Chef Matthew Kenney, the founding father of Plant Meals & Wine in Venice and a number of other different vegan, plant-based eating places in Los Angeles and around the globe, is the topic of a brand new report printed in the present day by the New York Occasionsduring which Former workers and buyers accuse the restaurateur of alleged monetary misconduct, racism towards colleagues, and fostering a hostile office. The report is predicated on conversations with greater than 60 individuals who spoke a couple of 30-year sample of economic misbehavior that led to bounced worker checks, thousands and thousands of {dollars} in misplaced investor cash, $1 .2 million in unpaid taxes in New York state, and dozens of lawsuits filed in 9 states.
Kenney rose to prominence in New York Metropolis within the '90s, first for his acclaimed non-vegan menu at Matthew's and later for uncooked vegan delicacies at Pure Meals and Wine along with his accomplice and buddy Sarma Melnagailis – additionally the topic of the Netflix documentary 2022. Unhealthy Vegan: Fraud. fame Fugitives. Within the documentary, Pure backer Jeffrey Chodorow known as Kenney “a really gifted chef with a foul monetary historical past.”
After opening quite a few initiatives in New York, Oklahoma and Connecticut, Kenney debuted the uncooked vegan restaurant MAKE in Santa Monica in 2012. (The restaurant closed after three years with $360,000 in alleged proceeds). His group primarily based in Los Angeles, Matthew Kenney. Delicacies, was among the many metropolis's most prolific restaurant operators, opening Venice's Plant Meals & Wine in 2015 and Double Zero in 2019; Culver Metropolis's Make Out in 2015 and Sestina in 2020; and Costa Mesa's Veg'd in 2021. All of those eating places are actually closed.
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In January 2024, Kenney was additionally the topic of a Los Angeles Occasions report detailing a number of sudden restaurant closings, thousands and thousands of {dollars} in unpaid lease, bounced employee pay, unpaid suppliers, and the alleged failure to return $1 million to an investor. In August 2023, Kenney moved Plant Meals & Wine to the 4 Seasons Lodge close to Beverly Hills, closing six months later in January 2024. Kenney responded to the Los Angeles Occasions' saying that he plans to alter the best way he operates.
Eater tried to succeed in Kenney by his mother or father firm Ascention World concerning the report, however emails bounced, and Matthew Kenney Delicacies's website was not lively previous to publication. Eater will replace this piece if extra data turns into obtainable. Matthew Kenney Delicacies's Instagram account was final up to date six weeks in the past.
Nonetheless, the brand new exposé supplies much more particulars of Kenney's monetary dealings. New York Occasions reporter Brett Anderson spoke with Cindy Landon, an actress and producer who invested in Kenney's flagship restaurant, Plant Meals & Wine, which opened in 2015. Landon and 7 others Anderson spoke to stated they invested in Kenney, however felt that the chef took benefit of his dedication to veganism. Buyers declare Kenney saved unreliable monetary information and assumed all the cash disappeared. In March 2021, former accomplice Kyle Saliba, who opened 5 eating places with Kenney, sued the chef and two of his firms for fraud, in search of greater than $25 million in damages.
U Occasions the report additionally discusses conversations Kenney's human sources director Rebecca Rubel had with hospitality director Matt Bronfeld. Bronfeld managed operations from 2018 to 2013, but in addition had a historical past of embezzling funds and was convicted of grand larceny in 2015. Rubel says Bronfeld responded to inadequate funds from a restaurant by transferring cash from one other Kenney entity.
Kenney was recognized for his glamorous way of life, spending $20,000 a month on a home lease in Los Angeles, allegedly paid partially by his firms. Saliba's lawsuit says the chef took investor cash and used it for private functions, together with “lease, pool cleansing, cleansing, and tens of 1000’s of {dollars} of dental work.”
A former black govt alleges within the lawsuit that he was subjected to harassment and discrimination at Kenney's restaurant group, claiming he was focused due to his speech obstacle and due to his race. The chief stated he was subjected to the usage of the N-word and claimed the group had “an annoying work setting permeated with racist phrases from Asian enterprise companions and Jewish workers.” That case was settled, and the manager was awarded $80,000 and greater than $20,000 in authorized charges.
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U Occasions The report additionally claims that Bronfeld and Kenney exchanged dozens of texts during which the chef used racist, profane and misogynistic phrases towards ladies, Black folks, South Asians and people of Latin American heritage. Kenney responded to those allegations, saying, “These phrases don't even sound like they had been written or spoken by me.”
An ongoing New York class motion lawsuit filed in December 2021 claims that Kenney and greater than a dozen firms and companions violated federal and state labor legal guidelines by holding worker ideas, which the defendants have denied. The kitchen employees within the Venice restaurant Double Zero left the job in 2023, and within the New York restaurant Sestina, the employees left in 2022, each due to unpaid wages. Former workers and companions in Boston and Baltimore allege unpaid wages as a result of inadequate funds.
Kenney additionally had a report of stepping into private relationships with subordinates. The report claims that Kenney's girlfriend, Charlotte MacKinnon, whom the chef met whereas nonetheless a university pupil in 2016, moved to Los Angeles and have become the artistic director of Matthew Kenney Delicacies. 4 workers of Plant Meals & Wine in Venice additionally declare they had been ordered to misinform MacKinnon when Kenney introduced different ladies to the restaurant.
Landon stated New York Occasions that she lastly got here ahead after listening to that so many buyers like her and workers had been burned. Though the topic of two main investigations, Kenney nonetheless has an attention-grabbing property in Double Zero in New York, which opened final month. In February 2024, his firm introduced a partnership with Canadian plant-based seafood firm New Faculty Meals.
