Star Chef, Facing a Suit, Files for Bankruptcy
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GEOFFREY ZAKARIAN has made all the right moves for a celebrity chef. He is a fixture on four Food Network programs, including “Chopped.” Over the years, he has operated a number of high-profile restaurants, three of which have won three stars from The New York Times. He now has two places in fashionable New York hotels and a hand in hotels in Miami Beach and Atlantic City.
But his latest step doesn’t follow the script.
He has filed for personal bankruptcy, a move that could help fend off more than $1 million in legal claims from his kitchen staff at Country in the Carlton Hotel, along with a former partner in the restaurant, which closed nearly three years ago.
Of the 179 creditors listed in the Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition he filed on April 6 in federal court in Bridgeport, Conn., 152 are former cooks at Country. They are part of a class action lawsuit against Mr. Zakarian and his management firm that claims that when he was an owner of the restaurant and its chef, he failed to pay the workers time and a half for overtime, falsified pay records to shortchange them and deducted from their paychecks for staff meals they were not given. They are seeking $1 million in damages and $250,000 in penalties.
Neither legal action has been widely reported in the news media, nor has the bitterness between Mr. Zakarian and two former partners that has led those two men to take the workers’ side and face off in court against him.
In a statement, the chef’s publicist, Jaret T. Keller, said: “Geoffrey Zakarian filed for bankruptcy due to the enormous costs of defending a class action lawsuit by former employees of a restaurant in which Mr. Zakarian is no longer involved. Mr. Zakarian denied the allegations in the lawsuit but it would cost him several hundred thousand dollars to defend the action.” Mr. Keller said Mr. Zakarian was “sequestered” in Los Angeles taping “The Next Iron Chef” and would have no further comment.
After being sent e-mails detailing the allegations in the legal papers, Mr. Zakarian replied by e-mail: “As a respectful practice, I will not comment on business partnerships or pending litigations. I realize and understand the responsibility that as a public face of a business, one can become a target. I remain focused on my craft and delivering great meals to my diners.”
The bankruptcy filing, which lists assets of no more than $50,000 and liabilities of up to $1 million, automatically puts a hold on any litigation against Mr. Zakarian, including the class action lawsuit, said Scott A. Lucas, the plaintiffs’ lawyer.
“Isn’t it interesting that a TV celebrity chef, who opens multiple new restaurants around the country, can file for bankruptcy?” said Mr. Lucas, who said he would move to have the class action go forward.
Since Country closed in 2008, Mr. Zakarian has opened the Lambs Club restaurant in the Chatwal Hotel off Times Square and the National Bar and Dining Rooms in the Benjamin Hotel in Midtown. He oversees food and beverages at the Water Club at Borgata in Atlantic City and will soon open the Tudor House restaurant in the Chatwal group’s Dream South Beach Hotel in Miami Beach. He rents a four-bedroom house in Greenwich, Conn., that is listed on the market for just under $3 million.
Chefs and restaurateurs have faced lawsuits over pay issues like overtime and distribution of tips with increasing regularity in New York, although bankruptcy does not seem to be the usual outcome.
What is striking about the suit involving Country is that a former partner in the restaurant, Adam Block, has filed an affidavit in support of the workers, and that another partner, Moshe Lax, has said in a separate suit that Mr. Zakarian violated labor laws.
The two men agreed to a $200,000 settlement with the cooks in December. But Mr. Block, a restaurant developer who helped bring Per Se and Masa to the Time Warner Center, said in a legal filing on behalf of the plaintiffs last November that the settlement was not the reason he was speaking against his former partner. It was, he said, “because I know that Geoffrey Zakarian’s narcissistic behavior and arrogance caused Country to fail and inevitably allowed whatever wage and hour violations occurred while he was Country’s operator.”
But his latest step doesn’t follow the script.
He has filed for personal bankruptcy, a move that could help fend off more than $1 million in legal claims from his kitchen staff at Country in the Carlton Hotel, along with a former partner in the restaurant, which closed nearly three years ago.
Of the 179 creditors listed in the Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition he filed on April 6 in federal court in Bridgeport, Conn., 152 are former cooks at Country. They are part of a class action lawsuit against Mr. Zakarian and his management firm that claims that when he was an owner of the restaurant and its chef, he failed to pay the workers time and a half for overtime, falsified pay records to shortchange them and deducted from their paychecks for staff meals they were not given. They are seeking $1 million in damages and $250,000 in penalties.
Neither legal action has been widely reported in the news media, nor has the bitterness between Mr. Zakarian and two former partners that has led those two men to take the workers’ side and face off in court against him.
In a statement, the chef’s publicist, Jaret T. Keller, said: “Geoffrey Zakarian filed for bankruptcy due to the enormous costs of defending a class action lawsuit by former employees of a restaurant in which Mr. Zakarian is no longer involved. Mr. Zakarian denied the allegations in the lawsuit but it would cost him several hundred thousand dollars to defend the action.” Mr. Keller said Mr. Zakarian was “sequestered” in Los Angeles taping “The Next Iron Chef” and would have no further comment.
After being sent e-mails detailing the allegations in the legal papers, Mr. Zakarian replied by e-mail: “As a respectful practice, I will not comment on business partnerships or pending litigations. I realize and understand the responsibility that as a public face of a business, one can become a target. I remain focused on my craft and delivering great meals to my diners.”
The bankruptcy filing, which lists assets of no more than $50,000 and liabilities of up to $1 million, automatically puts a hold on any litigation against Mr. Zakarian, including the class action lawsuit, said Scott A. Lucas, the plaintiffs’ lawyer.
“Isn’t it interesting that a TV celebrity chef, who opens multiple new restaurants around the country, can file for bankruptcy?” said Mr. Lucas, who said he would move to have the class action go forward.
Since Country closed in 2008, Mr. Zakarian has opened the Lambs Club restaurant in the Chatwal Hotel off Times Square and the National Bar and Dining Rooms in the Benjamin Hotel in Midtown. He oversees food and beverages at the Water Club at Borgata in Atlantic City and will soon open the Tudor House restaurant in the Chatwal group’s Dream South Beach Hotel in Miami Beach. He rents a four-bedroom house in Greenwich, Conn., that is listed on the market for just under $3 million.
Chefs and restaurateurs have faced lawsuits over pay issues like overtime and distribution of tips with increasing regularity in New York, although bankruptcy does not seem to be the usual outcome.
What is striking about the suit involving Country is that a former partner in the restaurant, Adam Block, has filed an affidavit in support of the workers, and that another partner, Moshe Lax, has said in a separate suit that Mr. Zakarian violated labor laws.
The two men agreed to a $200,000 settlement with the cooks in December. But Mr. Block, a restaurant developer who helped bring Per Se and Masa to the Time Warner Center, said in a legal filing on behalf of the plaintiffs last November that the settlement was not the reason he was speaking against his former partner. It was, he said, “because I know that Geoffrey Zakarian’s narcissistic behavior and arrogance caused Country to fail and inevitably allowed whatever wage and hour violations occurred while he was Country’s operator.”
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