A popular restaurant in Sydney has abruptly closed its doors following a mass staff walkout, with employees at Newtown’s Comedor restaurant alleging the owner would pay them late, get drunk at the bar, and once said he would “take a hit out” on a staff member. The owner has vehemently denied these claims.
Though it was a relatively new face in the Sydney restaurant scene, Comedor had quickly made a name for itself. After the Mexican-fusion restaurant opened in July, it quickly received a chef’s hat award from Good Food Guide in August.
Yet despite its promise, last week the award-winning Comedor restaurant announced it would be closing its doors to all customers for the foreseeable future.
“Comedor is remaining close until further notice,” said a statement on Instagram.
“We sincerely apologise to those who had bookings, and look forward to welcoming you again very soon.”
The closure is reportedly a result of a mass staff walkout, with members of the workplace alleging the owner’s behaviour was the reason for the sudden closure.
Comedor staff make allegations against owner
In a report from The Sydney Morning Herald, several anonymous staff alleged that Comedor owner Walter Shellshear would “very regularly” turn up the bar and get drunk while customers were present.
“He was a bit brash and loud when he was sober, but ultimately fine. You can’t get mad at him for that,” said an unnamed staff member.
“But the problem was when he was drunk, which was, unfortunately, very regularly.”
This habit became known amongst staff as “getting Waltered”; where the 53-year-old owner would allegedly loudly demand drinks at the bar and reportedly threaten to fire anyone who did not comply. Shellshear denies these allegations.
Head chef Alejandro Huerta also announced he was leaving the Comedor last Tuesday, saying: “I was happy with what we achieved, but it wasn’t a great place to work.”
One employee told the SMH that one morning Shellshear threatened to “take a hit out” on them, after expressing concerns over how his drinking habits impacted the business.
“He told me that he would find someone to kill me,” the worker said.
“He recited my address back to me. He told me I would never get another job in hospitality again, and if I ever said anything, he would drag me through the media.”
As well as these alleged behaviours, there were allegations from staff that their pay was not coming in on time. These factors resulted in the restaurant manager resigning on November 27, and communicating to other staff that they did not need to come into work.
Shellshear denies allegations from staff
Speaking to the publication, lawyers for Walter Shellshear denied that the owner paid his staff late and that he made any abuse or threats against them.
“Mr Shellshear has not threatened any staff with legal action, visa cancellation or deportation,” the owner’s lawyers wrote in a letter.
The owner himself also denied the allegations, saying that the story had become “bigger than Ben-Hur” and that he had been “completely wronged”.
“I have just put $2.5 million into a fit-out, won a hat and now I have had people walk out,” Shellshear said, per SMH.
The social media posts and pages which shared that the restaurant was closed until further notice have since been deleted.
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