George Calombaris' Hellenic Republic lawsuit over 2014 food poisoning outbreak
Celebrity chef George Calombaris has been in the news lately – for all the wrong reasons.
First, there were the allegations that his business Made Establishment, had underpaid its employees a total of $2.6 million. He was forced to repay staff at his restaurants including The Press Club, Gazi and Hellenic Republic. It was due to what he called "historically poor processes".
Then, last week he got into an altercation with a fan when his team Melbourne Victory lost the penalty shootout to Sydney FC in the A-League grand final at Allianz Stadium in Sydney.
Charged with common assault after pushing the teenage fan, Calombaris subsequently issued a mea culpa with a statement apologising for the incident.
To cap it off, Hellenic Republic in Kew, along with the Made Establishment group is now being sued for an outbreak of norovirus encephalitis –highly contagious cause of gastroenteritis - at the restaurant which occurred back on Mothers Day in 2014.
North Fitzroy man David Schreuder has filed the lawsuit claiming he became seriously ill after allegedly eating contaminated food from the restaurant.
At the time, the restaurant had to shut down when dozens of patrons who had eaten from a set menu were stricken with vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach cramps.
A Victorian Department of Health found it was most likely caused by an infected staff member.
The writ filed in the County Court alleges Mr Schreder suffered injuries caused negligence and breach of contract which had seen the restaurant "causing or permitting the infected food to be served to him".
In a statement to Fairfax Media, Made Establishment said it had not been “formally advised of any new claim dating back to the May 2014 incident."
"In May, 2014 we had an incident of an airborne norovirus that unfortunately affected a number of our patrons at a lunch at our Hellenic Republic restaurant in Kew," the statement said.
"We worked with the Health Department, which identified an ill worker as the likely cause of the airborne virus. Our main priority when the incident happened three years ago was in managing any issues with affected patrons and addressing any claims relating to this isolated matter in May 2014.
by Leon Gettler, May 16th 2017
