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Swillhouse exposé: what now?
Plus, how courts treat thugs vs protesters.
Crystal Andrews
August 25, 2024
This week the Sydney Morning Herald and Good Food published an expose on the allegations of sexual assault and abusive culture of ‘buzzy’ Sydney hospitality group, Swillhouse. It’s important journalism shining a light on the abuse happening in a male-dominated industry that we all interact with in some way – whether as hospitality workers or as the customers who frequent these venues, putting lots of money into the pockets of the people (mostly men) who own them.
It’s well worth reading. The full series of articles lives here, but these are two main articles - trigger warnings for descriptions of sexual assault in both:
The long and short of it is this: The Swillhouse group is made up of seven high-profile venues (restaurants and bars) in Sydney. The reporting investigates claims made by five former female staff that they were sexually assaulted and harassed by co-workers, and that the incidents were mishandled by management. The most recent sexual assault detailed took place in 2023, and is being investigated by police. Swillhouse founder and CEO Anton Forte does not dispute the allegations, although he does dispute some of the details around how they were handled. Other staff gave details of a drug- and alcohol-fuelled misogynistic culture across the Swillhouse group, which began with the opening of the very first venue, The Baxter Inn, in 2011.
While the SMH investigation focuses on this one company, we know this toxic culture is widespread throughout the hospitality industry. There’s a detail I want to point out from this piece, which is very telling:
“Other major hospitality companies including Love Tilly Devine are now scrambling to contain the fallout across the industry by attempting to silence their workers. On Wednesday, the company which runs Fabbrica in the CBD, Ragazzi, and Dear Sainte Éloise issued a warning via an all-staff email not to talk to journalists or post comments publicly on social media about the issue.”
The former Swillhouse staff that shared their stories in the investigation pursued a range of avenues to address what they experienced, including: reporting to their manager; reporting to HR and higher management; and reporting to the police. Aside from the one incident still under investigation, it’s clear from the investigation that victims received little to no justice or support from the company or police. The culture within this business had not changed in almost 15 years… which is presumably why staff felt going to the media was the only way to force the changes needed to protect them.
The fact that the media is a last resort for victims of abuse shows how badly police, the justice system and the HR/management of hospitality companies are failing its workers, who are typically very young, often women and migrant workers. It’s a huge red flag that any business would try to deter staff from speaking publicly. In my experience, fair treatment of workers is rarely newsworthy.
There is already a lot of fallout from the reporting, and surely more to come. It is obviously huge for those who work in hospitality. But for those who are outside the industry, don’t forget: this ongoing story explicitly involves us. We are stepping into these environments too. How does our engagement with these businesses hurt or help staff? How have we been at risk in these spaces, perhaps without knowing it? While the focus remains on the staff, many of the stomach-churning incidents of misogyny, harassment and assault at Swillhouse venues were also directed at female patrons.
And the question I’m wrangling with most of all: What do we do, now that we know?
I’m exploring a piece for Zee Feed to publish this week on that exact question and would love to include your thoughts. If you’ve read the reports and have thoughts you’d like to share – please send me an email (you can just reply to this one). The owners of restaurants, bars and pubs are often targeting young customers, they’re employing young people, they’re part of ‘youth culture’ and the Australian city lifestyle… is this story changing how you feel about that relationship?
My inbox is open.
Nothing published without permission, my forever promise to you.
How do the Swillhouse allegations make you feel as a young patron of bars, pubs, restaurants and hospitality venues?
Has it changed how you feel about frequenting venues? Do you have thoughts about the role that customers play a role in this culture?
Send your thoughts to [email protected] – please include your age and city!
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