR firm alerted Insalaco about the complaints, who worked with restaurant managers to discuss his termination right before the bar manager left on his own.
Insalaco announced the staff meeting to discuss Hallowell’s return in an email dated June 5 obtained by The Chronicle.
“There have been many questions regarding the return of Charlie and what that will look like for each restaurant,” she wrote. “Please come to listen to our plan, provide feedback and ask questions!” she wrote.
Hallowell did not immediately respond when The Chronicle attempted to contact him for a comment.
In December, 17 former and current employees told The Chronicle that Hallowell had subjected them to sexual harassment. In March, the total increased to 31 after The Chronicle published a second investigation detailing additional allegations of sexual misconduct, a pattern of behavior going back to when the chef worked at Chez Panisse in the late 1990s. Employees also made complaints of unwanted advances and inappropriate touching against Hallowell’s business partner, Richard Weinstein.
Former employees, including those who made the complaints, have asked Hallowell to step down from the business on multiple occasions.
Hallowell and Weinstein sold their restaurant Boot & Shoe Service in Oakland to former employee Jen Cramer and her husband, Richard Clark, in April. The restaurant group owns an additional restaurant location in Berkeley that is not yet open.