The owner of a downtown Charleston restaurant which this weekend lost three of its top employees following an incident they felt epitomized his lack of respect for their work is challenging their assertion that he doesn’t support local food.
In a statement issued Monday afternoon, Sorghum & Salt owner Tres Jackson did not address the situation which immediately preceded the resignation of head chef Christian Hunter, front of house manager Joe Vidal and sous chef Alan Burgmayer. According to the men, Burgmayer on Saturday morning found the restaurant unlocked and sullied with bodily fluids; they allege Jackson was the last person to leave the building on Friday.
Regarding related allegations that he consistently undervalued Hunter’s work and talent, which ricocheted through social media, Jackson's statement said, “I have always tried to create a good and open work environment and also one of respect and open communication. There has never been a time that Hunter has asked me to talk about anything that I have not taken the time to listen to him. We may not always agree or see eye-to-eye, but I was always respectful of him and his opinions.”
But Jackson took strong exception to the claim that his menu contributions were in “conflict with what we wanted to do in promoting local foods,” as Burgmayer described it.
“The insinuation that I don’t adhere to the principles of local cuisine are inaccurate,” Jackson said in the statement. “I can tell you where everything in this restaurant comes from, and I’ve always believed in and worked to support the farm-to-table movement.”
Jackson responded directly to Hunter’s skeptical comments about his signature beet dessert, which appears on Sorghum & Salt’s menu regardless of whether beets are in season. He says he offers the beet, espresso and shiso leaf dish throughout the year because “it reminds me of a dessert my grandmother made.”
“Those beets were purchased and juiced by me in season from Grow Food,” the statement continues. “I see nothing wrong with having an ingredient in season that you preserve or put up in season for further use throughout the year. This is customary in many cultures throughout the world. My own mother did it with apple butter, okra and many other things.”
Beyond the beet cremeaux, leaders in the food justice movement who learned of Hunter’s departure were more concerned with his wages, which Soleil Ho of The San Francisco Chronicle termed “shameful.”
Hunter told The Post and Courier in an interview following his resignation that he received a $1 an hour raise during his tenure at the restaurant, bringing his final rate of pay to $9 an hour, plus a portion of the tip pool shared by all of Sorghum & Salt’s employees.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the mean hourly wage for chefs and head cooks is $25.08, with 90 percent of chefs and head cooks nationwide earning at least $12.66 an hour.
It’s typically illegal for kitchen employees to receive tips, but Jackson has arranged for them to also serve food so they’re eligible for the tip pool.
“We have always done (this) to help even the playing field for pay discrepancy between front-of-house and back-of-house employees,” he said in his statement. “We do this to create a team environment where everyone is accountable to each other.”
Through a publicist, Jackson declined to elaborate on exactly how the tip pool is administered or how much workers could expect it to yield.
“At the end of the day, I stand by the work that we do at Sorghum & Salt and look forward to continuing to serve my customers happily,” the statement concludes.
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December 31, 2019 at 04:38AM
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Owner of Sorghum & Salt in downtown Charleston defends work environment and his beet dish - Charleston Post Courier
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