Celebrity vegan chef Matthew Kenney sent vile racist and misogynistic messages to his employees, failed to pay their salaries and misled investors as his restaurant empire crumbled, a new report alleges.
The New York Times paints a picture of cheating, unpaid bills and inappropriate relationships surrounding Kenney, the ex of disgraced New York restaurateur Sarma Melngailis who appears in Netflix’s ‘Bad Vegan’.
Seventeen of Kenney’s restaurants have closed since 2021, and 60 former employees, investors and business partners came forward to tell the Times about a pattern of “chaotic and reckless management” by Kenney.
Kenney allegedly failed to pay vulnerable employees for months while living a “very glamorous life” in a Los Angeles home that cost $20,000 a month.
He allegedly dated a 19-year-old employee, asked staff to lie to his girlfriend when he took her to the restaurant, and sent racist messages asking if her lawyer was black and saying, “I’ll kill you if he is.”
Seventeen of Matthew Kenney’s restaurants across the US have closed since 2021 and 60 former employees, investors and business partners have spoken out.
The New York Times paints a picture of fraud, failure and unpaid bills surrounding Kenney, who for years dated imprisoned New York restaurateur Sarma Melngailis (seen with Kenney and actors Woody Harrelson and Jason Lewis at their restaurant Pure Food and Wine in 2004).
The new report alleges that as his business empire crumbled, Kenney lived a life of luxury in a $20,000-a-month home.
Kenney is worth an estimated $20 million. He runs dozens of restaurants on five continents and serves stars such as Alec Baldwin, Miley Cyrus and Woody Harrelson.
But the former golden boy of veganism has suffered a fall from grace with a series of reports and documentaries questioning his business practices.
In the latest report, the Times interviewed 60 of Kenney’s associates and reviewed court cases and text messages sent by the restaurateur over decades.
In one of the most serious allegations, The Times said that ‘Mr. Kenney regularly referred to employees and business partners in racist, misogynistic and profane terms.’
They said that in a series of messages related to a harassment case against him, Kenney asked if his lawyer was black and then said, “If he is, I will kill you.”
He allegedly continued to suggest that the attorney was performing sexual acts on the plaintiff and mocked the plaintiff’s stutter.
In another text from 2022, he allegedly wrote, “All Latino men are crybabies” and then said, “I hate to be racist, but it’s my experience.”
Four years earlier, he allegedly described South Asian business owners as “grocery store Indians.”
Then, in 2021, he allegedly asked about the sex life of a black employee and went on a tirade about the personal hygiene of her previous sexual partners, saying one woman was attractive “until she was 21.”
The former golden boy of veganism has suffered a fall from grace with a series of reports and documentaries that call into question his business practices
He reportedly had sexual relationships with staff members decades younger at his restaurants.
Staff told the Times that managers told them to lie to Kenney’s then-girlfriend, Charlotte MacKinnon, about Kenney bringing other women to the restaurant.
Meanwhile, he allegedly carried on sexual relationships with staff members decades younger at his restaurants, including a relationship with a 19-year-old hostess when he was in his 50s.
Staff told the Times that managers told them to lie to Kenney’s then-girlfriend, Charlotte MacKinnon, about Kenney bringing other women to the restaurant.
Former waitress Yvette De Vito told the newspaper: “People got caught in the middle of weird things like that.” She gave me the impression that this person had no moral code or compass and only cared about himself.’
Meanwhile, employees said they were not paid and were forced to race each other to the bank on payday, since only the first to arrive would receive their pay.
A former manager, Kari Bare, said workers would “all fight to go to the bank and see who gets paid first.” “It was really sad.” One employee was forced to live off canned beans due to unpaid wages and tips, she said.
Meanwhile, Bare said he would see Kenney and MacKinnon on luxury trips on Instagram, and that he lived in a $20,000-a-month luxury home in Los Angeles.
A pending class action lawsuit filed in 2021 by former employees in the U.S. District Court in New York alleged that wage practices at New York City Kenney’s restaurants violated federal and state labor laws.
The lawsuit claimed in part that Mr. Kenney, his partners and the companies illegally kept workers’ tips.
Discussions over salaries made the situation unworkable. A former CEO, Kara Knowles, told The Times: “I once had a dishwasher call me and threaten to kill me. “That’s how high the tensions were.”
In addition to failing to pay employees, Kenney also failed to pay owners, the report alleges.
In addition to failing to pay employees, Kenney also failed to pay owners, the report alleges.
Kenney’s ex Sarma Melngailis’ downfall was featured on Netflix’s ‘Bad Vegan’ after she stole about $2 million from investors and employees of New York’s Pure Food & Wine.
Matthew Kenney, the Los Angeles-based celebrity chef behind a formidable fleet of vegan restaurants on five different continents, is in free fall in his business, according to a new report.
Pat McAuley, a local partner at Plant Pub Fenway, said Kenney’s company owned the business and controlled its finances until it was evicted by the landlord, who claimed about $230,000 in unpaid rent.
McAuley told the newspaper that the restaurant made hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue in the 12 weeks it was open, adding: “We don’t know what happened to it.” They did not pay suppliers more than the bare minimum.’
The claims are strikingly similar to those surrounding his ex-girlfriend, Melngailis, now 44, who served four months in a cell on Riker’s Island and was released in October 2017 for fleecing her and Kenney’s former restaurant.
The two co-founded Pure Food and Wine in 2004, and after they split a few years later, she took control of the company and its $2 million in debt.
She proceeded to plead guilty to multiple fraud charges in 2017 after swindling the same sum from investors while stealing employees’ hard-earned checks before fleeing.
Her strange downfall was on full display on ‘Bad Vegan’, as the former restaurateur claims she used funds from the show to pay her employees.
His struggles haven’t stopped him from starting new ventures, opening a Double Zero location in Times Square last month.
Kenney denies the claims, telling The Times that its reporting is “despicable” and lacks “a basic understanding of the actual facts.” DailyMail.com attempted to contact Kenney for further comment.
Cindy, a former investor and wife of actor Michael Landon, told the Times that she had spoken to other former business partners and employees: “They all tell me these stories and tell me this man needs to be stopped.”