Letter 1

jay travis
operations director
wagamama
23-25 eastcastle street
london
W1W 8DF

4/2/05


Dear Jay,

I am writing to you to draw your attention to the situation in your new restaurant in
Brighton. Within the first week I made the following observations:

1. The overall atmosphere is one of bullying and intimidation. Criticism is guaranteed
constantly, while praise and the word please is rarely heard. Not only is this demotivating but it is also disrespectful and stressful. Although I thought I had been hired to cook I have not been allowed to do this. Instead I am assigned piecemeal work that is continuously interrupted by chefs ordering me to carry out their menial tasks. Instead of assigning me an objective for the day I have to ask for each job as I complete the last, and when there is nothing to do I am usually shouted at for being idle within a few seconds.

2. The management is inconsistent. Each team leader has a different idea of how to do something, so every day the same task must be performed differently, and every day a new manager will inform you that you are doing something the wrong way.
Although there are guides for some tasks, these are also absent for many routine
jobs. Where there are guidelines we are told that they are wrong, often with good
reason. Sometimes the guidelines are unrealistic, for example where the exact
length and weight of meat and vegetables is specified where the raw materials are
naturally inclined to be different. Although you claim to believe in kaizen, there is
nothing to indicate how you expect this to be put into practice.

3. The first I heard that my cap was my responsibility and worth £10 was on my first
pay slip where the “deposit” was deducted. When I asked about this I told all the
managers I had misplaced mine in the restaurant laundry service. I was told that on this occasion it would be replaced but it was not despite two reminders. It was only when a manager I had never seen1 demanded to know where it was that I was given a replacement. Ironically I had no idea who he was while he chose to spend several minutes explaining to me the importance of the name badge, and it took several weeks to be issued me with a name badge. This is all the more frustrating as I am expected to bring and maintain my own trousers and shoes at my own expense.
/>4. Although we are always told we are to work as a team we are not led by example. In the above example the manager started working in the kitchen in his own clothes
and did not wear a badge. We have been told to eat in the staff room which is not a
problem but I have been told I cannot wait for my food in the restaurant and that
serving staff will not bring it to me. At the same time managers routinely spread their
work across dining tables and order items that are not available to other staff.

5. The working conditions are so cramped that my physical space is constantly
intruded with people passing behind knocking into me. In some case it is the arm
that is chopping that gets knocked. The lighting is behind me, so I am working in my
own shadow. The work surface is about six inches above the rest of the kitchen and
although I am relatively tall it is not very comfortable. The sheer volume and continuity of chopping results in RSI after just one day - aching muscles and blisters have
resulted. There appears to be one sink in an area 2 metres wide where there are
usually two chefs working with different food types alongside the dish cleaning area.
I notice the food alert inspector did not consider this acceptable but raw fish and
chicken continues to mingle with salad and vegetables.

6. I think it is unreasonable to expect staff to change into and out of their uniform in
their own time: this is a requirement for the job and I don’t think any other
respectable employer would cease to consider someone to be working as they don
appropriate clothing. Furthermore when completing a shift staff are routinely required
to work overtime to complete outstanding jobs, and this is never paid since we are
told we can only be paid the hours written in the rota.

7. I think it is somewhat unique and incredible that you have a policy of not paying staff for their first day of work. I am not quite sure where zero fits on the minimum wage scale, but I don’t think it should take an entire day (in my case 10 hours) to evaluate someone’s ability to do the job.

8. Allowing the minimum break time of 20 minutes for 6 hours is not enough time to
eat lunch. Also repetitive work should have more frequent breaks.

It is now 6 months since my I wrote the notes above, and although the bullying has subsided with the disappearance of the executive chefs, I am constantly informed by the head chef that my work is not up to standard, but whenever I ask him to specify he makes vague and unquantifiable allegations about comments he says have been written by the sous-chefs about the standard of my work, but the only sous chef I have worked with for the last 2 months says he has no problem with my work and is in fact very happy to have me as part of the team.

Regarding my sixth point, the situation has deteriorated. I have been told to come to the restaurant on several occasions to deal with administrative procedures in my own time, and because of this my shifts usually run over by 15 minutes while I am passed from one manager to the other in an attempt to find out what time I am rostered for the following week. In the end I am often told to call back, and it usually takes about 3 attempts to find someone who can tell me when my shift will begin. But if I am a minute late I notice my pay is docked by up to an hour, so it seems it is all take on your side and no give.

About 3 months ago the head chef attempted to cease staff meals, and instead had one chef spending half the morning creating something that was not on the menu and required shopping for ingredients. We were told this was because of a “stock inbalance“ and indirectly accused of stealing. Around the same time juices were withdrawn and have not been restored since. Of course it is your right to withdraw these perks, but then you would be about the only restaurant in the world to deprive its staff of this. And I fail to see how the head chef saves money having special lunches created that will likely displease some of the staff.

As a result of the poor lighting and stressful conditions I cut the end of my finger off. I was told to go to my GP with a napkin drenched in blood. I appreciate it creates extra paperwork when a visit to casualty is made, but under the circumstances it did not seem rational to go anywhere else. My pay was docked from the time of my return even though I had to have the wound redressed 6 times.

I was told that I would receive statutory sick pay, but despite completing all the forms and providing both a sick note and a fit to return to work note I was instead paid my holiday hours. I was told that a manager would call me to check I was OK and set a return date, but after 2 weeks when no one called I called in to find out why. I was summoned by the head chef to visit him in my own time over the weekend, only to be told that according to the company rule book, missing two shifts in a row amounted to effective resignation. After a protracted discussion during which I offered several times to just accept my P45 and be done with it, the head chef told be to wait another 30 minutes while he sought the permission of the manager to fire me. In the end I was told that this could not be done. Perhaps it was the best way to punish me for being sick that I should have to continue working? But I had to wait another 10 days before the new rota was made before even this was possible, apparently.

Five months later, 2 faxes that were “lost”, emails that “cannot be received” and several written and spoken requests I have yet to get full payment of statutory sick pay, and the one day of holiday I have taken in 6 months was unpaid because it was wrongly misappropriated when I was in fact sick. Likewise for several unpaid hours and bank holiday payments.

When I started I was told that although wagamama opts to pay its staff minimum wage, the tips should boost my pay by about 50% which seemed fair enough as this is standard practice. Even though the publicly displayed tronc receipts and staff costs indicate that tips amount to 25% of wages, I have been paid a total of £36 on earnings of £900 or about 3%. Whenever I ask about this I am lied to by the managers.

Since the restaurant turnover has decreased by about 30%, staff hours have been cut randomly. In my case it has been about 70% to 100% since the last two weeks I have been told there is no call for my services, even though there are plenty of chefs working full time at the same time. Even without the reduced turnover it is clear from hindsight that it was never your intention to keep everyone you hired. It was never stated that our positions were temporary and it seems you assumed you would be able to lose enough staff by abusing them in the way you do. We were all called in to a meeting (without being paid of course) and told that it was necessary to reduce everyone’s hours, but it would have been fairer to dismiss those that could not be employed for the hours they expected. Interestingly, when the head chef asked if anyone had any problems there was a stunned silence. Presumably no one knew where to begin. Although some have been offered relocation, I think in my case you are discriminating against me because of my part time status.

Although your policy and in fact the law states part time workers should be treated equally there is an abundance of evidence that you do only offer this concept lip service. I have only once been given the opportunity to feedback my performance and discuss safety issues (again a legal requirement rather than a wagamama initiative), otherwise I am expected to do nothing but work continuously all the hours I am in the restaurant apart from the 20 minutes you give us to wolf down our food. I have never been informed of any changes to the menus or anything other than the next task I must complete. I think now that my rights within the company have reached the 6 month qualification period it is your aim to drive me out and replace me with someone who has not earned these rights.

The chicken katsu smells unbelievably rotten after defrosting, and many of the breasts are so small they look like they have come from birds that have been trodden to death half way through their lives. The process of enrobing them with flour, egg and bread is naturally the least favoured amoung chefs and of course it falls to me to prepare this in huge quantities whenever it is my turn to work. I think that this process would be better done centrally, but I am certain there is no point in making this or any other suggestion since I have already seen my suggestion and those of others dismissed by management. You may also be interested to know one reason Brighton wagamama sales have plummeted is that it has earned a reputation locally for being somewhat tasteless. No doubt sales would drop even further if the public learned about your battery chicken and egg procurement policies as well as your inhumane and disrespectful attitude towards your staff.

You may be wondering why I have not raised any of these issues earlier, but I wanted to wait and see if it was just the odd mistake that I was witnessing or consistent wagamama policy. I was also afraid it would affect my prospects of employment withiin the company but I now know that there are none. It now seems to me that wagamama is a company with little principles apart from maximising its profits. I think the working conditions in MacDonalds are better, but so far you have evaded the notice of the media. I know this letter seems long, but to be honest it is just a very short selection of all of the appalling practices I have witnessed in operation at your Brighton outlet and I would be interested to know how this restaurant compares with your other branches.

Thanks for reading this far. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you need any clarification.