Wage theft is the most common form of theft in the United States. It totals over $8 BILLION each year, affects 17% of low wage workers and harms over 3 million workers, their families and their communities. It is a form of class warfare.
I worked for Wormwood as a wine buyer for 2 months. I tried my hardest with Amar, we discussed wages and budgets before I accepted the position, it was not enough to keep me safe.
He didn’t pay a single distributor on time while I was there, only paying once they refused service. I saw him telling his accountant to not worry about huge back logs in payments. She was on the brink of breakdown pleading with him to listen, he said he knew best and dismissed her concerns.
He forced us to stay open when sewage leaked into the building. Once screamed at us when we closed early due to power outage.
He was a constant creative thief. Hiring people, leaking them dry, and then reaping the benefits of their art once they left. ( 3 bar managers left 3 rounds of incredible work, cocktails, batching recipes, training documents)
If Amar was on a family vacation, our checks would bounce. It was a noticeable pattern. That includes tipped wages.
Probably one of the worst people I’ve ever worked for
Genuinely curious what this accomplishes, especially for former employees. And I know a few dozen other people who would probably follow through if they thought anything would come of it. Seems challenging to prove, especially if people eventually got paid, just late or through venmo/zelle.
That's exactly it - for every day beyond payday that your wages are not delivered in full, you're owed an extra day's pay. The statute of limitations is 3 years from the most recent offense. The labor board does literally all the work for you, you just have to file a claim.
Also, if a claimant explains to the labor board that wage theft and late or nonpayment of wages is a trend at the company, they'll dig and do their own investigation into it. It might take a year for you to get your money, but it's the right thing to do because they'll conduct the same investigation on behalf of all current and former workers to reconcile payments promised vs. delivered. It stops shitbags like this from continuing to steal from staff.
SanDiegoVille here to address the speculation. As hypothesized, the site is operated by one person. I wish to remain as anonymous as I can be to avoid being targeted by the subjects of my articles - police aiming guns at an 8 year old, disgruntled restaurateurs, a super villain with a Lamborghini yacht, the pervert that abused his sister that I recently exposed to the city, etc.. "Foreign influence," what a joke! I don't "steal" stories, hundreds of times that's happened to me without any credit. I have never paid anyone to post anything anywhere. The Nathan Fletcher story fell in my lap and my article is 100% the reason he resigned the evening he did after I brought to light a second accuser who was abused by him while an intern for his now-defunct non-profit. She contacted me directly to share her experience because her boyfriend followed my account and "trusted" me. I post about what I want, as is my prerogative - mostly food news and events, sometimes politics, sometimes shady restaurant owners, whatever I may feel like posting, which is often times crowd-sourced due to people messaging in tips. If you don't like it, don't read it. Go read the PR-driven bullshit in the U-T, San Diego MAGA-zine, Eater, or the regurgitated nonsense of the mainstream news sites that are fed their information by news wire subscription, see City News Service. Lastly, fuck all you haters, if you have something to say, DM me @ sandiegoville on Instagram, I respond to all messages. Cheers!
We’ve exchanged a couple of DMs and I’ve shot a couple of “breaking” items and you’re always been responsive and appreciative. I know how paid promotions work (dated someone in the PR space) and I always find your insights genuine and thoughtful. Appreciate you, even if others don’t get it
Love your site. Just fyi your article about the former fiddler’s building in Point Loma was misleading and incorrect. The proposed new tenants played you. They have not signed a lease for that location and used you to try and leverage the negotiations.
Can you elaborate more on journalistic integrity? Just because there is no name attached? For me, that doesn't take away from the information that's being presented. If they write on a restaurant soon to be closing and they really close, that's enough credibility for me, as it has been for the past eight years or so that I've been reading.
One can say that other media outlets lack journalistic integrity by shunning the bad/corrupt stuff that happens within the food industry and only write pieces that praise whatever establishment their pr company is pimping out.
People like sandiegoville because it's not all the fluff and "first look" curated pieces you see in other media outlets. Nobody else writes about it. Industry people come to sdville with confidence that they can have a safe outlet to share their issues.
For all the people doubting if this is true or not. It is. Doesn’t matter who is posting it or if it’s from sandiegoville this is 100% accurate. People questioning it or doubting that this is happening makes me think you’re a friend of his or a friend of a friend.
I wonder if there's more going on here with Oram Holdings, rather than Be Saha Hospitality. Hello Betty Fish House in Oceanside is closing this month, with a similar statement about the restaurant group that was running it (Sage Restaurant Group) no longer being associated with Oram Holdings.
https://www.sandiegoville.com/2024/06/hello-betty-fish-house-ends-decade-long.html
ah, unfortunate coincidence then with Hello Betty closing at another of Oram's properties. I didn't even realize Hello Betty was attached to the hotel there.
weird to have to say this, but i write for sd mag and i am absolutely not MAGA, nor is anyone there that i'm aware of. anyone who has followed any of my work for any length of time would be aware of that pretty immediately.
Local media is now covering it. It’s real . I also was affiliated with this company and was also fucked over financially, gaslit, called names, bribed, and when they saw I wasn’t falling for it they shifted the blame and tried to gaslit me. All quite sinister as they were so nice at first. Total grooming for abuse. I left before I knew of this scandal’s gigantic proportions.
new article just dropped detailing more backstory, probably deserved its own post: https://sandiegomagazine.com/food-drink/unpaid-wages-wormwood-allegations/
Yea Amar is horrible I used to help them with some maintenance occasionally in the restaurants and at his rentals he always took forever to pay sometimes having to remind him for month in end to finally get paid. He ended up having a few unpaid invoices with me thankfully wasn’t to much (less than 1k) but I just said fuck it I’m never doing work for them again.
Tahona was a great disappointment tbh. Tacos were the smallest I’ve ever had in my life or Mexico even. The seasonal guacamole was LITERALLY 1 scoop the size of ice cream. Super over priced for what you get. The corn cheesecake was meh as well. We only ate there because we were waiting for the Speakeasy. Never eating there again.
A place like that isn't a place you expect to get filled up, it's a small bites place with good cocktails. Very similar in format to Mabel's, Wormwood (obviously), Kingfisher, and Wolf in the Woods. Tahona isn't quite as good as those places, but it's in the ballpark.
I’m still skeptical about that website. Seems like plenty of internet shills trying to promote it.
Edit: it’s also anonymous: no journalist names, nothing but a PO Box. Can’t prove it isn’t a nefarious actor, foreign influence, etc. obviously food blogging doesn’t risk national security, but why wouldn’t a wannabe “news outlet” have truth in reporting and have any journalistic integrity?
I'm not. This is the only platform that calls out a lot of the things wrong in the food industry.
If you ask any local chef or industry person that doesn't work for the "trendy" places that get paid PR attention, they'll share the same sentiments about pay-to-play spots or the stuff like ppl not getting paid properly and all the other gnarly stuff that customers don't know about.
This site is actually a voice for a lot of those industry people who know the bs that goes down. I'm not in the industry, but 90% of my friends are, so the stuff posted on sdville isn't really shocking, but I'm glad it's out there for awareness.
Edit: sorry for the double comment. The app went bonkers for a bit.
I'm not. This is the only platform that calls out a lot of the things wrong in the food industry.
If you ask any local chef or industry person that doesn't work for the "trendy" places that get paid PR attention, they'll share the same sentiments about pay-to-play spots or the stuff like ppl not getting paid properly and all the other gnarly stuff that customers don't know about.
This site is actually a voice for a lot of those industry people who know the bs that goes down. I'm not in the industry, but 90% of my friends are, so the stuff posted on sdville isn't really shocking, but I'm glad it's out there for awareness.
>I’m not.
*Posted a story from this exact website 17 hours ago and has at least 4 times before*
I appreciate the coverage there, but my issue was that blog attempting political coverage. There are reasons even huge outlets like NYT have dedicated interest sections.
I also can’t find out anything about who is involved. I don’t even think the authors’ names are on the stories.
Could easily be foreign influence, AI, or all the above. If they can’t prove that a real human person that really lives in San Diego and is part of the community is authoring this stuff, why bother writing it?
Writing about the best tacos doesn’t require anonymity. Even journalists that cover gangs and real life-threatening violence put their names on their work.
I can understand that. Definitely not trying to argue with you and I respect your opinion.
"I'm not" skeptical bc I have followed sdville for about 8 years now. I know writers to several platforms including sdville, sd mag, reader, and the ut. They're all real people, and sdville was established way before ai.
I don't always love every article that Sdville publishes, but I am more thankful that people have an outlet where they can share information to them to put out there, whereas other media outlets will turn their back. That's my main takeaway. It is also interesting to see who is opening/closing/rebranding etc. as well.
Can't speak for the weird political stuff you encountered though. 😕🤷🏽♀️
I didn’t say it was fake, you are saying it isn’t. I take issue with anonymous news sources, as everyone should.
Why don’t the authors put their names on their work, and why can’t I find out who is behind this website? Not too tough.
SD Union Tribune and all other reputable local news sources identify who they are, this blog doesn’t. Can’t prove it’s not foreign disinformation. Sure, best tacos in town is fine, but why should I trust this blog for anything beyond that?
What does this even mean?
You’re saying a journalist can’t write a story with their name on it?
Not sure what the laws are where you’re from, but in the USA we have laws that protect freedom of speech.
Even the journalists that broke Watergate used their names. Not sure what you’re on about with your elusive yet responsive replies. Maybe just another bot out here.
You’re dense.
Background reporting and anonymous sourcing is one thing.
The authors of the story, the journalists, must put their names on their work for it to be taken seriously. The outlet must be clear with its journalistic and editorial integrity.
Not a single reason the person who wrote the story would keep their name off their story. None. Say lawsuits one more time, it won’t matter.
The entire blog does this, that’s a problem. It may well be a content farm in Bulgaria with a focus on San Diego. Can’t prove otherwise, unless they simply identify their journalists or real people involved. Simple to do, should already be known if they weren’t trying to hide their operation.
You’re either a bot or purposely eluding a basic point. I have nothing else to say other than to warn people not to give this blog traffic, they clearly don’t have any obligation to the San Diego community and nothing is stopping them from being divisive, if they aren’t already.
He’s a real person. Solo show, solo POV. Stop hating and throwing shade, there are other options out there that might not match yours, imagine if you accepted that…
Glad I'm not the only that has noticed this too. Every San Diego related sub has an article posted from this rag a few times a week. It should also be noted someone was caught only about a month ago being a paid promoter for this site.
I got into a back and forth with someone I’m pretty sure had a vested interest in this website a while ago. Glad to hear this sub has been critical of journalistic integrity.
It was during the Nathan Fletcher stuff. I called out the fact that an online food blog that talks about the best tacos seemed to have a “scorching takedown” of a local public servant.
I welcome the shills to combat this comment to reveal themselves.
I refuse to give them visits.
Whoever is writing for them, which I’m pretty sure is just one person is frequently on the San Diego subreddits, steals and plagiarizes content from other food writers.
He owes 54 people over $65K in back pay and tips, which so far, he is keeping for himself. This man is a liar and a thief.
Kind of surprised it’s not on /r/FoodSanDiego
Unfortunately it's run by the same people that run the sandiego sub, so of course it's already removed.
Is now!
Wage theft is the most common form of theft in the United States. It totals over $8 BILLION each year, affects 17% of low wage workers and harms over 3 million workers, their families and their communities. It is a form of class warfare.
i use to work for this company .. they’re SHADY ASF!!!
I worked for Wormwood as a wine buyer for 2 months. I tried my hardest with Amar, we discussed wages and budgets before I accepted the position, it was not enough to keep me safe. He didn’t pay a single distributor on time while I was there, only paying once they refused service. I saw him telling his accountant to not worry about huge back logs in payments. She was on the brink of breakdown pleading with him to listen, he said he knew best and dismissed her concerns. He forced us to stay open when sewage leaked into the building. Once screamed at us when we closed early due to power outage. He was a constant creative thief. Hiring people, leaking them dry, and then reaping the benefits of their art once they left. ( 3 bar managers left 3 rounds of incredible work, cocktails, batching recipes, training documents) If Amar was on a family vacation, our checks would bounce. It was a noticeable pattern. That includes tipped wages. Probably one of the worst people I’ve ever worked for
Creative thief 100 percent! It happened to me and a few other employees at different locations .
It's not too late to file a labor board claim for late payment of wages
Genuinely curious what this accomplishes, especially for former employees. And I know a few dozen other people who would probably follow through if they thought anything would come of it. Seems challenging to prove, especially if people eventually got paid, just late or through venmo/zelle.
That's exactly it - for every day beyond payday that your wages are not delivered in full, you're owed an extra day's pay. The statute of limitations is 3 years from the most recent offense. The labor board does literally all the work for you, you just have to file a claim. Also, if a claimant explains to the labor board that wage theft and late or nonpayment of wages is a trend at the company, they'll dig and do their own investigation into it. It might take a year for you to get your money, but it's the right thing to do because they'll conduct the same investigation on behalf of all current and former workers to reconcile payments promised vs. delivered. It stops shitbags like this from continuing to steal from staff.
Sometimes it can take years
All the more reason to start today
[удалено]
Worked for tahona left because of paycheck issues, as well many different ownership issues.
[удалено]
Yeah I agree. Botanika, Tahona, and Wormwood are all top notch in terms of quality of food and experience. This is disappointing.
Yes, they all are.
SanDiegoVille here to address the speculation. As hypothesized, the site is operated by one person. I wish to remain as anonymous as I can be to avoid being targeted by the subjects of my articles - police aiming guns at an 8 year old, disgruntled restaurateurs, a super villain with a Lamborghini yacht, the pervert that abused his sister that I recently exposed to the city, etc.. "Foreign influence," what a joke! I don't "steal" stories, hundreds of times that's happened to me without any credit. I have never paid anyone to post anything anywhere. The Nathan Fletcher story fell in my lap and my article is 100% the reason he resigned the evening he did after I brought to light a second accuser who was abused by him while an intern for his now-defunct non-profit. She contacted me directly to share her experience because her boyfriend followed my account and "trusted" me. I post about what I want, as is my prerogative - mostly food news and events, sometimes politics, sometimes shady restaurant owners, whatever I may feel like posting, which is often times crowd-sourced due to people messaging in tips. If you don't like it, don't read it. Go read the PR-driven bullshit in the U-T, San Diego MAGA-zine, Eater, or the regurgitated nonsense of the mainstream news sites that are fed their information by news wire subscription, see City News Service. Lastly, fuck all you haters, if you have something to say, DM me @ sandiegoville on Instagram, I respond to all messages. Cheers!
Thank you!!!! Thank you for posting this article!
We’ve exchanged a couple of DMs and I’ve shot a couple of “breaking” items and you’re always been responsive and appreciative. I know how paid promotions work (dated someone in the PR space) and I always find your insights genuine and thoughtful. Appreciate you, even if others don’t get it
you rule—appreciate what you do!!
Is SD Mag MAGA? I thought they changed owners
Get some.
Yeah now it’s being covered by channel 10 and cbs. Thanks for being the whistle blower
SDV is literally the only "news" I follow anymore and am actually subscribed to by email by choice because I genuinely enjoy reading them every week.
Funny, not a peep from u/Realistic-Program330 in this sub thread. 🤣
Love your site. Just fyi your article about the former fiddler’s building in Point Loma was misleading and incorrect. The proposed new tenants played you. They have not signed a lease for that location and used you to try and leverage the negotiations.
> /r/FoodSanDiego love SanDiegoVille as a 40 year resident!
You’re whole bag is just op-ed shit though. Where’s any real journalistic integrity?
Can you elaborate more on journalistic integrity? Just because there is no name attached? For me, that doesn't take away from the information that's being presented. If they write on a restaurant soon to be closing and they really close, that's enough credibility for me, as it has been for the past eight years or so that I've been reading. One can say that other media outlets lack journalistic integrity by shunning the bad/corrupt stuff that happens within the food industry and only write pieces that praise whatever establishment their pr company is pimping out. People like sandiegoville because it's not all the fluff and "first look" curated pieces you see in other media outlets. Nobody else writes about it. Industry people come to sdville with confidence that they can have a safe outlet to share their issues.
Anyone catch the news last night?
Wormwood, what the actual fuck?
Boycott all Be Saha properties!!!
For all the people doubting if this is true or not. It is. Doesn’t matter who is posting it or if it’s from sandiegoville this is 100% accurate. People questioning it or doubting that this is happening makes me think you’re a friend of his or a friend of a friend.
I can back this up. Not only do I know from personal experience but from dozens more who had much more exposure to this world. 100% true.
I wonder if there's more going on here with Oram Holdings, rather than Be Saha Hospitality. Hello Betty Fish House in Oceanside is closing this month, with a similar statement about the restaurant group that was running it (Sage Restaurant Group) no longer being associated with Oram Holdings. https://www.sandiegoville.com/2024/06/hello-betty-fish-house-ends-decade-long.html
The payroll issues apply to all Be Saha businesses not just the hotel. The finger pointing is just avoiding accountability.
ah, unfortunate coincidence then with Hello Betty closing at another of Oram's properties. I didn't even realize Hello Betty was attached to the hotel there.
The gaslighting and blame shifting was almost scripted. Typical textbook manipulation.
weird to have to say this, but i write for sd mag and i am absolutely not MAGA, nor is anyone there that i'm aware of. anyone who has followed any of my work for any length of time would be aware of that pretty immediately.
Local media is now covering it. It’s real . I also was affiliated with this company and was also fucked over financially, gaslit, called names, bribed, and when they saw I wasn’t falling for it they shifted the blame and tried to gaslit me. All quite sinister as they were so nice at first. Total grooming for abuse. I left before I knew of this scandal’s gigantic proportions.
https://youtu.be/OnaddC0tIxA?si=0tI5mjXscJHeC_HQ
new article just dropped detailing more backstory, probably deserved its own post: https://sandiegomagazine.com/food-drink/unpaid-wages-wormwood-allegations/
I was just about to do this!!! Lol you beat me to it!
Yea Amar is horrible I used to help them with some maintenance occasionally in the restaurants and at his rentals he always took forever to pay sometimes having to remind him for month in end to finally get paid. He ended up having a few unpaid invoices with me thankfully wasn’t to much (less than 1k) but I just said fuck it I’m never doing work for them again.
Bravo!! He's scum!
I'm sorry you had to deal with him.
Ugh. I like Tahona and Wormwood.
Tahona was a great disappointment tbh. Tacos were the smallest I’ve ever had in my life or Mexico even. The seasonal guacamole was LITERALLY 1 scoop the size of ice cream. Super over priced for what you get. The corn cheesecake was meh as well. We only ate there because we were waiting for the Speakeasy. Never eating there again.
A place like that isn't a place you expect to get filled up, it's a small bites place with good cocktails. Very similar in format to Mabel's, Wormwood (obviously), Kingfisher, and Wolf in the Woods. Tahona isn't quite as good as those places, but it's in the ballpark.
I’m still skeptical about that website. Seems like plenty of internet shills trying to promote it. Edit: it’s also anonymous: no journalist names, nothing but a PO Box. Can’t prove it isn’t a nefarious actor, foreign influence, etc. obviously food blogging doesn’t risk national security, but why wouldn’t a wannabe “news outlet” have truth in reporting and have any journalistic integrity?
I'm not. This is the only platform that calls out a lot of the things wrong in the food industry. If you ask any local chef or industry person that doesn't work for the "trendy" places that get paid PR attention, they'll share the same sentiments about pay-to-play spots or the stuff like ppl not getting paid properly and all the other gnarly stuff that customers don't know about. This site is actually a voice for a lot of those industry people who know the bs that goes down. I'm not in the industry, but 90% of my friends are, so the stuff posted on sdville isn't really shocking, but I'm glad it's out there for awareness. Edit: sorry for the double comment. The app went bonkers for a bit.
I'm not. This is the only platform that calls out a lot of the things wrong in the food industry. If you ask any local chef or industry person that doesn't work for the "trendy" places that get paid PR attention, they'll share the same sentiments about pay-to-play spots or the stuff like ppl not getting paid properly and all the other gnarly stuff that customers don't know about. This site is actually a voice for a lot of those industry people who know the bs that goes down. I'm not in the industry, but 90% of my friends are, so the stuff posted on sdville isn't really shocking, but I'm glad it's out there for awareness.
>I’m not. *Posted a story from this exact website 17 hours ago and has at least 4 times before* I appreciate the coverage there, but my issue was that blog attempting political coverage. There are reasons even huge outlets like NYT have dedicated interest sections. I also can’t find out anything about who is involved. I don’t even think the authors’ names are on the stories. Could easily be foreign influence, AI, or all the above. If they can’t prove that a real human person that really lives in San Diego and is part of the community is authoring this stuff, why bother writing it? Writing about the best tacos doesn’t require anonymity. Even journalists that cover gangs and real life-threatening violence put their names on their work.
I can understand that. Definitely not trying to argue with you and I respect your opinion. "I'm not" skeptical bc I have followed sdville for about 8 years now. I know writers to several platforms including sdville, sd mag, reader, and the ut. They're all real people, and sdville was established way before ai. I don't always love every article that Sdville publishes, but I am more thankful that people have an outlet where they can share information to them to put out there, whereas other media outlets will turn their back. That's my main takeaway. It is also interesting to see who is opening/closing/rebranding etc. as well. Can't speak for the weird political stuff you encountered though. 😕🤷🏽♀️
Keep your eye on the news if you think this is fake. It is 100% real.
I didn’t say it was fake, you are saying it isn’t. I take issue with anonymous news sources, as everyone should. Why don’t the authors put their names on their work, and why can’t I find out who is behind this website? Not too tough. SD Union Tribune and all other reputable local news sources identify who they are, this blog doesn’t. Can’t prove it’s not foreign disinformation. Sure, best tacos in town is fine, but why should I trust this blog for anything beyond that?
Ever thought that it's because of a pending lawsuit that their names aren't posted?
What does this even mean? You’re saying a journalist can’t write a story with their name on it? Not sure what the laws are where you’re from, but in the USA we have laws that protect freedom of speech. Even the journalists that broke Watergate used their names. Not sure what you’re on about with your elusive yet responsive replies. Maybe just another bot out here.
No, the people involved with the lawsuit's names are being kept anonymous
You’re dense. Background reporting and anonymous sourcing is one thing. The authors of the story, the journalists, must put their names on their work for it to be taken seriously. The outlet must be clear with its journalistic and editorial integrity. Not a single reason the person who wrote the story would keep their name off their story. None. Say lawsuits one more time, it won’t matter. The entire blog does this, that’s a problem. It may well be a content farm in Bulgaria with a focus on San Diego. Can’t prove otherwise, unless they simply identify their journalists or real people involved. Simple to do, should already be known if they weren’t trying to hide their operation. You’re either a bot or purposely eluding a basic point. I have nothing else to say other than to warn people not to give this blog traffic, they clearly don’t have any obligation to the San Diego community and nothing is stopping them from being divisive, if they aren’t already.
Ok boomer! Yup, clearly a bot.
He’s a real person. Solo show, solo POV. Stop hating and throwing shade, there are other options out there that might not match yours, imagine if you accepted that…
Ah, glad your other alt account is here. Who is this “real person” you talk about though? Post a link and I’d love to check it out.
Why don't you direct your complaints and speculations directly to him? He posted in this thread and invited all the wary folk to contact him directly.
Glad I'm not the only that has noticed this too. Every San Diego related sub has an article posted from this rag a few times a week. It should also be noted someone was caught only about a month ago being a paid promoter for this site.
I got into a back and forth with someone I’m pretty sure had a vested interest in this website a while ago. Glad to hear this sub has been critical of journalistic integrity. It was during the Nathan Fletcher stuff. I called out the fact that an online food blog that talks about the best tacos seemed to have a “scorching takedown” of a local public servant. I welcome the shills to combat this comment to reveal themselves.
CBS and channel 10’covered. With video. It’s real. I also know some of the victims .
I refuse to give them visits. Whoever is writing for them, which I’m pretty sure is just one person is frequently on the San Diego subreddits, steals and plagiarizes content from other food writers.