CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses sexual assault.
The founder and CEO of hospitality company Swillhouse Anton Forte has shared a statement following the widespread allegations of a toxic workplace environment throughout the company’s six venues.
In a video shared on Swillhouse’s official Instagram, Forte spoke directly to the camera to take accountability for the missteps made by the corporation and promised to do better moving forward.
“When Swillhouse began, we wanted to create something magical in the city we loved. We built our venues with real soul, integrity and passion. People were, and still are, at the heart of our business,” Forte began.
“Everything we have, we owe to them and we wanted to create a culture of openness, generosity and respect. But along the way we messed up. It’s heartbreaking to know that people were unsupported, unheard and let down. I’m deeply sorry for that.”
Forte claimed that while the allegations against Swillhouse were “far-reaching”, they reflected a time when the business “wasn’t as sophisticated as it is now”.
“But we don’t take [the allegations] lightly, and we respect people’s experiences and their need to share their stories publicly. We’ve heard you, we’re listening and we are accountable,” he continued.
“In the past few years, we’ve made a lot of changes to our culture and HR practices to better support and protect our team but we know we can be better. We need to change, we need to keep improving and this week we’ve brought in three outstanding independent experts in hospitality, culture and leadership and workplace health and safety to advise us on how to work differently, to work better.”
Forte said that the business is dedicated to looking into all of its work practices to identify the aspects that need to change.
“With six wonderful venues, with 330 brilliant staff we value dearly alongside a diverse mix of guests. For their sake, we are committed to make changes and emerge the other side as better versions of ourselves as Swillhouse and we won’t let anyone down again,” he concluded.
Swillhouse owns trendy Sydney venues including Restaurant Hubert, Shady Pines Saloon, The Baxter Inn, Albertos Lounge, Le Foote and The Caterpillar Club. The hospitality group came under fire in August following a report by the Sydney Morning Herald which alleged that sexual assault, harassment and misconduct were commonplace, and reports were not taken seriously by management.
Swillhouse has previously issued a statement in which it acknowledged the allegations.
It’s been a big few weeks for Australian hospitality groups. Just yesterday, Merivale became the subject of an ABC investigation into misconduct, claiming that the company exploited women and condoned drug use.
Help is available.
- If you require immediate assistance, please call 000.
- If you’d like to speak to someone about sexual violence, please call the 1800 Respect hotline on 1800 737 732 or chat online.
- Under 25? You can reach Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
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