‘ Yes, I’ve shouted and screamed at staff over a badly cut carrot. It’s not acceptable and I hold my hands up ...but I never laid a finger on anyone
His restaurant staff claim they were bullied, abused and harassed. Now – in an explosive interview – top chef Tom Kitchin hits back...
IT is an industry peppered with tales of foul-mouthed chefs with fiery tempers, where the drive to reach excellence and creativity pushes emotions to the brink. Chasing a coveted Michelin star, or two, or three, means the service each day in a restaurant must be exceptional and the cuisine ‘to die for’. And in this simmering pressure-cooker atmosphere, careers can be made or broken, skills carefully cultivated or dashed to the ground like a discarded item of cutlery.
At least, that is how it was, says Tom Kitchin, one of Scotland’s leading chefs and a man who should know, having found his own work practices under the spotlight in recent months.
A social media page – set up to ‘name and shame’ so-called toxic workplaces across the country – carried allegations by former employees that they had suffered historical incidences of physical and verbal abuse, as well as sexual harassment, in Kitchin’s award-winning restaurants in Edinburgh.
Worse still, the celebrity chef himself was personally accused of presiding over ‘a climate of fear and intimidation’, as well as manhandling staff.
For many, the fact he vehemently denied the allegations and ordered an independent
I have a lot of long-serving staff. If I was such an ogre I don’t think they would stay
probe to uncover the truth, leading to the suspension of two senior members of staff, was irrelevant.
In the ensuing fallout, the chef and his Swedish-born wife, Michaela, were forced to call in police after online trolls threatened to ‘burn their restaurants down’, warned them they ‘didn’t deserve to live’ and told the chef they were going to ‘f ****** batter him’ next time they saw him walking his dog in the park near the family’s home in the city.
Given what he and his staff were accused of online by their detractors, some named, others not, the irony is not lost on a sombre-faced Kitchin, who has decided to finally speak out.
In an exclusive interview, the 44-year-old, whose culinary skills were moulded in the kitchens of some of Europe’s most influential chefs in London, Paris and Monte Carlo, admits there were times in his career when his push for absolute perfection on the plate saw him lose his temper with staff – but never to the point he got physically violent.
The chef, who opened his first restaurant The Kitchin, in Leith, in 2006, and became one of the youngest ever to win a Michelin star just six months later at the age of 29, says: ‘We live and breathe what we do. It is a tough environment, it is full on, 110 miles an hour, especially back when we started our business.
‘Nowadays it is a much different place but don’t get me wrong, and I think this is really important, we still work extremely hard. It’s an environment that’s not for everyone and I have a lot of long-serving members of staff who understand the commitment required to operate at the highest levels. If I was such an ogre, I don’t think they would stick around.’
But Kitchin, a well-known face on television with appearances on BBC shows MasterChef and Saturday Kitchen, added: ‘Yes, there have been moments in the past where the way I acted was not correct. Shouting and screaming at someone over a carrot… because it’s not cut correctly.
‘Do I shout and scream like that now? No, I do not and the way I was then is not acceptable in today’s modern world and I put my hand up to that.
‘Like many of my fellow chefs, we’ve been striving to make our kitchen and restaurant environments better. Our industry, and this restaurant in particular, has already changed so much in recent years, moving away from the work cultures of the past. We are not perfect but, equally, we have nothing to hide.’
The allegations, which emerged in June last year, included claims by one former chef, James Dunn, 28, who worked at The Kitchin for six months in 2017, that he witnessed a co-worker being pinned up against a wall by the head chef while Kitchin was present.
He also claimed the head pastry chef made him catch a hot iron tray on his forearms, burning him, while David Sunderland, 32, who worked at The Kitchin as a commis chef between 2011 and 2012, claimed confusion over a tomato and mackerel dish for a table of VIPs led Kitchin to ‘throw all the plates’, grab him and push him against a door.
Another anonymous employee alleged Kitchin ‘hit him in the chest and pinned him to a wall’ after he failed to smooth the surface of a tub of mascarpone in 2010.
Four former female employees, all speaking anonymously, also claimed a senior member of staff touched their bottoms or watched as they changed into their uniforms.
Meanwhile, a whistleblower accused the chef and his wife, who is a director and co-founder of the business, of paying themselves £700 a month from tips earned by staff at their gastropub, The Scran & Scallie, in the city’s Stockbridge area.
In the immediate aftermath of the claims being posted on social media, the Kitchins hired an external human resources company to inves
When the service is on there’s adrenaline, passion, attention to detail, that’s what we do
tigate every allegation. A hotline and an email address were set up for former, and any current, employees harbouring complaints.
Yesterday, Mrs Kitchin, who met her husband while working for chef Anton Mosimann and has a background in hotel management, including at the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, and The Savoy in London, said: ‘We didn’t want any stone to be left unturned.
‘You have to be respectful of the fact that people pay a lot of money to come here. It has to be the best level. There is no excuse for any bad language or bad behaviour.’
But no formal grievances were made and while the probe concluded there were ‘some examples of a macho culture’, though not directly associated with Kitchin himself, it led to the suspension of two senior staff members.
One subsequently left the company, with the other agreeing to undergo ‘behaviour mentoring’.
Lauded for his ‘nature-to-plate’ creativity, Kitchin’s signature dishes in his flagship restaurant – where prices range from a £49.50 set lunch to a £170 dinner tasting menu – include rolled pig’s head with langoustines.
He said: ‘We’ve had over 4,000 people work for us over 15 years. I’ve pored over the accusations and wondered, “Was it really like that?”
‘When the service is on there’s adrenaline, passion, attention to detail, that’s what we do...we have very high standards and expect the best from people who work for us.
‘It has really hurt deep down because not only has it hurt the people who work for us, it’s hurt my family and my suppliers who we have this incredible rapport with and who understand what it takes to produce a restaurant of this level.
‘It has turned us upside down but if any of our former staff feel that I’ve let them down, then I’m very sorry about that.’
A significant number of the allegations predate, he says, the expansion of The Kitchin seven years ago with the purchase of a restaurant next door, allowing them to increase the size of the kitchen area.
Until then, the cramped working space and the demands of a rapidly growing clientele meant tensions were often high. Part of the renovation included inserting a large window into the wall between restaurant and kitchen, and a diner-style table being placed in the kitchen to allow customers to see first-hand the chef and his team in action.
Mrs Kitchin said: ‘Those were created in a spirit of openness, which is why to hear some of our ex-employees were not happy here is devastating.
‘If we had known at the time this was going on, that someone had been treated badly, we would not have tolerated it.’
Along with The Kitchin, the couple, who have four sons, aged eight to 13, opened four further venues – Castle Terrace, in 2010, which also won a Michelin star, The Scran & Scallie, and in December 2018, Southside Scran in the city’s Bruntsfield area, and The Bonnie Badger Hotel, in Gullane, East Lothian.
With businesses forced to close their doors overnight in March 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, they had to take the decision to make 100 of their 250 staff redundant.
Kitchin, who has been a vocal critic of Scotland’s pandemic lockdown measures and has now closed Castle Terrace and Southside Scran, said: ‘Restaurant businesses don’t have millions in the bank, it’s all about cash flow.
‘In your darkest moments you are thinking are you going to have to liquidate everything and there were times we thought we might not be able to open up again.’
Similar to the opprobrium faced by chef Michel Roux Jr before them, the couple also came under fire when claims were made they had been taking a share of the hard-earned tips of their front of house staff.
Under the law, controversial ‘tronc’ schemes, where tips are ‘fairly pooled’ between all hospitality staff, including kitchen employees and management, are commonplace in top-end restaurants.
The Kitchins subsequently ended the practice for directors, with all credit card and cash tips now going entirely to the front of house and kitchen teams.
Out of 80,000 bookings at The Kitchin since the allegations about his business empire erupted, there have been 17 ‘protest’ cancellations – and Mrs Kitchin wrote to each one personally.
Many of the chefs mentored by Kitchin, who are now in Michelinstarred restaurants around the world, have been in touch in a ‘show of support’.
He said: ‘They’ve told me they wouldn’t be the chefs they are today if they hadn’t spent two years in my kitchen. The support of those people, our family and our regulars has been amazing.’
Four months ago, it was reported in a newspaper that three of those who raised the original allegations had consulted with lawyers but, to date, no court action has ensued.
The row, however, has given the national union for chefs, Unichef, more grease to their elbow after their repeated criticism of the ‘degrading behaviour’ glorified by celebrity chefs on TV shows such as Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen or Boiling Point.
A national campaign is under way calling for establishments to have Michelin stars rescinded if they are caught dishing out aggressive reprimands to youngsters who burn the soufflé.
Kitchin, who grew up in Edinburgh and began his career at the age of 18 at the three-Michelin star restaurant, La Tante Claire, in London’s Chelsea, under his first mentor, Pierre Koffmann, the well-known occasional tormentor of a generation of chefs, including Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay, agrees that change in the industry was long overdue.
He said: ‘We’ve been through a nightmare but, if one positive has come out of it, it has made us look at every part of our business. I’m determined to make this the number one hospitality place to work and the best restaurant we can.
‘I used to apply the same rules for everyone and that is completely not the way to work. Everyone is an individual and I accept you need to treat everyone individually.’
With that in mind, he has introduced a mental health helpline for staff as well as a uniform allowance and gym membership. The company has also made strides to push up salaries and keep to a four-day working week where possible.
‘This is a new chapter for us,’ he says, reaching for his crisply-ironed chef’s whites. ‘I’ve learned so much about myself from this experience.
‘Before, I was always chasing culinary accolades but I’m now hell-bent on winning a good employer award – that would make me really proud.’
I used to apply the same rules for everyone… that is completely not the way to work