Deux…
April 15, 2024
In the month since the launch of Le Manifeste, and subsequent media coverage of the serious issues that were outlined, management has neglected to implement any noticeable changes. Amid the deafening silence, Rocket Farm’s chosen leaders at Restaurant Marcel carry on haughtily and unashamed of their poor behavior… engaging in more covert targeting, antagonizing and retributive harassment of employees. The restaurant continues to hemorrhage staff, as management further employs discriminatory tactics of intimidation, mobbing, and micromanagement. Additionally, other restaurants within the group, ailing under similar conditions, are being coerced into silence by Rocket Farm’s PR team.
As we’ve carried on, without any direct acknowledgement from management of this turmoil, Chef Ford Fry, owner of Rocket Farm Restaurants, sent the following apology via email to his employees:
A Message to Marcel:
I wanted to reach out personally about the concerns coming from Marcel this week. I’ve always said that a restaurant is nothing without its people. You all are the heart and soul of Marcel and I want you to know how grateful I am for your efforts to create extraordinary experiences for our guests every day. It makes me really sad to think that any one of you has ever not felt comfortable talking to our leaders, and I am so sorry if this was your experience. Our goal is and always has been to have an open door and do everything possible to make you feel safe, supported and treated fairly. If there is anything you want to share- if there is anything I can do to help make this right- I want to know, and I hope you will feel freely to communicate with me directly. Thank you for everything you do to make Marcel so special.
Additionally, Rocket Farm Restaurants released the following contradictory statement to the public:
We are saddened by these allegations. Our people are the backbone of our company and we’ve always been steadfast in our commitment to fostering a safe work environment for all. We are following up on every accusation to confirm we understand each concern to protect our team. From what we know so far, we can confidently say that many of these points are inaccurate and any concerns we were alerted to were previously addressed. Our team is our family, and we take these matters incredibly seriously. As we actively discuss with our people, we will do everything possible to ensure every voice is heard.
It’s affirming to watch Ford Fry demonstrate on a public scale, just how deliberately Rocket Farm Restaurants gaslights, manipulates, silences and ultimately ignores employees when genuine issues are even publicly brought forward. This apathy is poison to Rocket Farm. Ford Fry’s notable lack of true acknowledgement and action duly illustrates to employees and to the public that his company uplifts and encourages blatant racial discrimination, hostile work environments, abusive labor practices and managerial corruption. All is not well. All is not soigne.
dissecting the sentiments offered by Ford Fry & Rocket Farm Restaurants
Chef Fry’s “apology” reads more like a legal disclaimer. Rocket Farm’s statement displays a definitive lack of empathy and acknowledgement. It demonstrates, not only to employees… but also to Atlanta, that they truly lack compassion for the hardworking people who built his empire.
“I wanted to reach out personally”
Hiding behind a group email is actually the opposite of “personally.” Do also note, that this apology was not received until after Rocket Farm’s sterile PR statement.
“I’ve always said that a restaurant is nothing without its people”
This is actually a paraphrased quote from what was written to Mr. Fry in Le Manifeste.
“It makes me really sad”
Sure, but would you like to know who is sadder? The abused employees, former and present. Centering your emotions in an apology not only undermines those who were actually hurt in the situation, but it further deflects from the actual issues. Moreover, your emotions should never take precedence over rote racism, discrimination, harassment and labor exploitation.
“And I am so sorry if this was your experience”
This sentiment not only devalues the gravity of the experiences, but also absolves your responsibility of the matters. Your ownership is your complicity. Your choices in your management, your wage practices and your labor practices are your complicity. Therefore, any experience manifested within the company is a result of your decisions.
To summarize, here is where your apology went wrong:
It lacked any acknowledgement of accountability. You did not take responsibility for anything that has transpired. While your person was never present at Marcel, your poorly trained and racist management were (and still are) mismanaging your crown jewel, your highest performing restaurant, into hell. You are responsible because these are the people you have entrusted with this responsibility, and they have not only severely failed your staff, but have severely failed you. Why do you continue to align with such characters?
You only expressed regret per our experiences, but your apology did not claim your role in these transgressions. Your company has perpetuated racial discrimination, ignored sexual assaults, engaged in labor abuse and blatantly exploited your staff. These are the things you need to feel “sorry” and “sad” about. If this were a proper apology you would address and express deep regret for your role and responsibility in these violations. You are namely complicit because it is your company, your team and your choice to uplift and perpetuate discrimination, abuse and exploitative labor practices.
You gave a meager declaration of repentance, but it is unfounded with no plan of action, thereby calling its sincerity into question.
Now, to address the fallacies in Rocket Farm Restaurant’s PR statement:
“We’ve always been steadfast in our commitment to fostering a safe and fair work environment for all”
Countless past and present employees beg to differ. Here are just a few comments (mostly from @eateratlanta’s Instagram post, covering Le Manifeste), on the actual work environment fostered by Rocket Farm restaurants:
“Worked for Rocket Farm restaurants for 3 and a half years. Overt racism, sexual harassment, and corrupt management are par for the course. And HR only exists to protect the abusers and punish the victims.”
“I met some of the most salt of the earth people when I worked for the company, but the partners and operators will never show their hourly employees any dignity. The company didn’t care if we lived or died during 2020 and 2021 and left it to chefs and general managers to keep the company afloat while “working” remotely. It’s been an open secret for years that Ford sexually harasses hosts and other employees, so I can’t pretend to be shocked to hear about mistreatment of any kind.”
“Former Rocket Farm employee as well and I can confirm HR will ignore and ignore.”
“It was the most unpleasant abusive work environments I’ve ever experienced. Bullying, sexual harassment, all of it. HR does not care”
“This isn’t new, this is just news that we shoved in a closet. However it’s known that Ford Fry and it’s establishments are insanely troublesome.”
“It starts with the serial philandering at the top. Take a wild guess.”
“I had a table I was waiting on make derogatory and hateful comments about homosexuals very loudly, and when I reported it to management immediately I was told to ignore it”
Per the above accounts, those documented in Le Manifeste, and any henceforth commentary from former and current Rocket Farm employees, this declaration is actually just a blatant lie. If Rocket Farm Restaurants is steadfast in anything, it would be a commitment to silencing the truth and the stories of victims.
“We are following up on every accusation…”
This is, again, an untrue statement. No one has followed up on any of the mistreatment at Marcel, per tradition, it seems.
“We can confidently say that many of these points are inaccurate”
Uh, can you? What a strong declaration. Were you… there? That’s interesting. The cameras and many, varying personal accounts beg to differ. Telling people that things didn’t happen, when they most certainly did, is known as gaslighting. It’s gaslighting when an out of touch group of corporate heads who were never present for these events can boldly assert these things did not happen.
“Our team is our family”
We talked about why this is a red flag in Le Manifeste.
“We will do everything possible to ensure every voice is heard.”
As a current employee of Marcel, I can attest to the fact that you and your team have actually gone out of your way to ensure silence.
An ableist musing, lingering in the backlash commentary
“IF YOU DON”T LIKE IT, THEN YOU SHOULD JUST LEAVE ”
Interesting to behold a minority of privileged coworkers upholding a system that also abuses them. I won’t say it is surprising, but it is disappointing. Racism hurts all of humanity. And white supremacy hurts white people, all the same. To have to argue that racism is indeed alive and well, and most of all… that racism is also still bad, is bizarre. Peculiar to watch a loud minority of employees defend a corporation that exploits their labor, seemingly because it doesn’t exploit them as severely as others. We are all losers in this system. What is there to “leave” when mistreatment is standard?
Hollow celebration of Rocket Farm employees continues
The ongoing tokenization of Black employees per the company’s employee “appreciation” Instagram page, Rocket Farm Faces (@rocketfarmfaces), is transparent and in bad faith. Sincere advocation begins with daily integrous choices and actions. Verbal celebrations of employees— while paying them dehumanizing wages— is manipulative, insincere and shameful. To facade as a hometown mom and pop establishment, while Rocket Farm Restaurants is the largest privately owned restaurant group in the Southeast is insincere. To exploit Southern and Black workers — two intersecting historically disenfranchised groups — is also manipulative, insincere and ultimately evil. I cannot even grant the benefit of the doubt, because I know that you are aware of how little your staff is actually paid. If you want to sincerely preach humanity, as if you are a genuine magnanimous creator of jobs and not an exploitative corporation, I pray that you actually invest in your people. That is what a real leader, a real humanitarian, and wise businessman would do.
TO CHEF FRY
When does your business become your responsibility? Is it fiscally and strategically responsible to carry on opening new restaurants, when you have no control over your crown jewel? How could someone of such privilege ever be an authority on what properly counts as racism, abuse and harassment and what does not? Apologies never undo the damage of tragic systemic prejudice. What you can do is set an example. You can uplift and invest properly into the communities you franchise in.
I question your judgment in regard to whom you choose to elevate. You and your team continually entrusted your most valuable restaurant with mediocre, apathetic racists and sadists, in spite of regular protest and documented grief. You let this regime of management fumble your most valuable employees, in the name of White mediocrity and exploitation, in spite of regular and historical complaints.
We, the employees of Rocket Farm, present you a momentous and influential opportunity to finally be the leader you purport to be. We implore you to set the standard for impeccable leadership. Alexander the Great, didn’t become great because he hid behind a flimsy PR team. If Rocket Farm isn’t simply masquerading as a restaurant group comparable to the best of New York City and Los Angeles, kindly put your money where your mouth is. If you can afford the continued expansion of Rocket Farm, then you can certainly invest more capital, thought, and resources into providing safe, fair work environments, livable wages, and empathetic and professional middle management, for your hardworking employees.
TO MY PEERS
The prevalent normalcy of poor behavior and mistreatment— specifically racial discrimination, exploitative wages, labor abuse, sexual harassment— is not permission to proceed. In 2024, there is no need to perpetuate abusive systems with abusive leaders. The restaurant industry as a whole deserves a sincere humanitarian audit. Humanity deserves better.
