When the pandemic hit the United States in March 2020, acclaimed Chicago restaurant Fat Rice told workers it would be closed only temporarily. It laid off around 70 employees and in April pivoted to donating grocery boxes, eventually operating as Super Fat Rice Mart, a general store offering $100 meal kits. But employees were left guessing as to when Fat Rice would reopen, what that would look like, and whether they would have jobs when it did. By June, though, they had their answer: After a wave of accusations that owner Abe Conlon berated female employees, treated Black employees differently from white ones, and even made English the official language of the kitchen, Conlon announced that Fat Rice would close permanently.
Chef Joshua McFadden s Portland Restaurant Group Confronts Its Shortcomings
In what it calls âa hard reset moment,â Submarine Hospitality takes major steps to build a better culture. Plus, opening dates for Tusk, Takibi, and Cicoria.
By
Karen Brooks
5/6/2021 at 12:30am
Portland chef and Submarine Hospitality founder Joshua McFadden.Â
Last July, chef Joshua McFadden, Portland s acclaimed vegetable whisperer, was crushed like an heirloom tomato under a fast-moving tractor ⦠by his own staff. Never mind the pandemic. Portland s food scene faced a reckoning, as employees took to Instagram to call out toxic cultures, putting some of city s most prominent names in the crosshairs. Including McFadden s Submarine Hospitality, an on-the-move, artisan-chic restaurant group. Among its holdings: the acclaimed Ava Gene s, hot spot Tusk, a trio of restaurants at The Hoxton, Portland, the city s first branch of the hip international hotel chain.