In a joint statement to Eater, Or and CEO Chuck Chapman said the petition gave them “the opportunity to reflect, learn, and grow based on the feedback we received.” According to their statement, Tatte launched a diversity training program, formalized processes for reporting concerns to HR, promoted and hired people of color to leadership roles, and “prioritized wage and benefit improvements” to hourly workers—almost everything workers asked for. As a cafe and bakery, Tatte could pivot a bit more easily during the pandemic, offering pickup for online orders in March and then reopening some locations as early as May 2020. Which meant that, when they implemented these changes, they could see whether or not they were working.
Waxman said he’s been impressed with the changes, and while day-to-day things feel the same, there are better institutional guards in place to protect against toxic and racist behavior. “From my perspective as a worker, it’s like they did everything that they could do within the constraints of the system that we live in,” Waxman said. “Short of dismantling capitalism, I mean.”
Submarine Hospitality, the restaurant group behind Ava Gene’s and Tusk in Portland, Oregon, has not been able to see if its myriad changes actually work, as its restaurants have not yet reopened for dine-in service. But the changes appear plentiful, and it’s hopeful. The group, which was founded by Luke Dirks and Joshua McFadden, was accused in July 2020 of fostering a toxic work environment across its restaurants. Accusations, which spawned on social media in response to chef Maya Lovelace’s open call for stories of toxicity in the Portland restaurant scene, included pay disparity, protecting white male employees after numerous HR reports, and McFadden being a “racist, transphobic, misogynistic piece of trash.” At the time, McFadden said in a statement to Eater, “I take full responsibility for Submarine’s past and its future. As such, the restaurants have been closed for a period of time and I am putting the work in, in person, with the team to start to chart a path forward.” And on July 13, Dirks stepped down.
Those left at Submarine Hospitality, including McFadden, saw the shutdown and the public call-out as an opportunity to change. On its website, the group exhaustively outlines everything it’s doing to be better, in the sort of progressive-ish, jargon-y language that signals it either knows what it’s talking about or knows how to sound like it does. It acknowledges that the restaurant industry is “full of disparity and inequality, inequity and patriarchy.” It dives in to pledge that it has completely restructured into a “mission-led organization rather than a vision-driven company” and that “no longer is there any one person in complete control of decisions that affect everyone.”
It has hired Justin Garcidiaz, previously a bartender and restaurant manager for Submarine, into the role of HR and cultural advocate “to hold management accountable when it comes to following through on these changes.” It says it is committed to providing better benefits and pay for employees, hiring a more diverse workforce, and “addressing the problem of tipping.” And, rather than just change some internal processes, it says it will be overhauling the ownership structure of the company, with some of the senior executives becoming equity-share ownership partners.
In an interview with multiple directors at Submarine, they acknowledged that the issues that arose last summer, while shocking to the public, were unfortunately de rigueur in the restaurant industry, which is perhaps why there wasn’t an urgency to address them until allegations were made public. But COVID-19 also provided them with an opportunity. “I don’t think any restaurant is going to thank COVID for the past year,” said Shelbey Campbell Lett, Submarine’s director of design and development. “But we never would have been able to take the time to do this and focus solely on how to change such fundamental things about our company without it.” Submarine Hospitality also currently has just 14 employees—the vast majority were laid off at the beginning of the pandemic—which Alex Basler, director of finance and benefits, said made it easier for everyone to engage in conversation about what to do to rebuild a new work culture.
Submarine teamed up with Apron Equity, an equity and inclusion consulting firm focused on the hospitality industry, to create a survey for employees, asking about everything from daily schedules to witnessing harassment. The results of the survey were used to craft new employee training, which includes such topics as racism and bystander preparedness. But overall, the goal was to create a more collaborative culture in which the focus isn’t on a single creative person’s vision at the expense of everyone lower down but on the wellness of the whole team.
On Submarine’s website, it says “our operations, culinary, and creative teams work together daily to ensure that major decisions work for everyone. There are a lot more meetings, but a lot less uncertainty.” Which, according to Garcidiaz, is a prime example of accountability. “It’s not enough for us to go out and make an apology tour as a company,” he says. “What’s most important is that we’re taking the time to actually build out systems and a culture that addresses those past problems.”
Part of that is not just changing the training and the culture but the actual structure of the restaurant. Not only will some senior executives become equity-share owners, but Submarine, in a statement, said it’s “hoping to implement and work on the details of creating a true profit-sharing model for all of our employees.” The goal ensures that any subsequent directors and owners keep the same mission and all this work isn’t undone the second an executive wants to take things in a new direction.
While Submarine Hospitality has positioned itself to be a leader in equity in the hospitality industry, none of this has been officially implemented yet, so it’s impossible to know what the practical difference will be between a senior executive and an equity-share ownership partner or whether being a “mission-led organization” will meaningfully impact a waiter’s life. And a collaborative decision-making system looks a lot different when you have hundreds of employees instead of 14. Which leads some to be skeptical.
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