By Steve Williams And Olivia Day For Daily Mail Australia
02:08 17 Jul 2024, updated 02:22 17 Jul 2024
Former MasterChef judge and celebrity chef George Calombaris has copped another blow with his stint at a popular Sydney restaurant over after just five months.
Melbourne-based Calombaris only took over the reigns as creative partner at the beloved Greek restaurant Alpha in Sydney’s CBD in March.
The restaurant changed operators last month when the Public Hospitality Group exited and it was taken over by Con Dedes of Dedes Waterfront Group.
Dedes told the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday that Calombaris will not be continuing at Alpha after they ‘agreed mutually not to join forces’.
He added Calombaris ‘lightened up the menu’ at Alpha and the restaurant would follow in that direction.
He said Calombaris’ dishes would disappear from the menu in coming weeks.
Calombaris said that although Dedes is a brilliant operator, the new situation ‘just didn’t match’.
‘I love Sydney, and I loved my time at Alpha,’ Calombaris said.
On his brief stint at Alpha, Calombaris said, ‘But I feel like I’ve been teased. I wouldn’t say I was upset, I was saddened.’
‘But it did open up other opportunities. Sydney is definitely on my agenda,’ Calombaris said.
Calombaris didn’t elaborate on the other opportunities, but hasn’t ruled out working with another venue in the Public Hospitality Group’s portfolio.
His departure from Alpha comes after his career was disrupted by numerous personal controversies over recent years.
His MAdE group, which had 22 companies, collapsed in February 2020 after being ordered by the Fair Work Ombudsman to pay workers millions in unpaid penalty rates.
In 2019, Calombaris was ordered to repay $7.8million in unpaid wages to 515 current and former members of staff.
He was fined $200,000 for underpaying his staff between 2011 and 2017 and lost his hospitality company Made Establishment, to liquidators.
Calombaris was personally hit with a $200,000 penalty for the wage rorts but always insisted the underpayments were simply a mistake he blamed on inexperience.
He said the payment error was detected after the company made a self-report, but the publicity that followed made it impossible to keep his businesses afloat.
‘We apologise to all our affected team members, past and present — as it is our people that make our restaurants great, and it is our priority to ensure all of our employees feel respected, rewarded and supported in their roles,’ he said in a statement.
Last year Calombaris banned a patron from his restaurant after the customer left a scathing one-star review complaining about the lack of Greek staff.
They claimed they had the ‘worst dining experience ever’ after booking six weeks in advance.
The customer said their table waited 45 minutes for their food after the manager forgot to put their order through.
‘Practically none of the staff were Greek (inc the Manager who was of Indian descent) and the menu didn’t reflect what has been posted online. Calombaris – this place is a joke and you’ve certainly got a few people fooled.’
But Calombaris hit back in a fiery Instagram post, telling the diner they were never welcome in his restaurant again.
‘Won’t lie. I am 99 per cent a very positive human. But this is horrible,’ Calombaris wrote.
‘Yes, we made a mistake with your order. We are humans. And yes, my manager is Indian. You know who you are guys. You’re not welcome ever to [the restaurant]’.
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