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ROC United Reveals True Colors in Wake of Abrupt Closure of Colors Restaurant in NYC
By: Patrick Maguire
Book Chapter: Human-to-Human Service
Posted: 01/22/2020
When your ‘socially conscious’ mantra is embracing the ‘high road,’ you don’t blindside the leader of your restaurant via text, ever, never mind only 3 days before closing your business for good. And exploiting and abusing the very people you claim to be advocating for, is even worse than the ‘low road.’ It’s the gutter.
From the official ROC (Restaurant Opportunities Center) website:
TAKING THE HIGH ROAD – A HOW-TO GUIDE FOR SUCCESSFUL RESTAURANT EMPLOYERS
What is the High Road?
Employers defined the “high road” as employment practices that support workers and unleash their loyalty, creativity, and productivity to make the restaurant successful. High-road employers emphasized that the benefits of increased productivity of invested long-term workers and the reduced cost of employee turnover outweigh the short-term costs of high-road practices.
While specific practices varied, these “high-road” policies fell into the following three areas:
1. providing livable wages
2. maintaining a healthy workplace through paid sick days, vacation, or health insurance; and
3. creating career ladders for employees through training and internal promotions policies
From early on, ROC United set themselves up to fail because the foundation they ‘built’ (I should say, ‘sold’) their business model and ideals on is fraudulent. They do not practice what they preach and lead by example. With the shameful closing of Colors restaurant, they have zero credibility.
As I stated in a 1/20 tweet:
Shortly before Colors restaurant reopened after a 3-year closure, Eater NY reported, “It’s a comeback attempt for the 70-seat restaurant at 178 Stanton Street, between Clinton and Attorney streets. After the September 11 attacks, surviving Windows of the World employees regrouped and organized to build Restaurants Opportunity Center United, one of the country’s most important restaurant labor organizations. They also opened Colors, a restaurant intended to embody their ideals of fair pay, diversity, and employee equity. But while ROC and its advocacy took off, Colors never mastered the balance of running a profitable business with a nonprofit heart. Former employees have filed lawsuits, and many claimed that their fair wages weren’t paid on time.”
The 12/11/19 Eater piece also quoted Colors’ leader, Chef Sicily Sewell-Johnson just before the reopening:
Sewell-Johnson also is working to regain New Yorkers’ trust. “Colors did the community a disservice. We weren’t open for three years. We were inconsistent and let them down,” she says. “Then, among peers, ROC challenged the [industry’s] sub-minimum wage and tipping policies, but we weren’t co-laboring to make the changes. We have to repair those relationships to be taken seriously.”
There was no mention of Colors as a pop-up or “test drive.”
It’s ironic that the entity that prides itself as the standard-bearer of loyalty, equality, and trust betrayed one of their top leaders and advocates in a disgraceful fashion. They didn’t even have the intelligence and courage to meet with Sicily and her team in-person to tell them they were closing and why. And it gets worse…
Excerpts from Eater NY (1/21/20):
After only one month of service, the surviving Windows on the World employee restaurant Colors has closed yet again. Head chef Sicily Sewell-Johnson announced the closure Friday — saying that the restaurant’s owner, labor nonprofit Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, had suddenly pulled the plug.
And in another twist for the embattled restaurant, the chef tells Eater that ROC United is currently not letting her release the more than $2,000 that she raised over the weekend through Venmo to provide “a cushion” to staffers who have just lost their jobs. It’s another bump in what she says has been a “crazy” time with ROC, which she alleges has mismanaged the restaurant from the beginning.
“I’ll never look at this organization the same,” she says.
Management, though, was “a mess” from the beginning, she now says. Structures such as payroll, health insurance, and worker’s compensation were not in place, she says. Sewell-Johnson alleges that she sometimes paid vendors for food and other products out-of-pocket and filed for reimbursement, despite multiple requests for ROC to put a business debit card into place. When her finger got injured during business, she paid for care herself because the nonprofit never gave her health insurance that it had promised, she alleges.
Plus, ROC did not properly tell locals that Colors was open for business, Sewell-Johnson says. The restaurant was still showing up as closed on platforms such as Google and Yelp until the last week of business, she says.
“It was already a mess,” she says. “There were no systems. There was no structure.”
But business was also difficult because ROC did not seem committed to figuring out a financial plan that worked, she says. The nonprofit touted how it pays servers a $15 minimum wage plus tips, an extension of its ongoing fight to end the tipped minimum wage.
In practice, though, trying to pay $15 plus tips while creating an equitable pay structure throughout the restaurant created some bumps, Sewell-Johnson says. Because pooling tips is illegal, Colors also paid its kitchen staff above minimum wage. Entry-level positions like a dishwasher made $18.30 an hour, and with taxes, the restaurant ended up paying much more for labor than most restaurants in the city.
Sewell-Johnson wanted to start considering what other models would work, such as eliminating tipping, but she faced opposition from ROC. Ultimately, she says, paying a dishwasher a high wage doesn’t matter if the restaurant closes and the dishwasher can’t leave with additional skills.
“It’s easy for a lot of people to say — everyone deserves better, and this is what you should do,” she says. “It’s hard to find the middle to make that work.”
The New York Post, who broke the story on 1/19/20, quoted Sewel-Johnson, “…systems weren’t in place to make Colors succeed, when this place is the epitome of what ROC stands for.” BINGO. In other words, if you don’t practice what you preach, you have absolutely zero credibility. Remember, this comment is coming from a former ambassador of ROC.
The Post also stated, The chef said she was blindsided late Thursday when Sekou Siby, a former employee of Windows of the World and ROC’s executive director, informed her the plug was being pulled. Johnson was informed by Siby in a text that the eatery would close Sunday since funding could no longer be provided.
Reached by The Post for comment, Siby denied Sunday that the restaurant was closing, claiming the latest opening was always intended as a “test drive.”
“It’s not a closing, per se, but we are assessing the financial situation,” Siby said. “the last six weeks was a test drive, to analyze what is possible.”
I’ve had email exchanges with ROC ‘leadership’ in the past, so I sent the following email to Sekou Siby and cc’d Fekkak Mamdough and Saru Jayaraman on 1/20/20:
Hello, Sekou- I’m working on a blog post about Colors NYC closing. Could you please provide answers to the following questions/comments:
#1- Chef Sicily Sewell-Johnson told the NY Post on Sunday, “… systems weren’t in place to make Colors succeed, when this place is the epitome of what ROC stands for.” Your response, please.
#2- If your own staff of your own failed restaurant feels this way, how do you expect restaurateurs around the country to see you as trusted and credible advocates?
#3- Have you ever offered independent, full service restaurateurs a financial pro forma clearly demonstrating how they can operate at a profit while raising server pay to $15/hour and eliminating the tip credit? If you have, can you please furnish a copy?
#4- Do you regret texting Sicily on Thursday that Colors was closing Sunday (3 days later) after service?
#5- Why wasn’t Sicily told in-person?
#6- Why was there such short notice?
#7- How were all of the other Colors employees informed by senior ROC leadership?
#8- On 9/10/19, amNewYork published a piece that referenced a press release from Saru, including this quote, “We are truly excited about the reopening of COLORS in honor of our brothers and sisters who worked at the Windows on the World,” Saru Jayaraman, president and co-founder of ROC United, said in a news release. “Through the lens of COLORS, we are proud of all the hard work that our members and supporters do to continue raising the issue of race and gender equity and fighting for living wages in every restaurant across America.” There was no mention of a “test drive” and probable closing. Please provide a copy of the full press release from ROC announcing the reopening of Colors.
#9- The 12/11/19 piece from Eater NY included, “It’s a comeback attempt for the 70-seat restaurant at 178 Stanton Street, between Clinton and Attorney streets. After the September 11 attacks, surviving Windows of the World employees regrouped and organized to build Restaurants Opportunity Center United, one of the country’s most important restaurant labor organizations. They also opened Colors, a restaurant intended to embody their ideals of fair pay, diversity, and employee equity. But while ROC and its advocacy took off, Colors never mastered the balance of running a profitable business with a nonprofit heart. Former employees have filed lawsuits, and many claimed that their fair wages weren’t paid on time.” There was no mention of a “test drive” and probable, temporary closing “to analyze what is possible” as you mentioned to the NY Post. Are you now saying that contrary to the omission in the press release, the amNewYork piece, and the Eater NY piece, that a ‘trial run,’ then shut down to re-evaluate was planned from the get-go? Feel free to provide evidence.
#10- To reiterate, the 1/19/20 piece in the New York Post stated, Reached by The Post for comment, Siby denied Sunday that the restaurant was closing, claiming the latest opening was always intended as a “test drive.” “It’s not a closing, per se, but we are assessing the financial situation,” Siby said. “The last six weeks was a test drive, to analyze what is possible. We didn’t have a grand opening — this was just a test drive.” Is Colors closing or not? Feel free to elaborate.
#11- If ROC can’t successfully operate a 70-seat, full-service restaurant with grants and outside financial help, after 2 tries (including a 3-year closure) paying servers $15/hour and BOH starting at $18.30/hr (Eater), how do you expect independent, full-service restaurants across America to survive, given the same ‘playbook?’
#12- From the 12/11/19 Eater piece mentioned above: Sewell-Johnson also is working to regain New Yorkers’ trust. “Colors did the community a disservice. We weren’t open for three years. We were inconsistent and let them down,” she says. “Then, among peers, ROC challenged the [industry’s] sub-minimum wage and tipping policies, but we weren’t co-laboring to make the changes. We have to repair those relationships to be taken seriously.” How do you expect anyone to take ROC seriously now?
#13- Feel free to add anything else that you would like me to include in the blog post.
Siby did not respond to my email or reply to my voicemail left on 1/21/20.
It has been widely reported that Colors restaurant and ROC United have been partially funded by millions of dollars from the Ford Foundation. From and old post the Ford Foundation website:
In her new book, Forked: A New Standard for American Dining, Saru Jayaraman, co-founder of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC United), explores the good, the bad and the ugly in the American restaurant industry. The book profiles fabulous restaurants taking the “high road to profitability” and provides ratings of America’s most popular eateries based on the wages, working conditions, and promotion practices they afford workers.
I sent an email to Sarita Gupta, director at the Ford Foundation on 1/21/20. In addition to copying Sarita on the email I sent to Sekou Siby, I included the following:
#1- How much money did the Ford Foundation grant ROC United in 2019? And in 2020?
#2- Was any of that $$ earmarked specifically for Colors NYC?
#3- In light of the recent egregious behavior of ROC United senior management, will the Ford Foundation sever their relationship with ROC?
#4- Did you read this damning Eater piece? Would you like to comment on it?
#5- Would you like to make a statement on behalf of the Ford Foundation as it relates to Colors restaurant closing or on your relationship with ROC?
I will update this blog post if Gupta responds to my email or a voicemail left this morning.
Edit/update: I received the following response from Sarita Gupta via email at 1:56pm on 1/22/20:
Hi Patrick,
We are aware of this situation with Colors NYC closing. The Ford Foundation has a practice of conducting extensive due diligence processes for grantees, and particularly in times of changes. We are doing our part to look into this matter. In the meantime, I wanted to pass along the statement from ROC.
[I will publish the statement from ROC if they send it.]
Kudos to Daniel Cassady & Jackie Salo at the New York Post and Caroline Hatchett, Serena Dai & Morgan Carter at NY Eater for covering this story. The truth about the hypocrisy and the egregious, fraudulent actions of ROC United exploiting their members and the people they claim to be advocating for, needs to be exposed. And their leadership must be held accountable.
Please contact me with additional/related information. I will update/edit this blog post or write new posts as more information becomes available. Thank you.
Previous Server Not Servant blog posts:
1/23/20 edit:
In the wake of the Colors restaurant public relations disaster and the decision by NY Governor Cuomo to leave the tip credit in place for restaurant industry workers, ROC United posted an evasive statement that didn’t answer my questions and this:
You can’t make this shit up. When you don’t exhibit dignity, equity, and respect for your own employees, you have no business or credibility preaching about. Stay tuned.
One Response to “ROC United Reveals True Colors in Wake of Abrupt Closure of Colors Restaurant in NYC”
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Permalink | Posted in Human-to-Human Service | 1 Comment »
Great piece! I an the co-founder of a group called the Full Service Workers Alliance of Seattle. We, among other things, have been reporting on ROC for years and are well aware of how they and their leader Saru Jayaraman have been put pressure on restaurants with their bullying tactics.
Saru is now working on a “Future of Work” committee in California. She’s trying to implement her agenda into this group creating policy recommendations for the Governor. If you want to help to stop her efforts please request that she be removed from the committee for these actions.
Please direct these requests on Twitter with the hashtag #CAFutureOfWork and tag her committee chairs @MaryKayHenry @CAGoBiz and @iftf. Together we can stop Saru and her lies. Thank you!