Re: Café Gratitude enrollment
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: December 03, 2011 09:43AM
[blogs.sfweekly.com]
A comment
Try this one on for size. Years ago Cafe Gratitude's managers received $16- $18/hr. and paid vacations. Then the paid vacations went away because the company could no longer afford it. We opened another restaurant. After years of service many of the managers voiced we'd like to be paid more. The company said they couldn't afford it.
They opened another restaurant. And then they came up with a solution. Our titles changed, we were called shift leaders, our hourly wage dropped to $11-$13/ hr. and we were thrown in the tip pool (thus taking more from our servers). Now we made more. They opened another restaurant. The vote they speak of when "we the workers voted to tip pool" went like this.
Keep things the way they are or lose your benefits and reduce your wages. Not a very powerful choice.
Eventually, I got fed up and quit. In the beginning CG was an amazing place to work, but as we expanded many employees felt less like we were being taken care of. They always taught us to live in integrity. Of coarse no one does it all the time.
The lesson was when it was broken, take responsibility and clean it up. I see now their version of cleaning it up is blaming the plaintiffs, the lawyers and closing down. Who is responsible for putting over 200 employees out of work? It is a choice they are making to close. They will expand in LA, where they don't tip pool. That location sells $12k a day and yes like every other restaurant, it pays it's back of the house minimum wage. Apparently, Sacred Commerce is practiced differently in Southern California.
Story here
SF Weekly blog
[blogs.sfweekly.com]
Ask the Critic
Cafe Gratitude Says It's Closing Over a Tip Pooling Lawsuit. Is Pooling Tips Even Legal?
Jonathan Kauffmann
The blowup of the Cafe Gratitude empire, yesterday's biggest food-news story, was ostensibly brought on by the owners' response to several lawsuits that waiters have filed over the restaurants' tip-pooling policies. In recent months, several nationally renowned New York restaurants have also been hit with lawsuits over tip pooling.
Is tip pooling even legal in California? SFoodie posed that question to several San Francisco attorneys specializing in employment law.
The answer, in brief, is yes. Matt Marca, a labor employment lawyer with the San Francisco office of Littler, which is representing Cafe Gratitude,* told SFoodie that California state courts first ruled in 1990 that tip pooling is legal among staff who provide direct service to customers -- waiters, bussers, bartenders.
In 2009, the California Appellate Court ruled in Etheridge v. Reins International that the pool could be expanded to include anyone in the chain of service. "The court took a pragmatic look at service," Marca explains. "The restaurant doesn't know everything that goes into a tip that a customer gives for service. When you talk to a maitre d' and he's unpleasant, maybe you leave less of a tip. Maybe he's nice to you and you leave a better tip. If you sat down, and your waiter was wonderful but the food was horrible, maybe you left less of a tip, and the kitchen's the issue. Maybe your plate arrives and the food is wonderful and the service is great, but the plate had leftover food from the last meal on it, so you're not going to leave as good a tip. That's the dishwasher's fault."
Furthermore, management has a right to gather the tips and distribute them to staff. That's because, according to Marca, employers are allowed to exercise control over the process to make sure all employees are fairly treated. "Why should the busboy be at the whim of a waiter who happens to be greedy and doesn't want to tip?" Marca says. "On the flip side, if there is a lawsuit over tip pooling, the employer is the one who will be sued." The employer should therefore be keeping record of tips coming in and tips paid out.
Who is not allowed to participate in tip pooling arrangements? Management.
Stephanie Bornstein, who teaches employment and labor law at UC Hastings, explained to SFoodie in an email, "In general, owners and their 'agents,' including managers or supervisors who can hire and fire other employees or who supervise, direct, or control other employees, cannot share in the pooled tips that were intended for the waitstaff."
There is one way under California state law that restaurants can exert more control over whom tips are distributed: by adding a service charge to the bill -- say, Chez Panisse's 17% -- which the state treats differently than a tip. "To be considered a gratuity under the law, the tip must be 'over and above' what is owed to the business for the food, drink, and services rendered." Whether such a service charge is enough to protect a restaurant from being sued for improperly distributing pooled tips is unknown.
*Clarification: This post has been updated to reflect the fact that Mr. Marca is representing Cafe Gratitude.
A comment
Try this one on for size. Years ago Cafe Gratitude's managers received $16- $18/hr. and paid vacations. Then the paid vacations went away because the company could no longer afford it. We opened another restaurant. After years of service many of the managers voiced we'd like to be paid more. The company said they couldn't afford it.
They opened another restaurant. And then they came up with a solution. Our titles changed, we were called shift leaders, our hourly wage dropped to $11-$13/ hr. and we were thrown in the tip pool (thus taking more from our servers). Now we made more. They opened another restaurant. The vote they speak of when "we the workers voted to tip pool" went like this.
Keep things the way they are or lose your benefits and reduce your wages. Not a very powerful choice.
Eventually, I got fed up and quit. In the beginning CG was an amazing place to work, but as we expanded many employees felt less like we were being taken care of. They always taught us to live in integrity. Of coarse no one does it all the time.
The lesson was when it was broken, take responsibility and clean it up. I see now their version of cleaning it up is blaming the plaintiffs, the lawyers and closing down. Who is responsible for putting over 200 employees out of work? It is a choice they are making to close. They will expand in LA, where they don't tip pool. That location sells $12k a day and yes like every other restaurant, it pays it's back of the house minimum wage. Apparently, Sacred Commerce is practiced differently in Southern California.
Story here
SF Weekly blog
[blogs.sfweekly.com]
Ask the Critic
Cafe Gratitude Says It's Closing Over a Tip Pooling Lawsuit. Is Pooling Tips Even Legal?
Jonathan Kauffmann
The blowup of the Cafe Gratitude empire, yesterday's biggest food-news story, was ostensibly brought on by the owners' response to several lawsuits that waiters have filed over the restaurants' tip-pooling policies. In recent months, several nationally renowned New York restaurants have also been hit with lawsuits over tip pooling.
Is tip pooling even legal in California? SFoodie posed that question to several San Francisco attorneys specializing in employment law.
The answer, in brief, is yes. Matt Marca, a labor employment lawyer with the San Francisco office of Littler, which is representing Cafe Gratitude,* told SFoodie that California state courts first ruled in 1990 that tip pooling is legal among staff who provide direct service to customers -- waiters, bussers, bartenders.
In 2009, the California Appellate Court ruled in Etheridge v. Reins International that the pool could be expanded to include anyone in the chain of service. "The court took a pragmatic look at service," Marca explains. "The restaurant doesn't know everything that goes into a tip that a customer gives for service. When you talk to a maitre d' and he's unpleasant, maybe you leave less of a tip. Maybe he's nice to you and you leave a better tip. If you sat down, and your waiter was wonderful but the food was horrible, maybe you left less of a tip, and the kitchen's the issue. Maybe your plate arrives and the food is wonderful and the service is great, but the plate had leftover food from the last meal on it, so you're not going to leave as good a tip. That's the dishwasher's fault."
Furthermore, management has a right to gather the tips and distribute them to staff. That's because, according to Marca, employers are allowed to exercise control over the process to make sure all employees are fairly treated. "Why should the busboy be at the whim of a waiter who happens to be greedy and doesn't want to tip?" Marca says. "On the flip side, if there is a lawsuit over tip pooling, the employer is the one who will be sued." The employer should therefore be keeping record of tips coming in and tips paid out.
Who is not allowed to participate in tip pooling arrangements? Management.
Stephanie Bornstein, who teaches employment and labor law at UC Hastings, explained to SFoodie in an email, "In general, owners and their 'agents,' including managers or supervisors who can hire and fire other employees or who supervise, direct, or control other employees, cannot share in the pooled tips that were intended for the waitstaff."
There is one way under California state law that restaurants can exert more control over whom tips are distributed: by adding a service charge to the bill -- say, Chez Panisse's 17% -- which the state treats differently than a tip. "To be considered a gratuity under the law, the tip must be 'over and above' what is owed to the business for the food, drink, and services rendered." Whether such a service charge is enough to protect a restaurant from being sued for improperly distributing pooled tips is unknown.
*Clarification: This post has been updated to reflect the fact that Mr. Marca is representing Cafe Gratitude.
Re: Café Gratitude enrollment
Posted by:
caligari
()
Date: December 03, 2011 05:44PM
SFIst continues with Cafe Gratitude on the comments and the letter by Anthony Lee received in support. It's quite a read and the comments to it respond well,
[sfist.com]
===========
From The Inbox: Saving Cafe Gratitude
Following news that the vegan/Landmark Forum-tinged Cafe Gratitude plans to close or sell all of their Northern California restaurants (including the popular Gracias Madre), the comments section here at SFist blew up. And how. So much ire and speculation poured forth, in fact, that reader Anthony Lee sent us an impassioned letter in response to the brouhaha. "
"I am not a Cafe Gratitude employee, as I have experienced the restaurant as a customer, and I have twice been a volunteer at their Harrison Street restaurant to serve the free Thanksgiving lunch to the local community," Lee tells SFist. "In addition, I have attended presentations where Matthew and Terces have shared their best practices in leadership and community building."
Also, as Grub Street dutifully point out, Café Gratitude devotees have been encouraged to flood local media with testimonials. And with that, here is Lee's letter in its entirety:
The Solution to the Cafe Gratitude crisis starts with One Key Question
What are you committed to?
As I read the online conversations surrounding the announced closings of Cafe Gratitude, I am shocked to see how little attention is spent understanding what each party is committed to? I want to understand the core value that is driving their individual actions.
In a lecture given by author Greg Mooers, he shares “Gandhi was committed to peaceful liberation, Mother Theresa to compassion, Martin Luther King to brotherhood, and Abraham Lincoln to unity. These are core values that these leaders felt so strongly about, they were willing to die for them.” Everyone has their own set of core values, and during times of conflict, it is absolutely essential to ask one another “What are you committed to?” When this question is answered, it lays the groundwork for a solution that works for all parties.
Sarah Stevens, what are you committed to? The lawsuit indicates that you are in disagreement over the tip-pooling policy, and are seeking a payment of $85,000. You were given an opportunity to vote on this policy, and knew that your colleagues ultimately voted to implement a policy that acknowledges and rewards all the contributors of excellent service, from the kitchen to the table. When you made the decision to sign this tip policy and to work for Cafe Gratitude, you gave your word to support the community’s decision.
I am unclear what your core values are. If this policy violated one of your core values, why not choose another restaurant to work for, one with policies that you are in agreement with. Are you standing up for the other colleagues who share your perspective? Did you not have the opportunity to express your dissenting opinion to management or your peers? It is your responsibility to communicate to everyone what you core values are, to give others the information necessary to develop a collaborative solution.
Stephen Sommers, what are you committed to? In one of your company videos, you state “One of the most important things we try to do with our small business clients is to put them into some kind of corporation or LLC, that way they get protection for their assets.” I notice the inconsistency when you are teaching your clients how to protect their assets with a LLC, and at the same time show them how easy it is to attack the Cafe Gratitude LLC, reaching for assets owned by the Engelharts outside of their LLC. I would be conflicted if someone taught me how to put a lock on my front door and how to pick the lock on my neighbor's door.
In another company video, your partner, Matthew Kumin, shares more of your company’s values “We’re really geared toward the little guy”, “Real Lawyers for Real People”, and “If we get the whole picture, we can craft a solution for them.” I would like to know how you personally are expressing the core values of your company. “Real People” includes the dishwashers and food preparers who contribute to the excellent customer experience. “Real People” includes the community of employees who voted for Tip Pooling. I admire your company’s intent to get the whole picture to craft a solution, and I’d like to invite you and your team of Real Lawyers to implement these core values to craft a solution that meets the needs of your client and all the “Real People” impacted by this lawsuit.
Matthew and Terces Engelhart, what are you committed to? They have answered this question by actively teaching their core values, and implementing them in all their restaurants and in all the communities they participate in. Their employees come to a work environment that inspires them to give their best, to develop their leadership and communication skills, and be acknowledged for all the contributions they make to the community. Their customers come in to a restaurant to enjoy healthy nutritious meals, where a menu item called a Grateful Bowl is available to everyone at whatever price they are able to pay. The communities surrounding their neighborhood restaurants enjoy the free Thanksgiving lunch every year. The Engelharts also teach workshops on commerce, relationships, finance, and leadership - each of which contains the core values they hold dear.
The Solution is found in Core Values
What we have here is a failure to understand what each party is truly committed to. When Mr. Sommers states, “It doesn’t make any sense that they have eight restaurants but can’t pay for a lawsuit that costs less than $200,000”, it indicates that he doesn’t understand how committed Matthew and Terces are to their principles of leadership and community. The community of Cafe Gratitude employees voted to implement Tip Pooling, and the Engelharts are standing in full support of this decision. They are also committed to acknowledging each and every employee who contributes to a customer’s excellent experience. Settling the lawsuit comes at a cost much greater than $200,000, because you are also asking them to withdraw their support of a decision made by their community of employees, and to abandon their principals and core values. Our core values define who we are, and are therefore priceless.
I find it hard to believe that any of the parties involved are committed to the disintegration of the Cafe Gratitude restaurants in the Bay Area. Ms. Stevens, I’d invite you to share with the Cafe Gratitude community and with the Engelharts, exactly what you are committed to, and allow them to show their support for you. Mr. Sommers, I’d invite you to “craft a solution” that allows both your client and the Cafe Gratitude community to thrive, even if that solution does not come in the form of a legal settlement. Terces and Matthew, I would invite you to continue your love and support for your employees and customers by staying open, literally and figuratively, so that a truly imaginative, inspirational, and collaborative solution can emerge from this crisis.
What am I committed to?
While I am not a Cafe Gratitude employee, I have experienced their restaurants as a customer, and as a volunteer to serve Thanksgiving lunch. I have attended presentations led by Matthew and Terces, where I have learned valuable leadership and community building skills. I see the immense value that the restaurant and their owners provide to the communities they serve.
My core values are Empowerment and Integrity. I wrote this letter to invite all parties back to the table and share their core values, and Empower the group with the key pieces of information necessary to craft a solution that works for all. I also invite all parties to come to the table with a new opportunity to demonstrate actions and behavior that are in Integrity with their core values. My commitment during this crisis is to promote an open dialogue, so that the best possible outcome can be reached.
Mark Daniel Snyder
What is not being shared here is the Landmark's cult like way of breaking people down first. There is a reason why Landmark is banned in France and is listed on cult watch websites.
Like Reply
11 hours ago 8 Likes
Logan T Huge
is it me or did that read like one of Frank Chui's signs?
A Liked Reply
11 hours ago 10 Likes
Katy Top 10
Frank isn't trying to sell us shit shellacked to look like gold.
A Liked Reply
11 hours ago in reply to Logan T Huge 6 Likes
bruiser Top 50
More accurately:
Frank isn't trying to sell us shit shellacked covered in sprouts to look like gold food.
A Liked Reply
11 hours ago in reply to Katy 11 Likes
Katy Top 10
Jesus. Fucking. Christ. As soon as I read the words "core values" I wanted to vomit. When did getting a job become like joining a fucking religious order?
A Liked Reply
11 hours ago 12 Likes
===========
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/2011 05:45PM by caligari.
[sfist.com]
===========
From The Inbox: Saving Cafe Gratitude
Following news that the vegan/Landmark Forum-tinged Cafe Gratitude plans to close or sell all of their Northern California restaurants (including the popular Gracias Madre), the comments section here at SFist blew up. And how. So much ire and speculation poured forth, in fact, that reader Anthony Lee sent us an impassioned letter in response to the brouhaha. "
"I am not a Cafe Gratitude employee, as I have experienced the restaurant as a customer, and I have twice been a volunteer at their Harrison Street restaurant to serve the free Thanksgiving lunch to the local community," Lee tells SFist. "In addition, I have attended presentations where Matthew and Terces have shared their best practices in leadership and community building."
Also, as Grub Street dutifully point out, Café Gratitude devotees have been encouraged to flood local media with testimonials. And with that, here is Lee's letter in its entirety:
The Solution to the Cafe Gratitude crisis starts with One Key Question
What are you committed to?
As I read the online conversations surrounding the announced closings of Cafe Gratitude, I am shocked to see how little attention is spent understanding what each party is committed to? I want to understand the core value that is driving their individual actions.
In a lecture given by author Greg Mooers, he shares “Gandhi was committed to peaceful liberation, Mother Theresa to compassion, Martin Luther King to brotherhood, and Abraham Lincoln to unity. These are core values that these leaders felt so strongly about, they were willing to die for them.” Everyone has their own set of core values, and during times of conflict, it is absolutely essential to ask one another “What are you committed to?” When this question is answered, it lays the groundwork for a solution that works for all parties.
Sarah Stevens, what are you committed to? The lawsuit indicates that you are in disagreement over the tip-pooling policy, and are seeking a payment of $85,000. You were given an opportunity to vote on this policy, and knew that your colleagues ultimately voted to implement a policy that acknowledges and rewards all the contributors of excellent service, from the kitchen to the table. When you made the decision to sign this tip policy and to work for Cafe Gratitude, you gave your word to support the community’s decision.
I am unclear what your core values are. If this policy violated one of your core values, why not choose another restaurant to work for, one with policies that you are in agreement with. Are you standing up for the other colleagues who share your perspective? Did you not have the opportunity to express your dissenting opinion to management or your peers? It is your responsibility to communicate to everyone what you core values are, to give others the information necessary to develop a collaborative solution.
Stephen Sommers, what are you committed to? In one of your company videos, you state “One of the most important things we try to do with our small business clients is to put them into some kind of corporation or LLC, that way they get protection for their assets.” I notice the inconsistency when you are teaching your clients how to protect their assets with a LLC, and at the same time show them how easy it is to attack the Cafe Gratitude LLC, reaching for assets owned by the Engelharts outside of their LLC. I would be conflicted if someone taught me how to put a lock on my front door and how to pick the lock on my neighbor's door.
In another company video, your partner, Matthew Kumin, shares more of your company’s values “We’re really geared toward the little guy”, “Real Lawyers for Real People”, and “If we get the whole picture, we can craft a solution for them.” I would like to know how you personally are expressing the core values of your company. “Real People” includes the dishwashers and food preparers who contribute to the excellent customer experience. “Real People” includes the community of employees who voted for Tip Pooling. I admire your company’s intent to get the whole picture to craft a solution, and I’d like to invite you and your team of Real Lawyers to implement these core values to craft a solution that meets the needs of your client and all the “Real People” impacted by this lawsuit.
Matthew and Terces Engelhart, what are you committed to? They have answered this question by actively teaching their core values, and implementing them in all their restaurants and in all the communities they participate in. Their employees come to a work environment that inspires them to give their best, to develop their leadership and communication skills, and be acknowledged for all the contributions they make to the community. Their customers come in to a restaurant to enjoy healthy nutritious meals, where a menu item called a Grateful Bowl is available to everyone at whatever price they are able to pay. The communities surrounding their neighborhood restaurants enjoy the free Thanksgiving lunch every year. The Engelharts also teach workshops on commerce, relationships, finance, and leadership - each of which contains the core values they hold dear.
The Solution is found in Core Values
What we have here is a failure to understand what each party is truly committed to. When Mr. Sommers states, “It doesn’t make any sense that they have eight restaurants but can’t pay for a lawsuit that costs less than $200,000”, it indicates that he doesn’t understand how committed Matthew and Terces are to their principles of leadership and community. The community of Cafe Gratitude employees voted to implement Tip Pooling, and the Engelharts are standing in full support of this decision. They are also committed to acknowledging each and every employee who contributes to a customer’s excellent experience. Settling the lawsuit comes at a cost much greater than $200,000, because you are also asking them to withdraw their support of a decision made by their community of employees, and to abandon their principals and core values. Our core values define who we are, and are therefore priceless.
I find it hard to believe that any of the parties involved are committed to the disintegration of the Cafe Gratitude restaurants in the Bay Area. Ms. Stevens, I’d invite you to share with the Cafe Gratitude community and with the Engelharts, exactly what you are committed to, and allow them to show their support for you. Mr. Sommers, I’d invite you to “craft a solution” that allows both your client and the Cafe Gratitude community to thrive, even if that solution does not come in the form of a legal settlement. Terces and Matthew, I would invite you to continue your love and support for your employees and customers by staying open, literally and figuratively, so that a truly imaginative, inspirational, and collaborative solution can emerge from this crisis.
What am I committed to?
While I am not a Cafe Gratitude employee, I have experienced their restaurants as a customer, and as a volunteer to serve Thanksgiving lunch. I have attended presentations led by Matthew and Terces, where I have learned valuable leadership and community building skills. I see the immense value that the restaurant and their owners provide to the communities they serve.
My core values are Empowerment and Integrity. I wrote this letter to invite all parties back to the table and share their core values, and Empower the group with the key pieces of information necessary to craft a solution that works for all. I also invite all parties to come to the table with a new opportunity to demonstrate actions and behavior that are in Integrity with their core values. My commitment during this crisis is to promote an open dialogue, so that the best possible outcome can be reached.
Mark Daniel Snyder
What is not being shared here is the Landmark's cult like way of breaking people down first. There is a reason why Landmark is banned in France and is listed on cult watch websites.
Like Reply
11 hours ago 8 Likes
Logan T Huge
is it me or did that read like one of Frank Chui's signs?
A Liked Reply
11 hours ago 10 Likes
Katy Top 10
Frank isn't trying to sell us shit shellacked to look like gold.
A Liked Reply
11 hours ago in reply to Logan T Huge 6 Likes
bruiser Top 50
More accurately:
Frank isn't trying to sell us shit shellacked covered in sprouts to look like gold food.
A Liked Reply
11 hours ago in reply to Katy 11 Likes
Katy Top 10
Jesus. Fucking. Christ. As soon as I read the words "core values" I wanted to vomit. When did getting a job become like joining a fucking religious order?
A Liked Reply
11 hours ago 12 Likes
===========
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/2011 05:45PM by caligari.
Re: Café Gratitude enrollment
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: December 04, 2011 12:21AM
Quote
Also, as Grub Street dutifully point out, Café Gratitude devotees have been encouraged to flood local media with testimonials.
This risk of this 'astroturfing' is that comments such as this one risk getting lost in the manufactured noise.
This one was one of the early comments in the SF Weekly blog article.
What we need is not more flooding of the media channels by testamonials. Those are a dime a dozen.
Whats needed now is RESEARCH.
Gumshoe research.
As in finding as many former employees who worked for CG for its first five to six years to see if the details described below in the anonymous comment are accurate or not.
Quote
Try this one on for size. Years ago Cafe Gratitude's managers received $16- $18/hr. and paid vacations. Then the paid vacations went away because the company could no longer afford it. We opened another restaurant. After years of service many of the managers voiced we'd like to be paid more. The company said they couldn't afford it.
They opened another restaurant. And then they came up with a solution. Our titles changed, we were called shift leaders, our hourly wage dropped to $11-$13/ hr. and we were thrown in the tip pool (thus taking more from our servers). Now we made more. They opened another restaurant. The vote they speak of when "we the workers voted to tip pool" went like this.
Keep things the way they are or lose your benefits and reduce your wages. Not a very powerful choice.
Eventually, I got fed up and quit. In the beginning CG was an amazing place to work, but as we expanded many employees felt less like we were being taken care of. They always taught us to live in integrity. Of coarse no one does it all the time.
The lesson was when it was broken, take responsibility and clean it up. I see now their version of cleaning it up is blaming the plaintiffs, the lawyers and closing down. Who is responsible for putting over 200 employees out of work? It is a choice they are making to close. They will expand in LA, where they don't tip pool. That location sells $12k a day and yes like every other restaurant, it pays it's back of the house minimum wage. Apparently, Sacred Commerce is practiced differently in Southern California.
And once more for reminders, the owners are fond of Landmark Education and part of the fracas arose when employees on management track objected to the requirement to take Landmark Education even though they only had to pay half the cost.
Someone wrote this on this message board a year ago.
[forum.culteducation.com]
Again, context, find this information from Guy, a former Landmark Forum Leader.
[forum.culteducation.com]
and
[forum.culteducation.com]
[forum.culteducation.com]
[forum.culteducation.com]
Re: Café Gratitude enrollment
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: December 04, 2011 01:21AM
Lest a reader come here and believe we are being cruel and harsh towards Landmark Education, Mr Ross's analysis of LGATs , (Large Group Awareness Trainings) sums posted here on December 3rd 2011 matters up.
And supports anyone who does not want to participate in any LGAT (whether it be Landmark Education, Choices Seminar, Masterpath or any other LGAT using the same methods.
If offered alcohol or any non prescription drug, I always refuse. These are powerful drugs and I do not want to be affected by them. I know what is good for me.
LGATs are powerful and they alter mood using social engineering.
A citizen has the same right to refuse an LGAT as to refuse an offer of a drug he or she does not wish to intake.
[forum.culteducation.com]
And the trouble with LGATs is again and yet again, they are touted as powerful and transformative, yet do not take responsiblity for the impact of their power if subjects incur or have reason to decide they have incurred harm by participating.
Again and yet again we have seen how LGATs often require subjects, as condition of participation, sign away rights to sue or mediate for damages.
Go to our search button in upper right corner, select all dates and type release of liablity into the key words search slot and you will find examples of these forms.
In this the LGATs fail to take responsiblity for the very power they claim to offer.
And supports anyone who does not want to participate in any LGAT (whether it be Landmark Education, Choices Seminar, Masterpath or any other LGAT using the same methods.
If offered alcohol or any non prescription drug, I always refuse. These are powerful drugs and I do not want to be affected by them. I know what is good for me.
LGATs are powerful and they alter mood using social engineering.
A citizen has the same right to refuse an LGAT as to refuse an offer of a drug he or she does not wish to intake.
[forum.culteducation.com]
And the trouble with LGATs is again and yet again, they are touted as powerful and transformative, yet do not take responsiblity for the impact of their power if subjects incur or have reason to decide they have incurred harm by participating.
Again and yet again we have seen how LGATs often require subjects, as condition of participation, sign away rights to sue or mediate for damages.
Go to our search button in upper right corner, select all dates and type release of liablity into the key words search slot and you will find examples of these forms.
In this the LGATs fail to take responsiblity for the very power they claim to offer.
Re: Café Gratitude enrollment
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: December 04, 2011 07:48AM
"Again, I don't agree with the decision, but their intentions are so good. Peace."
More comments
(Corboy put this one at the top because it mentions specifics)
"Guest 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand Lee: You are so ignorant of the facts I hardly know where to begin. This "vote" that you mention was illegal, coercive, and intimidating and many employees abstained from voting. Employees are subjected to aggressive manipulation in order to get them to hand over their hard-earned money to their managers at the end of the night, who then redistribute it to pay the wages of other employees who work at an off site central kitchen. Mathew and Terces made poor business decisions, held space for illegal policies and prioritized aggressive expansion rather then actually paying their central kitchen employees. They are cult leaders who have a major God complex. And I feel sorry for anyone who is duped by their money obsessed new-age bullshit "
I'm not sure who this is, because you are hiding your identity, but I think you misunderstand Matthew and Terces. I worked closely with them for years, and although I don't agree with many of their business decisions (I did choose to leave when I felt it was in my best interest), their intentions are amazing. No, it is not a co-op, and we are going to demonize them for trying to set up a pay system that was more egalitarian, that sees the dishwasher, or the CK employee as just as valuable as the server? Not so awful in my mind. I agree with you that expansion should have held less weight than employee benefits, and argued for that at GM meetings. But M & T saw getting organic, vegan food and transformation far and wide as the best way to help the most people. Again, I don't agree with the decision, but their intentions are so good. Peace.
A Like Reply 17 hours ago in reply to formergratitudeemployee 2 Likes F .
murfleTop 100 1 comment collapsed
Collapse Expand "Hiding your identity" is a pretty safe bet when speaking out against Landmark cultists. The only people using their full names in this thread (assuming "Anton Brunner" is a real name and not concocted ala "Werner Erhard") are the apologist nutbags.
Bird2473 I did the Landmark forum. It was total bullshit and all about committing to enroll people in workshops and paying progressively more for the next levels. The whole argument that this Lee character is spouting about commitment is total Landmark speak designed to manipulate you into doing what they want you to do which is enroll new people. Cafe Gratitude is just using the same techniques for their own agenda which is to control their staff and public opinion by hiding behind lofty words while profiting off the backs of the workers
------------
This was quoted from the discussion article.
(name omitted for privacy-Corboy) 1 comment collapsed
What is not being shared here is the Landmark's cult like way of breaking people down first. There is a reason why Landmark is banned in France and is listed on cult watch websites.
is it me or did that read like one of Frank Chui's signs?
Frank isn't trying to sell us shit shellacked to look like gold.
Frank isn't trying to sell us shit shellacked covered in sprouts to look like gold food.
Jesus. Fucking. Christ. As soon as I read the words "core values" I wanted to vomit. When did getting a job become like joining a fucking religious order?
.
MrEricSirTop No, you don't get to compare Gandhi, Mother Theresa, or Martin Luther King to your little plate of raw vegetables. Sorry, not yours.
murfleTop Actually, Mother Theresa is probably fair game, as coercing people into a dogmatic and abusive system was basically what she was "committed" to.
MrEricSirTop 1 "You were given an opportunity to vote on this policy"
Yes, it's called a democratic republic. Your little fake cheese restaurant doesn't get to violate the employment laws we decided on.
A .
JP "Settling the lawsuit comes at a cost much greater than $200,000, because you are also asking them to withdraw their support of a decision made by their community of employees, and to abandon their principals and core values. Our core values define who we are, and are therefore priceless."
So it just costs $200,000 then.....
Torta Potty ...plus the cost of food... and lobotomies
Torta Potty Pseudo-emotional-religious doublespeak is so much more vile than corporate or government doublespeak. Gross.
A fizzandpopTop 10 You know dude, you can't just use capital letters whenever it pleases you.
How about complying with the core value of following the wage and hours law that applies to every business in California? Unbelievable sanctimony. The lawyer is fighting for the little guy - the employee who was denied a right to breaks, meals and overtime.
dantseaSo, sanity and brevity are not core values?
DoctorMemory Wow, there's absolutely nothing at all creepy about the fact that someone who claims not to be an employee of Cafe Gratitude knows multiple details about these lawsuits and is posting them to random blogs.
Emily Conforti I am befuddled why people are so desperate to continue paying too much for sanctimonious food. I am a vegan and I won't miss it a bit. I prefer modern food to dishes I'd expect to be fed in a yurt in 1973.
MrEricSir Any vegan restaurants in this city you like?
F .
DoctorMemory Speaking as a dedicated meat-eater, the only vegan restaurants in this city that don't make me shudder when my herbivore friends suggest them are Millennium and Udupi Palace. (The latter one, I will actually go to on my own sometimes.)
A
murfle Chaya, Udupi Palace.
(name omitted for privacy-Corboy) Tai Idea vegetarian is new and superb! On Polk st. Check it out!!
A
kelley bella “If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, there’s no progress. If you pull it all the way out, that’s not progress. The progress is healing the wound that the…blow made. And they haven’t even begun to pull the knife out much less try to…heal the wound. They won’t even admit the knife is there.”- Malcolm X in 1964 interview
.
Gary SF 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand What a load of crap. I'm 100% on the side of social justice, and I'm 100% against any dogma in the extreme.
If they do reopen, in the spirit of being honest, they should call the restaurant "Jonestown."
Buffalobleu I am just wondering if this is my old roommate Sarah Stevens? Redhead, early 30s, from Napa? She seemed like the kind of person who would start working at a vegan cult and then sue them for not giving her her tips. I think that would be in line with her Core Values. How do I find out . . ?
murfle Nope, that's not her.
.
(name omitted for privacy-Corboy)The comments to the article are disgusting and destructive. The vibe is like a bunch of redneck haters talking about the first black president. Pull your undies out of your crack for a moment and consider a guy I worked with, a dishwasher like the kind in many restaurants (the kind where servers get all the tips). You know the kind of guy I am talking about, 50 years old, riding a kids bmx bike on the shoulder of a highway, wearing second hand clothing. I can understand how you might miss him, It is dark when he gets up for work and dark when he goes home on that little bike. He lives with 7 other people in a 2 bedroom apartment and eats out of the kitchen he works in.
Then again maybe you don't know him, and doubtfully cannot relate to him. He is not like you. He doesn't complain. Instead, he sends most of his much smaller paycheck, (that he earns for by the way, working in a steaming hot kitchen 15 hours a day) home to his family. You bitch about how unfair that someone else voted to share their own tips with the likes of him.
I wonder if like you, his parents are going to give him a Iphone4S and with a data plan when he goes home for Christmas ...... that is when he goes home for the first time say 5 years from now. No. Thats right, he will be the one bringing the presents. An the funny thing is, he IS grateful.
DoctorMemory If Cafe Gratitude cares so much about your hypothetical dishwasher, maybe they shouldn't be closing the restaurant that employs him rather than comply with the CA labor laws that protect him? Just a thought.
Or hell, maybe they could take him with them to their management retreats to their multimillion-dollar Hawaii compound. (But now we're talking pure craziness, I know.)
withak I thought the lawsuits were over splitting tips with managers and supervisors and people not even working in the restaurant, not kitchen staff.
MrEricSir That's an awful lot of racial stereotypes condensed into one post.
Gary SF Oh X, nobody is against the dishwasher and most here do not care about the tipping mechanisms. But most of us are against the forced indoctrination of employees, often at their own expense.
So you support those charitable organizations that force homeless people to listen to hellfire and brimstone sermons before they will give them food?
Because it is the same type of forced indoctrination.
.
murfleUnfortunately, the most egregious practices of Cafe Gratitude are legal, albeit shady as fuck. I wish they could be sued over the indoctrination, but if suits over tip pooling get the job done, so be it.
Gary SF 1Requiring staff to pay 50% of the cost of the indoctrination is probably not legal.
Katy Fuck. You. Fuck you. My father was a cook, and an illegal immigrant who took his share of shit work in the kitchen. My (believe me, complete) understanding of the dishwashers shitty situation does not conflict with my contempt for the owners of Cafe Smarmy Attitude.
(name omitted for privacy-Corboy)Oh, you know Matthew and Terces?
murfle I've listened to them talk in person at length. They're the spaced-out cultists you'd expect them to be.
dantsea You made yourself wrong.
fizzandpop You're utterly confused. We're hating on a bunch millionaire hippies who think they've uncovered the secret to fucking life. And you and your Nazi war-criminal name. It's fucking disgusting that you bring the plight of a fictional dishwasher into this. Fucking disgusting.
(name omitted)Thanks for making my point more susinctly :)
(same name omitted) BTW, the "hypothetical" dishwasher I am refering to is real and was my co-worker for a year.
MalcoveMagnesia I'm just popped in to say I have no idea what's going on here.
But all this talk about hoity toity overpriced food really puts me in the mood to splurge on a night at Espetus.
phoenixsf The best thing Cafe Gratitude could do for it's back of the house staff (dishwashers. food prep folks etc.) is pay them a decent wage. Waiters and busers get tips because they deal directly with serving the customers. Supervisors and management should be paid enough that they don't need tips. Instead of paying their employees with their own money they take money out of the pockets of the people who earned it. All the hippy new age BS about core values is just polish on a big stinky turd. Ripping off their employees plus making them pay to go to Landmark makes me glad that Cafe Gratitude is going out of business.
murfle One of the few things I'll say in their defense is that they do actually pay the back of the house a decent wage.
slobeck Cafe Gratitude closing: And nothing of value was lost. Any company that makes an employee join a cult at the employee's expense (offering to pay for half doesn't cut it) is wrong.
Make no mistake Landmark forum is a cult. If you have any doubt about this, you should know that Landmark for um is the same self help cult from the 80's called EST. The name was changed to landmark after the original owner Warner Erhard got sued an had to give4 up the name. Warner Erhard learned all this stuff from his time as a HIGH LEVEL Scientologist. So.. Landmark comes from EST comes from Scientology.
name omitted for priavcy)1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand Thank you!!!
A Like Reply 13 hours ago in reply to slobeck 0 Like
F .
(name omitted for privacy) "why not choose another restaurant to work for, one with policies that you are in agreement with..." Yes, because most of us have several jobs dying to hire us and get to pick the one that best coincides with our morals and beliefs. Utter bullshit. The fact is, they were blatantly breaking the law, and all of the voting and getting people to sign away their rights doesn't change that fact.I worked for a company that had us sign away our rights to overtime and breaks, because I needed the money. But I also filed a claim against them when I was able to get a better job, because they basically stole money from me every day I was employed with them.The fact that Cafe Gratitude would rather put all of their employees out of work than deal with their dirty laundry is sickening.
A Like Reply 22 hours ago 6 Likes F .
MalcoveMagnesiaTop 50 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand And just how did your claim turn out? (and did you actually even make it to court for this? lawyers tend to hold up these signed agreements as voluntarily giving up rights and such).
.
brady (name omittd)-- has he taken some Landmark workshops do you suppose?
DoctorMemoryTop 100 3 comments collapsed Collapse Expand Ya think?
Give at least this much to the Scientologists: somewhere back over the last 20 years, they figured out that it creeps people the fuck out when they start gibbering in unalloyed cultspeak in public. You'll never catch Tom Cruise rambling about thetans, suppressive people, "wins" and other scieno-jumbo if he thinks there's a chance there's an unfriendly camera nearby. (And after the leaked video disaster, probably not even friendly ones.) It's all carefully groomed, nonthreatening standard english about self-improvement and charity.
It's the mark of a relatively immature cult that they expect non-members to find their gibberish compelling, rather than horrifying.
(name omitted for privacy--Cafe Gratitude advocate) Have you been to an event or workshop put on by Landmark? Again, I ask, by what authority are you making all these comments and claims? And for what reason?
DoctorMemory "Again?" Either you hallucinated our first conversation or you've replied to the wrong post by accident. (Or you're just very confused.) Nothing I said above could be construed as claiming that I've been to an EST event, nor is it necessary to have done so to notice that a lot of EST devotees sound like they're all reading from the same script.
(name omitted for privacy) I am astonished by how personally attacked every commenter seems to be about the very IDEA of Cafe Gratitude, who somehow are personally insulted by it's existence. I'm not sure why there is such sensitivity.
I think that Mr. Lee's letter is powerful and noble- a great call out for all to come to the table together and not get caught up in a perpetual argument/war but look at what the common goals are and find a solution. I for one am interested in peace and solution, not the continued commitment to disagreement and name calling. This back and forth is excruciating.
DoctorMemoryTop 100 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand Do go on. You don't sound like you're reading from a script at all, I assure you.
Gary SF 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand After reading your post, I realize that it makes more sense for Cafe Gratitude to relocate to Stepford.
formergratitudeemployee 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand I feel sorry for you Cheyenne. You may need therapy when you finally leave this cult.
F .
Matty J.Top 100 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand Cafe Gratitude Manager: What are your core values?
Interviewee: To serve food that doesn't look like a cup of diarrhea with a cat turd carefully placed at the center.
Cafe Grattitude Manager: Rrrrrrrrrr.
[Interviewee walks out. Applies to McDonald's]
Guest Lee: You are so ignorant of the facts I hardly know where to begin. This "vote" that you mention was illegal, coercive, and intimidating and many employees abstained from voting. Employees are subjected to aggressive manipulation in order to get them to hand over their hard-earned money to their managers at the end of the night, who then redistribute it to pay the wages of other employees who work at an off site central kitchen.
Mathew and Terces made poor business decisions, held space for illegal policies and prioritized aggressive expansion rather then actually paying their central kitchen employees. They are cult leaders who have a major God complex. And I feel sorry for anyone who is duped by their money obsessed new-age bullshit
(name omitted for prvicy) 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand The guacamole at Gracias, Madre is really good!
formergratitudeemployee 6 comments collapsed Collapse Expand To Mr. Lee: You are so misinformed I don't even know where to start. First of all this so called "vote" was nothing more than coercion and intimidation designed to manipulate cafe workers into handing their hard earned money over to management.
After taking the employees money at the end of the night the managers hand it over to the higher ups to be redistributed to pay the wages of the central kitchen staff. If this sounds democratic to you then I don't know what to tell you. Gratitude is a corporation, not a co-op, employees are not allowed any say in decisions regarding expansion. If the owners care so much about paying the central kitchen employees a living wage they should choose to do so rather than ruthlessly expanding at any cost.
Mathew and Terces have a serious God-Complex and I feel sorry for anyone who is duped by them.
formergratitudeemployee I didn't see my first comment had posted. sorry for the repeat.
(name omitted for privacy Corboy) I'm not sure who this is, because you are hiding your identity, but I think you misunderstand Matthew and Terces. I worked closely with them for years, and although I don't agree with many of their business decisions (I did choose to leave when I felt it was in my best interest), their intentions are amazing. No, it is not a co-op, and we are going to demonize them for trying to set up a pay system that was more egalitarian, that sees the dishwasher, or the CK employee as just as valuable as the server? Not so awful in my mind. I agree with you that expansion should have held less weight than employee benefits, and argued for that at GM meetings. But M & T saw getting organic, vegan food and transformation far and wide as the best way to help the most people. Again, I don't agree with the decision, but their intentions are so good. Peace.
A
murfleTop 100 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand "Hiding your identity" is a pretty safe bet when speaking out against Landmark cultists. The only people using their full names in this thread (assuming "Anton Brunner" is a real name and not concocted ala "Werner Erhard") are the apologist nutbags.
murfle Wait -- the tips are actually used to pay the central kitchen wages, not to tip them? Wow, that's *way* more messed up.
(name omitted) All you folks commenting with hate and slander are full of it. I worked for Cafe Gratitude for over five years. I have my opinions about Landmark, and although Matthew and Terces are champions of its ability to empower people, it is a seperate entity.
Cafe Gratitude has had well over 1,000 folks come through as employees, and most would say it is/was the best job they ever had, to say nothing of the ways in which it has empowered and inspired many employees to follow their dreams. On what authority are you making your claims, people? Rumor? Are you addicted to hate and need to post to sites like this to make you feel powerful? I feel sorry for us all that this is what public discourse has come to.
dantseaTop 10 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand You have a very nice Kool-Aid smile.
MalcoveMagnesiaTop 50 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand So far we've had (names omitted) show up to do their part in the P.R. pushback referred to in GrubStreet (that story, ironically, has zero comments as of this moment).
I wonder what other special guests will show up overnight to gush about Matthew & Terces & company?
And is there any chance Supreme Master Ching Hai's "Loving Huts" could be next? Please? If I'm in the rare mood for vegetarian food, it'd be nice to have some viable options not run by a Krishna-style cult or a bunch of loons.
Demogreen Looks like you were served a free "I am nutty."
CptSludge The crazy isn't free, which is a big part of what makes made Gratitude so thoroughly evil.
.
(name omitted) GUACAMOLE IN THE HOLE!
(Name omitted) I'll tell you this, uh "Doctor." I went to the Landmark Forum (their introductory course) and the "Advanced Course" which is the next level most people go on to. I did it at the encouragment of Matthew and Terces (I was never made to do ANYTHING and no one was ever fired for not going, not wanting to go and having their own beliefs about anything.) Landmark doesn't teach beliefs, it teaches self awareness. I personally felt like I gained some insight from my participation and I'm glad I went, but overall I am not a big fan and chose not to continue further. Others I know did lots of the Landmark "curriculum" and felt they gained immensely from it. So, your only insight, "doctor" is that you notice people who are "devotees sound like they are reading from the same script." Not an awful accusation to make, as our language does indicate how we relate to the world around us, so people who gather around certain outlooks will tend to use the same languaging. I agree with your insight then.
MrEric Sir "Landmark doesn't teach beliefs, it teaches self awareness."
I am genuinely baffled: is your post intended to be satire, or does it just come off sounding that way?
Bird2473 I did the Landmark forum. It was total bullshit and all about committing to enroll people in workshops and paying progressively more for the next levels. The whole argument that this Lee character is spouting about commitment is total Landmark speak designed to manipulate you into doing what they want you to do which is enroll new people. Cafe Gratitude is just using the same techniques for their own agenda which is to control their staff and public opinion by hiding behind lofty words while profiting off the backs of the workers.
(name omitted for privacy)How much have they profitted from Cafe Gratitude, LLC?
murfle "How much have they profitted from Cafe Gratitude, LLC?"
Enough to be millionaires. Next question.
(name omitted for privacy)...More counting of other people's money based on no facts at all. And that "hawaii compound" people refer to is a worker owned organic farm. Nice research people.
murfleTop I'm going to assume the NYT has adequate resources to verify their wealth.
[www.nytimes.com]...
(name omitted). They had their money before Gratitude. SLANDER! Rumors! Don't speak if you don't know facts people! This is part of what is ruining democracy in this country! Public discourse is full of rumors and lies. Where is the informed public?
murfle Having close friends who have worked at Cafe Gratitude for many years, I know enough about it to comment. I, however, have the advantage of being somewhat objective, rather than having had my head filled with gibberish by Landmark, "The Secret", and daily "clearing" sessions.
I can also tell you that for every few of you fawning lackeys who specifically came to SFist to frantically flail about and shout "SLANDER!", there are employees and ex-employees who readily admit that breaks were often not given, that many people were not on board with tip pooling, and that people were regularly coerced into attending the Forum at their own expense.
So, unless you want to actually dispute the merits of the actual lawsuits, I suggest you go back to fasting on kale juice and cultivating your B12 deficiency, or whatever the hell it is you people do.
(name omitted)I implore you to speak factually. If you have some friends that had a certain experience, sure, mention that. But don't assume you know how it is, based soley on the testimonials of a few friends. Yes, there have been some unhappy employees, as there are everywhere about bosses, policies, proceedures and the specific work culture. My experience after being an employee for five years is that the people who left gratitude unhappy is a minority. I have laid out my thoughts on the lawsuits here: [sanfrancisco.grubstreet]...
F .
Shibi_SFT pand I've been out of town, and it seems I've missed a lot around here!
I learned more today from these comments than attempting to read Mr. Lee's letter. (Actually, I was afraid of the italicized text - I want to retain my current set of values and meat-loving tendencies. Oh, and I don't want that mind-fuck when I leave a 20% tip -- I simply cannot calculate that a portion of my 20% tip is going to the poor driver who drove the truck from the farm where my onions came from.)
These comments follow this story
From The Inbox: Saving Cafe Gratitude
Cafe Gratitude Mousse (photo: Paul Taylor)
Following news that the vegan/Landmark Forum-tinged Cafe Gratitude plans to close or sell all of their Northern California restaurants (including the popular Gracias Madre), the comments section here at SFist blew up. And how. So much ire and speculation poured forth, in fact, that reader Anthony Lee sent us an impassioned letter in response to the brouhaha. "
"I am not a Cafe Gratitude employee, as I have experienced the restaurant as a customer, and I have twice been a volunteer at their Harrison Street restaurant to serve the free Thanksgiving lunch to the local community," Lee tells SFist. "In addition, I have attended presentations where Matthew and Terces have shared their best practices in leadership and community building."
Also, as Grub Street dutifully point out, Café Gratitude devotees have been encouraged to flood local media with testimonials. And with that, here is Lee's letter in its entirety:
The Solution to the Cafe Gratitude crisis starts with One Key Question
What are you committed to?
As I read the online conversations surrounding the announced closings of Cafe Gratitude, I am shocked to see how little attention is spent understanding what each party is committed to? I want to understand the core value that is driving their individual actions.
In a lecture given by author Greg Mooers, he shares “Gandhi was committed to peaceful liberation, Mother Theresa to compassion, Martin Luther King to brotherhood, and Abraham Lincoln to unity. These are core values that these leaders felt so strongly about, they were willing to die for them.” Everyone has their own set of core values, and during times of conflict, it is absolutely essential to ask one another “What are you committed to?” When this question is answered, it lays the groundwork for a solution that works for all parties.
Sarah Stevens, what are you committed to? The lawsuit indicates that you are in disagreement over the tip-pooling policy, and are seeking a payment of $85,000. You were given an opportunity to vote on this policy, and knew that your colleagues ultimately voted to implement a policy that acknowledges and rewards all the contributors of excellent service, from the kitchen to the table. When you made the decision to sign this tip policy and to work for Cafe Gratitude, you gave your word to support the community’s decision.
I am unclear what your core values are. If this policy violated one of your core values, why not choose another restaurant to work for, one with policies that you are in agreement with. Are you standing up for the other colleagues who share your perspective? Did you not have the opportunity to express your dissenting opinion to management or your peers? It is your responsibility to communicate to everyone what you core values are, to give others the information necessary to develop a collaborative solution.
Stephen Sommers, what are you committed to? In one of your company videos, you state “One of the most important things we try to do with our small business clients is to put them into some kind of corporation or LLC, that way they get protection for their assets.” I notice the inconsistency when you are teaching your clients how to protect their assets with a LLC, and at the same time show them how easy it is to attack the Cafe Gratitude LLC, reaching for assets owned by the Engelharts outside of their LLC. I would be conflicted if someone taught me how to put a lock on my front door and how to pick the lock on my neighbor's door.
In another company video, your partner, Matthew Kumin, shares more of your company’s values “We’re really geared toward the little guy”, “Real Lawyers for Real People”, and “If we get the whole picture, we can craft a solution for them.” I would like to know how you personally are expressing the core values of your company. “Real People” includes the dishwashers and food preparers who contribute to the excellent customer experience. “Real People” includes the community of employees who voted for Tip Pooling. I admire your company’s intent to get the whole picture to craft a solution, and I’d like to invite you and your team of Real Lawyers to implement these core values to craft a solution that meets the needs of your client and all the “Real People” impacted by this lawsuit.
Matthew and Terces Engelhart, what are you committed to? They have answered this question by actively teaching their core values, and implementing them in all their restaurants and in all the communities they participate in. Their employees come to a work environment that inspires them to give their best, to develop their leadership and communication skills, and be acknowledged for all the contributions they make to the community. Their customers come in to a restaurant to enjoy healthy nutritious meals, where a menu item called a Grateful Bowl is available to everyone at whatever price they are able to pay. The communities surrounding their neighborhood restaurants enjoy the free Thanksgiving lunch every year. The Engelharts also teach workshops on commerce, relationships, finance, and leadership - each of which contains the core values they hold dear.
The Solution is found in Core Values
What we have here is a failure to understand what each party is truly committed to. When Mr. Sommers states, “It doesn’t make any sense that they have eight restaurants but can’t pay for a lawsuit that costs less than $200,000”, it indicates that he doesn’t understand how committed Matthew and Terces are to their principles of leadership and community. The community of Cafe Gratitude employees voted to implement Tip Pooling, and the Engelharts are standing in full support of this decision. They are also committed to acknowledging each and every employee who contributes to a customer’s excellent experience. Settling the lawsuit comes at a cost much greater than $200,000, because you are also asking them to withdraw their support of a decision made by their community of employees, and to abandon their principals and core values. Our core values define who we are, and are therefore priceless.
I find it hard to believe that any of the parties involved are committed to the disintegration of the Cafe Gratitude restaurants in the Bay Area. Ms. Stevens, I’d invite you to share with the Cafe Gratitude community and with the Engelharts, exactly what you are committed to, and allow them to show their support for you. Mr. Sommers, I’d invite you to “craft a solution” that allows both your client and the Cafe Gratitude community to thrive, even if that solution does not come in the form of a legal settlement. Terces and Matthew, I would invite you to continue your love and support for your employees and customers by staying open, literally and figuratively, so that a truly imaginative, inspirational, and collaborative solution can emerge from this crisis.
What am I committed to?
While I am not a Cafe Gratitude employee, I have experienced their restaurants as a customer, and as a volunteer to serve Thanksgiving lunch. I have attended presentations led by Matthew and Terces, where I have learned valuable leadership and community building skills. I see the immense value that the restaurant and their owners provide to the communities they serve.
My core values are Empowerment and Integrity. I wrote this letter to invite all parties back to the table and share their core values, and Empower the group with the key pieces of information necessary to craft a solution that works for all. I also invite all parties to come to the table with a new opportunity to demonstrate actions and behavior that are in Integrity with their core values. My commitment during this crisis is to promote an open dialogue, so that the best possible outcome can be reached.
[sfist.com]
More comments
(Corboy put this one at the top because it mentions specifics)
"Guest 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand Lee: You are so ignorant of the facts I hardly know where to begin. This "vote" that you mention was illegal, coercive, and intimidating and many employees abstained from voting. Employees are subjected to aggressive manipulation in order to get them to hand over their hard-earned money to their managers at the end of the night, who then redistribute it to pay the wages of other employees who work at an off site central kitchen. Mathew and Terces made poor business decisions, held space for illegal policies and prioritized aggressive expansion rather then actually paying their central kitchen employees. They are cult leaders who have a major God complex. And I feel sorry for anyone who is duped by their money obsessed new-age bullshit "
I'm not sure who this is, because you are hiding your identity, but I think you misunderstand Matthew and Terces. I worked closely with them for years, and although I don't agree with many of their business decisions (I did choose to leave when I felt it was in my best interest), their intentions are amazing. No, it is not a co-op, and we are going to demonize them for trying to set up a pay system that was more egalitarian, that sees the dishwasher, or the CK employee as just as valuable as the server? Not so awful in my mind. I agree with you that expansion should have held less weight than employee benefits, and argued for that at GM meetings. But M & T saw getting organic, vegan food and transformation far and wide as the best way to help the most people. Again, I don't agree with the decision, but their intentions are so good. Peace.
A Like Reply 17 hours ago in reply to formergratitudeemployee 2 Likes F .
murfleTop 100 1 comment collapsed
Collapse Expand "Hiding your identity" is a pretty safe bet when speaking out against Landmark cultists. The only people using their full names in this thread (assuming "Anton Brunner" is a real name and not concocted ala "Werner Erhard") are the apologist nutbags.
Bird2473 I did the Landmark forum. It was total bullshit and all about committing to enroll people in workshops and paying progressively more for the next levels. The whole argument that this Lee character is spouting about commitment is total Landmark speak designed to manipulate you into doing what they want you to do which is enroll new people. Cafe Gratitude is just using the same techniques for their own agenda which is to control their staff and public opinion by hiding behind lofty words while profiting off the backs of the workers
------------
This was quoted from the discussion article.
(name omitted for privacy-Corboy) 1 comment collapsed
What is not being shared here is the Landmark's cult like way of breaking people down first. There is a reason why Landmark is banned in France and is listed on cult watch websites.
is it me or did that read like one of Frank Chui's signs?
Frank isn't trying to sell us shit shellacked to look like gold.
Frank isn't trying to sell us shit shellacked covered in sprouts to look like gold food.
Jesus. Fucking. Christ. As soon as I read the words "core values" I wanted to vomit. When did getting a job become like joining a fucking religious order?
.
MrEricSirTop No, you don't get to compare Gandhi, Mother Theresa, or Martin Luther King to your little plate of raw vegetables. Sorry, not yours.
murfleTop Actually, Mother Theresa is probably fair game, as coercing people into a dogmatic and abusive system was basically what she was "committed" to.
MrEricSirTop 1 "You were given an opportunity to vote on this policy"
Yes, it's called a democratic republic. Your little fake cheese restaurant doesn't get to violate the employment laws we decided on.
A .
JP "Settling the lawsuit comes at a cost much greater than $200,000, because you are also asking them to withdraw their support of a decision made by their community of employees, and to abandon their principals and core values. Our core values define who we are, and are therefore priceless."
So it just costs $200,000 then.....
Torta Potty ...plus the cost of food... and lobotomies
Torta Potty Pseudo-emotional-religious doublespeak is so much more vile than corporate or government doublespeak. Gross.
A fizzandpopTop 10 You know dude, you can't just use capital letters whenever it pleases you.
How about complying with the core value of following the wage and hours law that applies to every business in California? Unbelievable sanctimony. The lawyer is fighting for the little guy - the employee who was denied a right to breaks, meals and overtime.
dantseaSo, sanity and brevity are not core values?
DoctorMemory Wow, there's absolutely nothing at all creepy about the fact that someone who claims not to be an employee of Cafe Gratitude knows multiple details about these lawsuits and is posting them to random blogs.
Emily Conforti I am befuddled why people are so desperate to continue paying too much for sanctimonious food. I am a vegan and I won't miss it a bit. I prefer modern food to dishes I'd expect to be fed in a yurt in 1973.
MrEricSir Any vegan restaurants in this city you like?
F .
DoctorMemory Speaking as a dedicated meat-eater, the only vegan restaurants in this city that don't make me shudder when my herbivore friends suggest them are Millennium and Udupi Palace. (The latter one, I will actually go to on my own sometimes.)
A
murfle Chaya, Udupi Palace.
(name omitted for privacy-Corboy) Tai Idea vegetarian is new and superb! On Polk st. Check it out!!
A
kelley bella “If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, there’s no progress. If you pull it all the way out, that’s not progress. The progress is healing the wound that the…blow made. And they haven’t even begun to pull the knife out much less try to…heal the wound. They won’t even admit the knife is there.”- Malcolm X in 1964 interview
.
Gary SF 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand What a load of crap. I'm 100% on the side of social justice, and I'm 100% against any dogma in the extreme.
If they do reopen, in the spirit of being honest, they should call the restaurant "Jonestown."
Buffalobleu I am just wondering if this is my old roommate Sarah Stevens? Redhead, early 30s, from Napa? She seemed like the kind of person who would start working at a vegan cult and then sue them for not giving her her tips. I think that would be in line with her Core Values. How do I find out . . ?
murfle Nope, that's not her.
.
(name omitted for privacy-Corboy)The comments to the article are disgusting and destructive. The vibe is like a bunch of redneck haters talking about the first black president. Pull your undies out of your crack for a moment and consider a guy I worked with, a dishwasher like the kind in many restaurants (the kind where servers get all the tips). You know the kind of guy I am talking about, 50 years old, riding a kids bmx bike on the shoulder of a highway, wearing second hand clothing. I can understand how you might miss him, It is dark when he gets up for work and dark when he goes home on that little bike. He lives with 7 other people in a 2 bedroom apartment and eats out of the kitchen he works in.
Then again maybe you don't know him, and doubtfully cannot relate to him. He is not like you. He doesn't complain. Instead, he sends most of his much smaller paycheck, (that he earns for by the way, working in a steaming hot kitchen 15 hours a day) home to his family. You bitch about how unfair that someone else voted to share their own tips with the likes of him.
I wonder if like you, his parents are going to give him a Iphone4S and with a data plan when he goes home for Christmas ...... that is when he goes home for the first time say 5 years from now. No. Thats right, he will be the one bringing the presents. An the funny thing is, he IS grateful.
DoctorMemory If Cafe Gratitude cares so much about your hypothetical dishwasher, maybe they shouldn't be closing the restaurant that employs him rather than comply with the CA labor laws that protect him? Just a thought.
Or hell, maybe they could take him with them to their management retreats to their multimillion-dollar Hawaii compound. (But now we're talking pure craziness, I know.)
withak I thought the lawsuits were over splitting tips with managers and supervisors and people not even working in the restaurant, not kitchen staff.
MrEricSir That's an awful lot of racial stereotypes condensed into one post.
Gary SF Oh X, nobody is against the dishwasher and most here do not care about the tipping mechanisms. But most of us are against the forced indoctrination of employees, often at their own expense.
So you support those charitable organizations that force homeless people to listen to hellfire and brimstone sermons before they will give them food?
Because it is the same type of forced indoctrination.
.
murfleUnfortunately, the most egregious practices of Cafe Gratitude are legal, albeit shady as fuck. I wish they could be sued over the indoctrination, but if suits over tip pooling get the job done, so be it.
Gary SF 1Requiring staff to pay 50% of the cost of the indoctrination is probably not legal.
Katy Fuck. You. Fuck you. My father was a cook, and an illegal immigrant who took his share of shit work in the kitchen. My (believe me, complete) understanding of the dishwashers shitty situation does not conflict with my contempt for the owners of Cafe Smarmy Attitude.
(name omitted for privacy-Corboy)Oh, you know Matthew and Terces?
murfle I've listened to them talk in person at length. They're the spaced-out cultists you'd expect them to be.
dantsea You made yourself wrong.
fizzandpop You're utterly confused. We're hating on a bunch millionaire hippies who think they've uncovered the secret to fucking life. And you and your Nazi war-criminal name. It's fucking disgusting that you bring the plight of a fictional dishwasher into this. Fucking disgusting.
(name omitted)Thanks for making my point more susinctly :)
(same name omitted) BTW, the "hypothetical" dishwasher I am refering to is real and was my co-worker for a year.
MalcoveMagnesia I'm just popped in to say I have no idea what's going on here.
But all this talk about hoity toity overpriced food really puts me in the mood to splurge on a night at Espetus.
phoenixsf The best thing Cafe Gratitude could do for it's back of the house staff (dishwashers. food prep folks etc.) is pay them a decent wage. Waiters and busers get tips because they deal directly with serving the customers. Supervisors and management should be paid enough that they don't need tips. Instead of paying their employees with their own money they take money out of the pockets of the people who earned it. All the hippy new age BS about core values is just polish on a big stinky turd. Ripping off their employees plus making them pay to go to Landmark makes me glad that Cafe Gratitude is going out of business.
murfle One of the few things I'll say in their defense is that they do actually pay the back of the house a decent wage.
slobeck Cafe Gratitude closing: And nothing of value was lost. Any company that makes an employee join a cult at the employee's expense (offering to pay for half doesn't cut it) is wrong.
Make no mistake Landmark forum is a cult. If you have any doubt about this, you should know that Landmark for um is the same self help cult from the 80's called EST. The name was changed to landmark after the original owner Warner Erhard got sued an had to give4 up the name. Warner Erhard learned all this stuff from his time as a HIGH LEVEL Scientologist. So.. Landmark comes from EST comes from Scientology.
name omitted for priavcy)1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand Thank you!!!
A Like Reply 13 hours ago in reply to slobeck 0 Like
F .
(name omitted for privacy) "why not choose another restaurant to work for, one with policies that you are in agreement with..." Yes, because most of us have several jobs dying to hire us and get to pick the one that best coincides with our morals and beliefs. Utter bullshit. The fact is, they were blatantly breaking the law, and all of the voting and getting people to sign away their rights doesn't change that fact.I worked for a company that had us sign away our rights to overtime and breaks, because I needed the money. But I also filed a claim against them when I was able to get a better job, because they basically stole money from me every day I was employed with them.The fact that Cafe Gratitude would rather put all of their employees out of work than deal with their dirty laundry is sickening.
A Like Reply 22 hours ago 6 Likes F .
MalcoveMagnesiaTop 50 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand And just how did your claim turn out? (and did you actually even make it to court for this? lawyers tend to hold up these signed agreements as voluntarily giving up rights and such).
.
brady (name omittd)-- has he taken some Landmark workshops do you suppose?
DoctorMemoryTop 100 3 comments collapsed Collapse Expand Ya think?
Give at least this much to the Scientologists: somewhere back over the last 20 years, they figured out that it creeps people the fuck out when they start gibbering in unalloyed cultspeak in public. You'll never catch Tom Cruise rambling about thetans, suppressive people, "wins" and other scieno-jumbo if he thinks there's a chance there's an unfriendly camera nearby. (And after the leaked video disaster, probably not even friendly ones.) It's all carefully groomed, nonthreatening standard english about self-improvement and charity.
It's the mark of a relatively immature cult that they expect non-members to find their gibberish compelling, rather than horrifying.
(name omitted for privacy--Cafe Gratitude advocate) Have you been to an event or workshop put on by Landmark? Again, I ask, by what authority are you making all these comments and claims? And for what reason?
DoctorMemory "Again?" Either you hallucinated our first conversation or you've replied to the wrong post by accident. (Or you're just very confused.) Nothing I said above could be construed as claiming that I've been to an EST event, nor is it necessary to have done so to notice that a lot of EST devotees sound like they're all reading from the same script.
(name omitted for privacy) I am astonished by how personally attacked every commenter seems to be about the very IDEA of Cafe Gratitude, who somehow are personally insulted by it's existence. I'm not sure why there is such sensitivity.
I think that Mr. Lee's letter is powerful and noble- a great call out for all to come to the table together and not get caught up in a perpetual argument/war but look at what the common goals are and find a solution. I for one am interested in peace and solution, not the continued commitment to disagreement and name calling. This back and forth is excruciating.
DoctorMemoryTop 100 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand Do go on. You don't sound like you're reading from a script at all, I assure you.
Gary SF 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand After reading your post, I realize that it makes more sense for Cafe Gratitude to relocate to Stepford.
formergratitudeemployee 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand I feel sorry for you Cheyenne. You may need therapy when you finally leave this cult.
F .
Matty J.Top 100 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand Cafe Gratitude Manager: What are your core values?
Interviewee: To serve food that doesn't look like a cup of diarrhea with a cat turd carefully placed at the center.
Cafe Grattitude Manager: Rrrrrrrrrr.
[Interviewee walks out. Applies to McDonald's]
Guest Lee: You are so ignorant of the facts I hardly know where to begin. This "vote" that you mention was illegal, coercive, and intimidating and many employees abstained from voting. Employees are subjected to aggressive manipulation in order to get them to hand over their hard-earned money to their managers at the end of the night, who then redistribute it to pay the wages of other employees who work at an off site central kitchen.
Mathew and Terces made poor business decisions, held space for illegal policies and prioritized aggressive expansion rather then actually paying their central kitchen employees. They are cult leaders who have a major God complex. And I feel sorry for anyone who is duped by their money obsessed new-age bullshit
(name omitted for prvicy) 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand The guacamole at Gracias, Madre is really good!
formergratitudeemployee 6 comments collapsed Collapse Expand To Mr. Lee: You are so misinformed I don't even know where to start. First of all this so called "vote" was nothing more than coercion and intimidation designed to manipulate cafe workers into handing their hard earned money over to management.
After taking the employees money at the end of the night the managers hand it over to the higher ups to be redistributed to pay the wages of the central kitchen staff. If this sounds democratic to you then I don't know what to tell you. Gratitude is a corporation, not a co-op, employees are not allowed any say in decisions regarding expansion. If the owners care so much about paying the central kitchen employees a living wage they should choose to do so rather than ruthlessly expanding at any cost.
Mathew and Terces have a serious God-Complex and I feel sorry for anyone who is duped by them.
formergratitudeemployee I didn't see my first comment had posted. sorry for the repeat.
(name omitted for privacy Corboy) I'm not sure who this is, because you are hiding your identity, but I think you misunderstand Matthew and Terces. I worked closely with them for years, and although I don't agree with many of their business decisions (I did choose to leave when I felt it was in my best interest), their intentions are amazing. No, it is not a co-op, and we are going to demonize them for trying to set up a pay system that was more egalitarian, that sees the dishwasher, or the CK employee as just as valuable as the server? Not so awful in my mind. I agree with you that expansion should have held less weight than employee benefits, and argued for that at GM meetings. But M & T saw getting organic, vegan food and transformation far and wide as the best way to help the most people. Again, I don't agree with the decision, but their intentions are so good. Peace.
A
murfleTop 100 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand "Hiding your identity" is a pretty safe bet when speaking out against Landmark cultists. The only people using their full names in this thread (assuming "Anton Brunner" is a real name and not concocted ala "Werner Erhard") are the apologist nutbags.
murfle Wait -- the tips are actually used to pay the central kitchen wages, not to tip them? Wow, that's *way* more messed up.
(name omitted) All you folks commenting with hate and slander are full of it. I worked for Cafe Gratitude for over five years. I have my opinions about Landmark, and although Matthew and Terces are champions of its ability to empower people, it is a seperate entity.
Cafe Gratitude has had well over 1,000 folks come through as employees, and most would say it is/was the best job they ever had, to say nothing of the ways in which it has empowered and inspired many employees to follow their dreams. On what authority are you making your claims, people? Rumor? Are you addicted to hate and need to post to sites like this to make you feel powerful? I feel sorry for us all that this is what public discourse has come to.
dantseaTop 10 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand You have a very nice Kool-Aid smile.
MalcoveMagnesiaTop 50 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand So far we've had (names omitted) show up to do their part in the P.R. pushback referred to in GrubStreet (that story, ironically, has zero comments as of this moment).
I wonder what other special guests will show up overnight to gush about Matthew & Terces & company?
And is there any chance Supreme Master Ching Hai's "Loving Huts" could be next? Please? If I'm in the rare mood for vegetarian food, it'd be nice to have some viable options not run by a Krishna-style cult or a bunch of loons.
Demogreen Looks like you were served a free "I am nutty."
CptSludge The crazy isn't free, which is a big part of what makes made Gratitude so thoroughly evil.
.
(name omitted) GUACAMOLE IN THE HOLE!
(Name omitted) I'll tell you this, uh "Doctor." I went to the Landmark Forum (their introductory course) and the "Advanced Course" which is the next level most people go on to. I did it at the encouragment of Matthew and Terces (I was never made to do ANYTHING and no one was ever fired for not going, not wanting to go and having their own beliefs about anything.) Landmark doesn't teach beliefs, it teaches self awareness. I personally felt like I gained some insight from my participation and I'm glad I went, but overall I am not a big fan and chose not to continue further. Others I know did lots of the Landmark "curriculum" and felt they gained immensely from it. So, your only insight, "doctor" is that you notice people who are "devotees sound like they are reading from the same script." Not an awful accusation to make, as our language does indicate how we relate to the world around us, so people who gather around certain outlooks will tend to use the same languaging. I agree with your insight then.
MrEric Sir "Landmark doesn't teach beliefs, it teaches self awareness."
I am genuinely baffled: is your post intended to be satire, or does it just come off sounding that way?
Bird2473 I did the Landmark forum. It was total bullshit and all about committing to enroll people in workshops and paying progressively more for the next levels. The whole argument that this Lee character is spouting about commitment is total Landmark speak designed to manipulate you into doing what they want you to do which is enroll new people. Cafe Gratitude is just using the same techniques for their own agenda which is to control their staff and public opinion by hiding behind lofty words while profiting off the backs of the workers.
(name omitted for privacy)How much have they profitted from Cafe Gratitude, LLC?
murfle "How much have they profitted from Cafe Gratitude, LLC?"
Enough to be millionaires. Next question.
(name omitted for privacy)...More counting of other people's money based on no facts at all. And that "hawaii compound" people refer to is a worker owned organic farm. Nice research people.
murfleTop I'm going to assume the NYT has adequate resources to verify their wealth.
[www.nytimes.com]...
(name omitted). They had their money before Gratitude. SLANDER! Rumors! Don't speak if you don't know facts people! This is part of what is ruining democracy in this country! Public discourse is full of rumors and lies. Where is the informed public?
murfle Having close friends who have worked at Cafe Gratitude for many years, I know enough about it to comment. I, however, have the advantage of being somewhat objective, rather than having had my head filled with gibberish by Landmark, "The Secret", and daily "clearing" sessions.
I can also tell you that for every few of you fawning lackeys who specifically came to SFist to frantically flail about and shout "SLANDER!", there are employees and ex-employees who readily admit that breaks were often not given, that many people were not on board with tip pooling, and that people were regularly coerced into attending the Forum at their own expense.
So, unless you want to actually dispute the merits of the actual lawsuits, I suggest you go back to fasting on kale juice and cultivating your B12 deficiency, or whatever the hell it is you people do.
(name omitted)I implore you to speak factually. If you have some friends that had a certain experience, sure, mention that. But don't assume you know how it is, based soley on the testimonials of a few friends. Yes, there have been some unhappy employees, as there are everywhere about bosses, policies, proceedures and the specific work culture. My experience after being an employee for five years is that the people who left gratitude unhappy is a minority. I have laid out my thoughts on the lawsuits here: [sanfrancisco.grubstreet]...
F .
Shibi_SFT pand I've been out of town, and it seems I've missed a lot around here!
I learned more today from these comments than attempting to read Mr. Lee's letter. (Actually, I was afraid of the italicized text - I want to retain my current set of values and meat-loving tendencies. Oh, and I don't want that mind-fuck when I leave a 20% tip -- I simply cannot calculate that a portion of my 20% tip is going to the poor driver who drove the truck from the farm where my onions came from.)
These comments follow this story
From The Inbox: Saving Cafe Gratitude
Cafe Gratitude Mousse (photo: Paul Taylor)
Following news that the vegan/Landmark Forum-tinged Cafe Gratitude plans to close or sell all of their Northern California restaurants (including the popular Gracias Madre), the comments section here at SFist blew up. And how. So much ire and speculation poured forth, in fact, that reader Anthony Lee sent us an impassioned letter in response to the brouhaha. "
"I am not a Cafe Gratitude employee, as I have experienced the restaurant as a customer, and I have twice been a volunteer at their Harrison Street restaurant to serve the free Thanksgiving lunch to the local community," Lee tells SFist. "In addition, I have attended presentations where Matthew and Terces have shared their best practices in leadership and community building."
Also, as Grub Street dutifully point out, Café Gratitude devotees have been encouraged to flood local media with testimonials. And with that, here is Lee's letter in its entirety:
The Solution to the Cafe Gratitude crisis starts with One Key Question
What are you committed to?
As I read the online conversations surrounding the announced closings of Cafe Gratitude, I am shocked to see how little attention is spent understanding what each party is committed to? I want to understand the core value that is driving their individual actions.
In a lecture given by author Greg Mooers, he shares “Gandhi was committed to peaceful liberation, Mother Theresa to compassion, Martin Luther King to brotherhood, and Abraham Lincoln to unity. These are core values that these leaders felt so strongly about, they were willing to die for them.” Everyone has their own set of core values, and during times of conflict, it is absolutely essential to ask one another “What are you committed to?” When this question is answered, it lays the groundwork for a solution that works for all parties.
Sarah Stevens, what are you committed to? The lawsuit indicates that you are in disagreement over the tip-pooling policy, and are seeking a payment of $85,000. You were given an opportunity to vote on this policy, and knew that your colleagues ultimately voted to implement a policy that acknowledges and rewards all the contributors of excellent service, from the kitchen to the table. When you made the decision to sign this tip policy and to work for Cafe Gratitude, you gave your word to support the community’s decision.
I am unclear what your core values are. If this policy violated one of your core values, why not choose another restaurant to work for, one with policies that you are in agreement with. Are you standing up for the other colleagues who share your perspective? Did you not have the opportunity to express your dissenting opinion to management or your peers? It is your responsibility to communicate to everyone what you core values are, to give others the information necessary to develop a collaborative solution.
Stephen Sommers, what are you committed to? In one of your company videos, you state “One of the most important things we try to do with our small business clients is to put them into some kind of corporation or LLC, that way they get protection for their assets.” I notice the inconsistency when you are teaching your clients how to protect their assets with a LLC, and at the same time show them how easy it is to attack the Cafe Gratitude LLC, reaching for assets owned by the Engelharts outside of their LLC. I would be conflicted if someone taught me how to put a lock on my front door and how to pick the lock on my neighbor's door.
In another company video, your partner, Matthew Kumin, shares more of your company’s values “We’re really geared toward the little guy”, “Real Lawyers for Real People”, and “If we get the whole picture, we can craft a solution for them.” I would like to know how you personally are expressing the core values of your company. “Real People” includes the dishwashers and food preparers who contribute to the excellent customer experience. “Real People” includes the community of employees who voted for Tip Pooling. I admire your company’s intent to get the whole picture to craft a solution, and I’d like to invite you and your team of Real Lawyers to implement these core values to craft a solution that meets the needs of your client and all the “Real People” impacted by this lawsuit.
Matthew and Terces Engelhart, what are you committed to? They have answered this question by actively teaching their core values, and implementing them in all their restaurants and in all the communities they participate in. Their employees come to a work environment that inspires them to give their best, to develop their leadership and communication skills, and be acknowledged for all the contributions they make to the community. Their customers come in to a restaurant to enjoy healthy nutritious meals, where a menu item called a Grateful Bowl is available to everyone at whatever price they are able to pay. The communities surrounding their neighborhood restaurants enjoy the free Thanksgiving lunch every year. The Engelharts also teach workshops on commerce, relationships, finance, and leadership - each of which contains the core values they hold dear.
The Solution is found in Core Values
What we have here is a failure to understand what each party is truly committed to. When Mr. Sommers states, “It doesn’t make any sense that they have eight restaurants but can’t pay for a lawsuit that costs less than $200,000”, it indicates that he doesn’t understand how committed Matthew and Terces are to their principles of leadership and community. The community of Cafe Gratitude employees voted to implement Tip Pooling, and the Engelharts are standing in full support of this decision. They are also committed to acknowledging each and every employee who contributes to a customer’s excellent experience. Settling the lawsuit comes at a cost much greater than $200,000, because you are also asking them to withdraw their support of a decision made by their community of employees, and to abandon their principals and core values. Our core values define who we are, and are therefore priceless.
I find it hard to believe that any of the parties involved are committed to the disintegration of the Cafe Gratitude restaurants in the Bay Area. Ms. Stevens, I’d invite you to share with the Cafe Gratitude community and with the Engelharts, exactly what you are committed to, and allow them to show their support for you. Mr. Sommers, I’d invite you to “craft a solution” that allows both your client and the Cafe Gratitude community to thrive, even if that solution does not come in the form of a legal settlement. Terces and Matthew, I would invite you to continue your love and support for your employees and customers by staying open, literally and figuratively, so that a truly imaginative, inspirational, and collaborative solution can emerge from this crisis.
What am I committed to?
While I am not a Cafe Gratitude employee, I have experienced their restaurants as a customer, and as a volunteer to serve Thanksgiving lunch. I have attended presentations led by Matthew and Terces, where I have learned valuable leadership and community building skills. I see the immense value that the restaurant and their owners provide to the communities they serve.
My core values are Empowerment and Integrity. I wrote this letter to invite all parties back to the table and share their core values, and Empower the group with the key pieces of information necessary to craft a solution that works for all. I also invite all parties to come to the table with a new opportunity to demonstrate actions and behavior that are in Integrity with their core values. My commitment during this crisis is to promote an open dialogue, so that the best possible outcome can be reached.
[sfist.com]
Re: Café Gratitude enrollment
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: December 04, 2011 07:55AM
"Stop carrying a torch for these people, find an employer who wants to pay you instead of "transform" you."
[sfist.com]
Café Gratitude Asks For Help Amid News Of Closure
light of today's news that all Northern California Café Gratitude restaurants will close or be sold, owner Terces Engelhart made plea to supporters today. She asked fans and, ahem, followers interested in helping the company to either purchase retail items, or sign up for Landmark Forum-tinged workshops.
In part of a Facebook post, Engelhart writes:
You can always contribute to the Grateful Bowl program. We are still serving over 8000 bowls a month to many people in need of a good meal and a kind word.
The holidays are coming and many of our retail items are wonderful holiday presents. Our Abounding River board game is a meaningful gift for family and friends, and it is the beginning of the Gratitude Movement. We promise if you play this game you will have conversations with the people you care about that bring you closer to one another and deepen your relationship. It is a wonderful way to keep alive in our community the work we have done together.
If you have participated in any of our workshops, please take what you learned, that had value to you, and give it away!
Huh.
Engelhart goes on to say that Gratitude locales in NorCal "will be open for at least a few months depending on the sales of our locations." Also, as Grub Street points out, "There's bound to be more bad press stemming from all this, if not more lawsuits."
--------------------------------------------------
comments
Showing 22 comments
BC I do believe that LOL is the proper response here, no?
fizzandpop Sure, where do I sign?
MrEricSir Gee, who would have guessed that this "going out of business" thing was just a way to get free advertising for their cult?
dantsea hahahahaha no
Spysea Expensive tasty hippy food will be missed?
.
DoctorMemoryTop two out of five ain't bad I guess?
.
fizzandpop BUY MY FUCKING BOARD GAME YOU PIGS!
ziarah Expand Does this include Gracias Madre?
(name omitted) Yes, Gracias Madre is also set to close/be put up for sale.
ziarah Oh, bummer! I like them. :(
F .
Mark 2000 Close businesses.
Ask for handout.
???
Profit.
culture_drone I am vindicated.
(name omitted) I Am Amused.
Shibi_SF pand I overheard a strange cultist conversation between two girls at the gym once. Their crazy-talk made me question my ability to understand spoken English and they really seemed to Believe as they gushed about Scientology-like concepts. I pretty much dismissed what they were talking about until now... they were Landmark people and probably Cafe Gratitude employees (if they are allowed to work out at gyms).
End note: I'm so Grateful that I've never eaten at these restaurants.
gogobooty I laughed at a friend who went to this dump & bought a $10 smoothie that she had to simultaneously simper and grovel for by its Cafe Gratitude name, lest she not be served.
Oh no, no more Cafe Gratitude?
"I am chuffed!"
Torta Potty I Am Sam
(name omitted) As an actual employee of Cafe Gratitude, having worked for this company for five years, and having experienced the practices and mission of Cafe Gratitude in it's actually I would love to be heard. Negativity breeds negativity and everyone is looking for something to be a victim of, or someone/something to blame. Let me assure all readers that Cafe Gratitude is of the highest integrity and has the highest generosity of any employer I have ever worked for and is the most compassionate and truly wonderful company that I have ever come across.Cafe Gratitude is a radical company that actually cares about all workers and created a context for all employees to share tips-- a revolutionary way to distribute the wealth that recognizes the work and impact of all workers in the kitchen. Because every item on the menu is made from scratch, that means that your pizza bread actually took 48 hours to make, not kidding. That's 48 hours of someone in the kitchen's time. The tips are shared to recognize that. I am grateful for a company that addresses the inequalities in the mainstream restaurant structures, and dared to break the norm on several accounts, to HELP employees and to revolutionize food, workers rights, and capitalism. I fully stand behind the owners as they are nothing but the kindest, most generous people, and they have put their money, their hearts, their land on the line. So much so that they don't even have a home on their property and live in a yurt. THERE IS NO PILE OF MONEY SITTING ANYWHERE. Every dollar went either to employees, our training, our health, our wages or farmers and local businesses with their integrous groundbreaking products, or they lowered the prices to make the food more affordable. There is no profit, nothing hiding. The owners have given this community their all.
This job has changed my life. This community has healed countless people around me both in body (cancer, MS, diabetes, depression and so much more) and soul (reuniting with parents, healing heartbreak wounds, inspiring the creation of countless other companies and organizations...).
What I can tell you is what is true for me, and true for hundreds of employees that work with this company, which is that we are deeply saddened by this news, and only wish that their 8 years of free Thanksgiving meals, 37,000+ annual organic meals given by donation, flexible healthcare and personal coaching/counseling is celebrated by the general community and news sources.
Local farmers that depend on us, employees who call this home, customers who couldn't afford healthy food until the "Grateful Bowl" came... we are all feeling a lot of loss and heartbreak. Please everyone, be mindful and respectful of the impact of your words. I request that readers and critics take a hard look and recognize that they don't actually know the facts, so please be humble in your "knowing" of how it is.
Employee quotes just today and yesterday as the news hit:
"Thank you for the amazing leaders you are for our community. We are forever changed." - M.V.
"Thank you for being a beautiful strong elder for me to respect and love! Thank you for the gifts of wisdom, time, and words you have shared with me, you make a difference in my life every day. I am so grateful that your crazy cafe project was so succesful for so long and that it awakened so many people to share their gifts. " -H.M.M
"I am very saddened by the news, it's almost impossible to believe that something so good be done this way. I am grateful for these 5 years of working with you, I and my family are very grateful to you by CAFE GRATITUDE" -L.S.
"M & T, we love you and what you've gifted us SO much and are SO VERY grateful at the miracle of getting to be a part of your vision which is only getting more bright and living in more hearts every day. Thank you for daring to LOVE so big that you've caused a revolution!" -Y.J.
"I hope that Cafe Gratitude employees come together and buy each location and keep it as beautiful in spirit, mission, and quality!" - S.S.B.
"I just want you and Matthew to know how grateful I am that I had an opportunity to be a Gratitude employee and to receive so many generous gifts and transformational opportunities. You guys created something the world has never seen and I hope you continue to share this with the world! I would happily stand up in court for you guys! Sending my love, gratitude, and appreciate for all you do!" -A.W.
"Your cafes have made such a huge impact on my life. The friends, support, love and of course good food I've experienced have been more than I can say in words. Just know that you have made a giant contribution to my happiness and well being, and that I love you!" -E.L.
"The past 7 years, at Cafe Gratitude, have been the best of my life. I got my sobriety. I stepped onto my spiritual path. I met my father after 31 years. I found my life partner. I have loving relationships with my ex's and all of my family members. I could go on and on and on! None of this would have been possible without the gift of GRATITUDE!" -B.S.
"Thank you for providing me the space, community, food, encouragement and imagination to create my life is the best ever! Thank you for helping me let that cancer leave my body. Thank you for supporting me in seeing how beautiful my family, friends and myself are. Thank you for EVERYTHING. I love you endlessly." -C.M.
dandyhighwayman Landmark is a cult.
It is massively *positive* to stop people you care about from doing negative things. It is massively *negative* to allow people you care about to end up in a cult (or addicted to drugs, self-harm, etc.).
For every positive story you retell here I could retell stories of people who were subject to manipulative tactics designed to keep them in & drain their bank accounts.
The fact that you have so many meticulously collected positive stories makes you sound like corporate PR.
(name omitted)k for real, a lot of people like to spit venom on a lot of things that they know little about. it sucks but that's the web game. a lot of people are smug, snarky elitists online, but are wait..nevermind, this is san franciscans we're talking about.
i'm glad that you responded with your side of the story. i wished i would've gone to cafe gratitude while i was still living in sf.
a lot of these liberals commenting on this are just as much greedy capitalists as the people they oppose. i'm a liberal capitalist, but i'm not hypocrite!
bethe53 Thank you X! Although I have never been a Cafe Graitude employee, I have spent a considerable amount of time at the central kitchen and on the farm. I have seen how employees are loved and supported like family. On the farm, Matthew and Terces work a long day, physically working on the farm, as well as running the CG business and yes, the live in a yurt - nothing fancy about their lifestyle. Terces prepares healthy meals for the farm employees everyday, which they all eat together,family style. Matthew often juices wheatgrass and delivers it to everyone working on the farm. They are examples of living a life of service, they do that with grace and love.
I went through some Landmark trainings when I became involved in the CG community. I noticed that there were hundreds of other people there that had nothing to do with CG. Many of them from other local businesss and many who came with friends and family. People don't have to like or agree with Landmark, but it doesn't make people who do find it helpful members of a cult. CG certainly isn't a cult. People have choice about whether or not to eat or work at the cafes. If you chose not to participate, that doesn't make you wrong. If you don't understand it it doesn't make them wrong.
I appreciate the love and friendship that I found in the Cafe Gratitude community and offer my love and support to them.
18thand church Poor business decisions killed CG, not the workshops, the internet or its commentators. Unless WF was giving CG free rent on those fancy in-store restaurant spaces, those were a clear over extension of CG's market reach and understanding of local demographics. The Cupertino location, for example, massive failure. I have much empathy for the employees who are left in the cold by poor decisions made by the owners (who can BK and re-org and who are very likely not actually broke). Stop carrying a torch for these people, find an employer who wants to pay you instead of "transform" you.
[sfist.com]
Café Gratitude Asks For Help Amid News Of Closure
light of today's news that all Northern California Café Gratitude restaurants will close or be sold, owner Terces Engelhart made plea to supporters today. She asked fans and, ahem, followers interested in helping the company to either purchase retail items, or sign up for Landmark Forum-tinged workshops.
In part of a Facebook post, Engelhart writes:
You can always contribute to the Grateful Bowl program. We are still serving over 8000 bowls a month to many people in need of a good meal and a kind word.
The holidays are coming and many of our retail items are wonderful holiday presents. Our Abounding River board game is a meaningful gift for family and friends, and it is the beginning of the Gratitude Movement. We promise if you play this game you will have conversations with the people you care about that bring you closer to one another and deepen your relationship. It is a wonderful way to keep alive in our community the work we have done together.
If you have participated in any of our workshops, please take what you learned, that had value to you, and give it away!
Huh.
Engelhart goes on to say that Gratitude locales in NorCal "will be open for at least a few months depending on the sales of our locations." Also, as Grub Street points out, "There's bound to be more bad press stemming from all this, if not more lawsuits."
--------------------------------------------------
comments
Showing 22 comments
BC I do believe that LOL is the proper response here, no?
fizzandpop Sure, where do I sign?
MrEricSir Gee, who would have guessed that this "going out of business" thing was just a way to get free advertising for their cult?
dantsea hahahahaha no
Spysea Expensive tasty hippy food will be missed?
.
DoctorMemoryTop two out of five ain't bad I guess?
.
fizzandpop BUY MY FUCKING BOARD GAME YOU PIGS!
ziarah Expand Does this include Gracias Madre?
(name omitted) Yes, Gracias Madre is also set to close/be put up for sale.
ziarah Oh, bummer! I like them. :(
F .
Mark 2000 Close businesses.
Ask for handout.
???
Profit.
culture_drone I am vindicated.
(name omitted) I Am Amused.
Shibi_SF pand I overheard a strange cultist conversation between two girls at the gym once. Their crazy-talk made me question my ability to understand spoken English and they really seemed to Believe as they gushed about Scientology-like concepts. I pretty much dismissed what they were talking about until now... they were Landmark people and probably Cafe Gratitude employees (if they are allowed to work out at gyms).
End note: I'm so Grateful that I've never eaten at these restaurants.
gogobooty I laughed at a friend who went to this dump & bought a $10 smoothie that she had to simultaneously simper and grovel for by its Cafe Gratitude name, lest she not be served.
Oh no, no more Cafe Gratitude?
"I am chuffed!"
Torta Potty I Am Sam
(name omitted) As an actual employee of Cafe Gratitude, having worked for this company for five years, and having experienced the practices and mission of Cafe Gratitude in it's actually I would love to be heard. Negativity breeds negativity and everyone is looking for something to be a victim of, or someone/something to blame. Let me assure all readers that Cafe Gratitude is of the highest integrity and has the highest generosity of any employer I have ever worked for and is the most compassionate and truly wonderful company that I have ever come across.Cafe Gratitude is a radical company that actually cares about all workers and created a context for all employees to share tips-- a revolutionary way to distribute the wealth that recognizes the work and impact of all workers in the kitchen. Because every item on the menu is made from scratch, that means that your pizza bread actually took 48 hours to make, not kidding. That's 48 hours of someone in the kitchen's time. The tips are shared to recognize that. I am grateful for a company that addresses the inequalities in the mainstream restaurant structures, and dared to break the norm on several accounts, to HELP employees and to revolutionize food, workers rights, and capitalism. I fully stand behind the owners as they are nothing but the kindest, most generous people, and they have put their money, their hearts, their land on the line. So much so that they don't even have a home on their property and live in a yurt. THERE IS NO PILE OF MONEY SITTING ANYWHERE. Every dollar went either to employees, our training, our health, our wages or farmers and local businesses with their integrous groundbreaking products, or they lowered the prices to make the food more affordable. There is no profit, nothing hiding. The owners have given this community their all.
This job has changed my life. This community has healed countless people around me both in body (cancer, MS, diabetes, depression and so much more) and soul (reuniting with parents, healing heartbreak wounds, inspiring the creation of countless other companies and organizations...).
What I can tell you is what is true for me, and true for hundreds of employees that work with this company, which is that we are deeply saddened by this news, and only wish that their 8 years of free Thanksgiving meals, 37,000+ annual organic meals given by donation, flexible healthcare and personal coaching/counseling is celebrated by the general community and news sources.
Local farmers that depend on us, employees who call this home, customers who couldn't afford healthy food until the "Grateful Bowl" came... we are all feeling a lot of loss and heartbreak. Please everyone, be mindful and respectful of the impact of your words. I request that readers and critics take a hard look and recognize that they don't actually know the facts, so please be humble in your "knowing" of how it is.
Employee quotes just today and yesterday as the news hit:
"Thank you for the amazing leaders you are for our community. We are forever changed." - M.V.
"Thank you for being a beautiful strong elder for me to respect and love! Thank you for the gifts of wisdom, time, and words you have shared with me, you make a difference in my life every day. I am so grateful that your crazy cafe project was so succesful for so long and that it awakened so many people to share their gifts. " -H.M.M
"I am very saddened by the news, it's almost impossible to believe that something so good be done this way. I am grateful for these 5 years of working with you, I and my family are very grateful to you by CAFE GRATITUDE" -L.S.
"M & T, we love you and what you've gifted us SO much and are SO VERY grateful at the miracle of getting to be a part of your vision which is only getting more bright and living in more hearts every day. Thank you for daring to LOVE so big that you've caused a revolution!" -Y.J.
"I hope that Cafe Gratitude employees come together and buy each location and keep it as beautiful in spirit, mission, and quality!" - S.S.B.
"I just want you and Matthew to know how grateful I am that I had an opportunity to be a Gratitude employee and to receive so many generous gifts and transformational opportunities. You guys created something the world has never seen and I hope you continue to share this with the world! I would happily stand up in court for you guys! Sending my love, gratitude, and appreciate for all you do!" -A.W.
"Your cafes have made such a huge impact on my life. The friends, support, love and of course good food I've experienced have been more than I can say in words. Just know that you have made a giant contribution to my happiness and well being, and that I love you!" -E.L.
"The past 7 years, at Cafe Gratitude, have been the best of my life. I got my sobriety. I stepped onto my spiritual path. I met my father after 31 years. I found my life partner. I have loving relationships with my ex's and all of my family members. I could go on and on and on! None of this would have been possible without the gift of GRATITUDE!" -B.S.
"Thank you for providing me the space, community, food, encouragement and imagination to create my life is the best ever! Thank you for helping me let that cancer leave my body. Thank you for supporting me in seeing how beautiful my family, friends and myself are. Thank you for EVERYTHING. I love you endlessly." -C.M.
dandyhighwayman Landmark is a cult.
It is massively *positive* to stop people you care about from doing negative things. It is massively *negative* to allow people you care about to end up in a cult (or addicted to drugs, self-harm, etc.).
For every positive story you retell here I could retell stories of people who were subject to manipulative tactics designed to keep them in & drain their bank accounts.
The fact that you have so many meticulously collected positive stories makes you sound like corporate PR.
(name omitted)k for real, a lot of people like to spit venom on a lot of things that they know little about. it sucks but that's the web game. a lot of people are smug, snarky elitists online, but are wait..nevermind, this is san franciscans we're talking about.
i'm glad that you responded with your side of the story. i wished i would've gone to cafe gratitude while i was still living in sf.
a lot of these liberals commenting on this are just as much greedy capitalists as the people they oppose. i'm a liberal capitalist, but i'm not hypocrite!
bethe53 Thank you X! Although I have never been a Cafe Graitude employee, I have spent a considerable amount of time at the central kitchen and on the farm. I have seen how employees are loved and supported like family. On the farm, Matthew and Terces work a long day, physically working on the farm, as well as running the CG business and yes, the live in a yurt - nothing fancy about their lifestyle. Terces prepares healthy meals for the farm employees everyday, which they all eat together,family style. Matthew often juices wheatgrass and delivers it to everyone working on the farm. They are examples of living a life of service, they do that with grace and love.
I went through some Landmark trainings when I became involved in the CG community. I noticed that there were hundreds of other people there that had nothing to do with CG. Many of them from other local businesss and many who came with friends and family. People don't have to like or agree with Landmark, but it doesn't make people who do find it helpful members of a cult. CG certainly isn't a cult. People have choice about whether or not to eat or work at the cafes. If you chose not to participate, that doesn't make you wrong. If you don't understand it it doesn't make them wrong.
I appreciate the love and friendship that I found in the Cafe Gratitude community and offer my love and support to them.
18thand church Poor business decisions killed CG, not the workshops, the internet or its commentators. Unless WF was giving CG free rent on those fancy in-store restaurant spaces, those were a clear over extension of CG's market reach and understanding of local demographics. The Cupertino location, for example, massive failure. I have much empathy for the employees who are left in the cold by poor decisions made by the owners (who can BK and re-org and who are very likely not actually broke). Stop carrying a torch for these people, find an employer who wants to pay you instead of "transform" you.
Re: Café Gratitude enrollment
Posted by:
caligari
()
Date: December 04, 2011 04:24PM
Grub Street food news investigated more into the Cafe Gratitude closures,
[sanfrancisco.grubstreet.com]
===========
A New Side of the Café Gratitude Closure Story, and Their Potentially Shady ‘Sacred Commerce’
11/29/11 at 2:40 PM 21Comments
After learning earlier today that Café Gratitude was looking to sell their eight northern California restaurants because of some "aggressive lawsuits" they couldn't afford to defend, Grub Street was contacted by a lawyer who's currently bringing the two lawsuits, as well as a potential third suit, against the company that owns the restaurants, including the Mission's super-popular Gracias Madre. Employment and civil rights attorney Stephen Sommers of local firm Kumin Sommers says he doesn't buy for a second that the potential cost to the Gratitude owners of his current suits — estimated, at maximum, around $200,000 — is the primary reason for their saying that they need to close the businesses. "I live in the Mission and I walk by those restaurants all the time. They're always packed, and they're buying food from themselves, so how are they broke?" he says.
He adds, "A bowl of rice costs ten dollars! There's something else going on here." He notes that they don't plan to close their farm in Vacaville — where owners Matthew and Terces Engelhart live (Terces is "secret" backwards, by the way, apropos of nothing) — or the central kitchen operation, near Rainbow Grocery on 14th Street, which supplies the restaurants with their vegan pizzas and "live" mac and cheese. With those two operations still running, he asserts they will likely just look to sell their foodstuffs to a new operator, in order to skirt further litigation or investigation into their other businesses.
We should clarify that neither the older claims regarding employees forced to take Landmark Forum seminars, nor any rumored ADA lawsuits, are a factor currently. And the primary beef from employees has to do not just with tip pooling, but with having to financially support a remote kitchen operation, and covering any daily losses from the restaurant's take. Also, employees were allegedly given the choice to "either share your tips with managers, or lose your health insurance."
The Engelharts wrote a book about their business practices in 2008, called Sacred Commerce, in which they justify their practice of sharing as being part of a new sacred community, a sort of anti-business business. "Our sacred enterprise, Cafe Gratitude, is sometimes accused of being a 'cult'," they write, "because the perception is that we 'make' people be grateful. Apparently the god of materialism, the Hungry Ghost, finds thankfulness threatening. But we are not threatened." The gods of labor law may not find all this forced gratitude legal, that's the only trouble.
Sommers points out that while crying poverty, Café Gratitude has brought on one of the biggest and priciest labor-defense firms in the country, Littler Mendelssohn, and if this were any normal labor dispute that firm would not likely be advising them to close their whole operation over a mere $200,000. "That's just inviting further lawsuits," he says. "All they'd need to do is change their tip-pooling practice — part of what they call their 'sacred commerce' that all employees participate in — pay some people out, and make everyone sign a waiver."
Sommers also notes that after the current lawsuits were filed, and contrary to a claim of financial hardship, the Café Gratitude team took a three-week retreat with its whole managerial staff to Hawaii, to the vacation compound owned by the Engelharts.
There may be more to the story than just a couple of labor lawsuits, though. The Engelharts may claim that Sommers's "aggressive" lawsuits are forcing them to close, but one of the people Sommers represents, current Café Gratitude employee Ravi Shankar (unrelated to the singer), is a bookkeeper who doesn't come off as too aggressive at all. Shankar had been assisting Sommers with the first case, from the aforementioned former server Sarah Stevens, when it became clear to Sommers that Shankar had been misclassified as a full-time employee, and Café Gratitude was paying him a salary — under labor law, bookkeepers are always supposed to be classified as hourly employees. Shankar had a bone to pick with the owners over the fact that he had not been given adequate time off while his wife was ailing from cancer several years back, but he decided only to sue for back wages owed to him.
It gets fishier, though. Shankar says he witnessed, in the days after he and Stevens filed their suits against Café Gratitude, that the company purchased three industrial-sized paper-shredders and began covertly destroying documents in their main office.
All this, and the extension of the Gratitude empire into retail operations, as well as the business of spiritual "workshops," points to the possibility that Café Gratitude's plans extend well beyond the restaurant business, and perhaps that they have something more to hide. Terces Engelhart made a new plea to supporters today, via Facebook, that anyone who'd like to help the company in their hour of need should purchase some of their retail items, or sign up for one of these workshops.
The holidays are coming and many of our retail items are wonderful holiday presents. Our Abounding River board game is a meaningful gift for family and friends, and it is the beginning of the Gratitude Movement. ... If you have participated in any of our workshops, please take what you learned, that had value to you, and give it away! If not, come join one of our upcoming workshops, they are still offered on a pay it forward basis.
As for when Café Gratitude will close, Engelhart encourages fans to keep coming in for the next few months as they figure things out. Sommers speculates that several locations haven't been profitable at all, including their Healdsburg location, and that these will be let go while others may go to friendly buyers who will continue to do business with the Gratitude farm and food-prep operations. As for the Los Angeles location, which is somewhat of a celebrity hot-spot, that was sold to family members several years ago and remains a separate entity.
There's bound to be more bad press stemming from all this, if not more lawsuits, so in the spirit of generosity we'll leave off with Terces's own words. "Be kind, offer forgiveness, acknowledge one another, take responsibility, be generous, know you will always be provided for and restore trust in all of your relationships. We continue to keep our hearts open and to be filled with gratitude for everything."
Update: Matthew Engelhart responds to the lawsuits calling them "legalized extortion." Also, this NYT piece from July bears noting — the Los Angeles location is said to bring in about $4 million a year in revenue, and is owned by the children of the Engelharts.
===========
[sanfrancisco.grubstreet.com]
===========
A New Side of the Café Gratitude Closure Story, and Their Potentially Shady ‘Sacred Commerce’
11/29/11 at 2:40 PM 21Comments
After learning earlier today that Café Gratitude was looking to sell their eight northern California restaurants because of some "aggressive lawsuits" they couldn't afford to defend, Grub Street was contacted by a lawyer who's currently bringing the two lawsuits, as well as a potential third suit, against the company that owns the restaurants, including the Mission's super-popular Gracias Madre. Employment and civil rights attorney Stephen Sommers of local firm Kumin Sommers says he doesn't buy for a second that the potential cost to the Gratitude owners of his current suits — estimated, at maximum, around $200,000 — is the primary reason for their saying that they need to close the businesses. "I live in the Mission and I walk by those restaurants all the time. They're always packed, and they're buying food from themselves, so how are they broke?" he says.
He adds, "A bowl of rice costs ten dollars! There's something else going on here." He notes that they don't plan to close their farm in Vacaville — where owners Matthew and Terces Engelhart live (Terces is "secret" backwards, by the way, apropos of nothing) — or the central kitchen operation, near Rainbow Grocery on 14th Street, which supplies the restaurants with their vegan pizzas and "live" mac and cheese. With those two operations still running, he asserts they will likely just look to sell their foodstuffs to a new operator, in order to skirt further litigation or investigation into their other businesses.
We should clarify that neither the older claims regarding employees forced to take Landmark Forum seminars, nor any rumored ADA lawsuits, are a factor currently. And the primary beef from employees has to do not just with tip pooling, but with having to financially support a remote kitchen operation, and covering any daily losses from the restaurant's take. Also, employees were allegedly given the choice to "either share your tips with managers, or lose your health insurance."
The Engelharts wrote a book about their business practices in 2008, called Sacred Commerce, in which they justify their practice of sharing as being part of a new sacred community, a sort of anti-business business. "Our sacred enterprise, Cafe Gratitude, is sometimes accused of being a 'cult'," they write, "because the perception is that we 'make' people be grateful. Apparently the god of materialism, the Hungry Ghost, finds thankfulness threatening. But we are not threatened." The gods of labor law may not find all this forced gratitude legal, that's the only trouble.
Sommers points out that while crying poverty, Café Gratitude has brought on one of the biggest and priciest labor-defense firms in the country, Littler Mendelssohn, and if this were any normal labor dispute that firm would not likely be advising them to close their whole operation over a mere $200,000. "That's just inviting further lawsuits," he says. "All they'd need to do is change their tip-pooling practice — part of what they call their 'sacred commerce' that all employees participate in — pay some people out, and make everyone sign a waiver."
Sommers also notes that after the current lawsuits were filed, and contrary to a claim of financial hardship, the Café Gratitude team took a three-week retreat with its whole managerial staff to Hawaii, to the vacation compound owned by the Engelharts.
There may be more to the story than just a couple of labor lawsuits, though. The Engelharts may claim that Sommers's "aggressive" lawsuits are forcing them to close, but one of the people Sommers represents, current Café Gratitude employee Ravi Shankar (unrelated to the singer), is a bookkeeper who doesn't come off as too aggressive at all. Shankar had been assisting Sommers with the first case, from the aforementioned former server Sarah Stevens, when it became clear to Sommers that Shankar had been misclassified as a full-time employee, and Café Gratitude was paying him a salary — under labor law, bookkeepers are always supposed to be classified as hourly employees. Shankar had a bone to pick with the owners over the fact that he had not been given adequate time off while his wife was ailing from cancer several years back, but he decided only to sue for back wages owed to him.
It gets fishier, though. Shankar says he witnessed, in the days after he and Stevens filed their suits against Café Gratitude, that the company purchased three industrial-sized paper-shredders and began covertly destroying documents in their main office.
All this, and the extension of the Gratitude empire into retail operations, as well as the business of spiritual "workshops," points to the possibility that Café Gratitude's plans extend well beyond the restaurant business, and perhaps that they have something more to hide. Terces Engelhart made a new plea to supporters today, via Facebook, that anyone who'd like to help the company in their hour of need should purchase some of their retail items, or sign up for one of these workshops.
The holidays are coming and many of our retail items are wonderful holiday presents. Our Abounding River board game is a meaningful gift for family and friends, and it is the beginning of the Gratitude Movement. ... If you have participated in any of our workshops, please take what you learned, that had value to you, and give it away! If not, come join one of our upcoming workshops, they are still offered on a pay it forward basis.
As for when Café Gratitude will close, Engelhart encourages fans to keep coming in for the next few months as they figure things out. Sommers speculates that several locations haven't been profitable at all, including their Healdsburg location, and that these will be let go while others may go to friendly buyers who will continue to do business with the Gratitude farm and food-prep operations. As for the Los Angeles location, which is somewhat of a celebrity hot-spot, that was sold to family members several years ago and remains a separate entity.
There's bound to be more bad press stemming from all this, if not more lawsuits, so in the spirit of generosity we'll leave off with Terces's own words. "Be kind, offer forgiveness, acknowledge one another, take responsibility, be generous, know you will always be provided for and restore trust in all of your relationships. We continue to keep our hearts open and to be filled with gratitude for everything."
Update: Matthew Engelhart responds to the lawsuits calling them "legalized extortion." Also, this NYT piece from July bears noting — the Los Angeles location is said to bring in about $4 million a year in revenue, and is owned by the children of the Engelharts.
===========
Re: Café Gratitude enrollment
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: December 05, 2011 10:02AM
[webcache.googleusercontent.com]
------------------
------------------
Quote
11/29/2011
Dude, all Northern California Café Gratitude locations are CLOSING?! »
SFist has the word and we’re trying to get to the bottom of it! Café Gratitude, why you have to be so crazy? Can’t you just serve up your delicious kale bowls and key lime cheesecake and STOP BEING A CULT? So annoyed at them. SO ANNOYED! Where will I get my delicious coffee shakes?? THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE, GODDAMMIT, GRATITUDE! My question of the day is: “WTF YOU GUYS!?”
More TK because we’re hella going New Tales of Sherlock Holmes on this shit.
[yeah, right!!]
UPDATE: SFist talked to Shandra Gilbert, Gratitude’s Director of Operations, who explained to us that, yes, Gracias Madre is also up for sale. Alas.
Et tu, Gracias Madre!??!!?
UPDATE 2: We now know for a fact that many employees (like, higher-up employees) had NO CLUE this was happening. They found out via SFist. Really nice, Café Gratitude.
UPDATE 3: We talked to Steve Sommers of Kumin Sommers LLC, who filed the two current lawsuits against Café Gratitude. He told us some interesting things! They mainly concern their tip-pooling practice, which goes like this: Every penny generated in tips and sales goes into same pool of money. At end of the day, they tabulate how much they should have earned from food sales, and they remove that amount from the pool— this, says Sommers, is called “breakage,” and it “shoulders the risk of the business onto the employees,” and is illegal. Next, they take 20 percent from the remaining money and send it to the central kitchen. Finally, they divide the remaining money among all the employees, from the managers to the janitors. Sommers says that one of his clients, Sara Stevens, would collect $200 in tips per night and only pocket $40. She is suing for between $80,000 and $85,000 in lost tips, and missed fuel and rest breaks.
The second lawsuit comes from their CURRENT—as in, he was still an employee as of 2:30 p.m. today, when we spoke with Sommers—bookkeeper, Ravi Shankar. He was being paid a salary as an exempt employee*, which is illegal, and is suing for about $60,000 in overtime pay.
*
[www.dir.ca.gov]
Sommers says that they have offered to let the Engelharts—Gratitude’s owners—“pay over time, if it’s a matter of money,” but by closing all their Northern California restaurants “they are scapegoating these two people.” Sommers also notes that once he filed these suits, Gratitude purchased three industrial shredders. “What are they hiding?” he asks.
It’s a legitimate question!
Also of note: These suits are entirely unconnected with Landmark and all that weirdness the East Bay Express wrote about in 2009.
[www.eastbayexpress.com]
UPDATE 4: Just heard from another (current) employee who said that they’re for sure being sold and that so is Gracias Madre, and it looks like there might already be a buyer for Gracias Madre, and it’s a big corporation. They didn’t tell the employees who the big corporation is (we’re thinking of starting the rumor that it’s McDonald’s! You in!?), but all Café Gratitude employees and central kitchen employees are getting fired. Super sad and shitty.
UPDATE 5: We just got news from a tipster (thank you!) that the Gratitude’s commercial kitchen and offices building on 14th Street is for sale. Asking price is $1.895 million, agent is Rob Maccarone at TRI Commercial. Check out the brochure.
[docs.google.com]
Re: Café Gratitude enrollment
Posted by:
corboy
()
Date: December 06, 2011 12:25AM
Quote
Gafe Gratitude's PR Battlefield
News Jesse Hirsch — Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 5:21 PM
[www.eastbayexpress.com]
Within an hour of writing this post on Cafe Gratitude's closing, I got an email from Stephen Sommers, the plaintiffs' attorney in two of the cafe's employment lawsuits. Since the initial Facebook announcement, Sommers has been popping up in every news outlet that will give him a couple of column inches. His basic two cents: there's no way these piddling lawsuits could put such a large enterprise out of business.
Cafe Gratitude's owners, Matthew and Terces Engelhart, have also been making the PR rounds, pleading poverty on their Facebook page, website, and all over print and TV news. Supportive employees have been hitting the Web, leaving near-identical eruptions of praise (check out the comments on my post and this one from SF Weekly).
No matter whether you love or hate Cafe Gratitude (it seems there's little middle ground), there are clearly theatrics at play here. The Engelharts are portraying the lawyers as cash-hungry wolves, with the lawyers retorting that Cafe Gratitude is a disingenuous corporate monolith.
With both sides scrambling to control the public dialogue, the cynics among us seem more compelled by the lawyers' argument. Plaintiffs Sarah Stevens and Ravi Shankar have brought two civil cases against Cafe Gratitude, one regarding illegal tip pooling, the other about employee misclassification. Combined, they are asking for an amount in the $200,000 range. While not insignificant, this should be manageable for a company of Cafe Gratitude's scope. And besides, that's just the starting price (like the sticker on a used car). Everyone knows you can dicker that figure down.
So for Cafe Gratitude to close up shop in defeat, long before sitting down at the negotiation table, smells a bit off. They seem too intent on playing their own violins, providing sanctimony and self-pity in lieu of real, hard numbers. Shortly after the closure announcement, this suggestion to go Gratitude shopping also appears pretty calculated.
But there is no shortage of earnest Northern Californians who will take Cafe Gratitude's sob story at face value. For every snarky commenter on SFist calling bullshit, there's an earth mother on CG's Facebook page sending infinite blessings and support.
Hallie Albert, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers, told me "This is a PR war," though the stakes are a bit unclear at this point. It seems unlikely that all this back-and-forth will have a real effect on the ongoing litigation. The Engelharts can persuade the public they are unfairly persecuted, but that isn't going to do much for them in the courtroom. They still have to convince a judge they weren't in violation of state employment statutes.
Could this all be a ploy to get supporters to buy more board games*? Is Cafe Gratitude's announcement, like Albert suggests, just a precursor to a massive corporate restructuring? The next few months should be very revealing.
Comments? Tips? Get in touch at Jesse.Hirsch@EastBayExpress.com.
Board Games--Cafe Gratitude Store
[www.cafegratitudestore.com]
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.