Several current and former staff members have come forward with allegations against prominent Melbourne chef and restaurateur Pietro Barbagallo, accusing him of aggressive outbursts as well as financial mismanagement.
In a video evidencing one such violent outburst, obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald, the chef has been filmed abusing customers during a visit to his restaurant Kaprica in April.
One of the customers can be seen recording a video message to his partner regarding the spice level of a prawn pasta that was served, before an infuriated Barbagallo enters the frame. He stands over the customer, yelling, pulling the tablecloth, and smashing plates and glasses.
“Turn that fucking phone off!” he shouted at customers, as they hurried out of the venue, as reported by the SMH. “Get out of my fucking restaurant!”
Witnesses of the incident told the publication his “yelling and screaming” was heard from the street and two people said they saw a chair fly out the front door towards the customers. Two waitresses were seen leaving the restaurant, one in tears.
An investigation by the Sydney Morning Herald — which interviewed 19 current and former employees at Barbagallo’s restaurants — alleged this was not an isolated incident, with several waitstaff resigning from Kaprica in recent months due to his outbursts.
One former staffer Carly Lauder recalled he would “shout all the time” and “throw things”.
Additionally, numerous staffers allege financial mismanagement by Barbagallo, with over a dozen employees stating he doesn’t provide payslips and transfers wages directly into bank accounts using calculations from paper time sheets.
Two employees, who were given access to his books for a day amid concerns about Barbagallo’s failure to pay superannuation and tax on their wages last year, said his accounts were “sheets of random bits of paper strewn around the place” and that there were instances like a month missing from a person’s pay.
“Then it took months for it to go to the accountant and be in the accounts. It was just an incredible level of procrastination,” they told the publication.
Text messages seen by the publication show one employee was sacked this month after they told Barbagallo they were underpaid for public holiday shifts and pushed for their full entitlements. They were eventually paid after weeks of messages and having to follow up numerous times.
Another former employee said she saw text messages on the restaurant phone from a former staffer who pleaded with the chef for months over superannuation payments after they left.
“We would get text after text from this employee who was like, ‘Come on Pietro … It’s been six months. How are you still not replying to me? Please.’ He was ignoring her,” they said.
Barbagallo did not respond to the publication’s request for comment or to a detailed list of emailed questions.
PEDESTRIAN.TV is not suggesting that the allegations are in fact true, rather that they have been made.
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