Eleven Madison Park employees said the vegan staff meals left some starving during shifts. One said he was so malnourished he had to go to the doctor — but was still refused chicken
- New York restaurant Eleven Madison Park went vegan last year, but that choice has led to chaos, Insider's Kate Taylor reported Tuesday.
- Former employees said the vegetable-based staff meals left workers starving during 14-hour shifts.
A former kitchen employee at acclaimed New York restaurant Eleven Madison Park, which relaunched as a 100% vegan restaurant last year, said the vegetable-based "family meals" prepared for staff left him starving during 14-hour shifts, causing his health to suffer to the point that he had to see a doctor.
The malnourishment led him to submit a request to management for chicken to be added as an option for staff meals, which the restaurant proceeded to ignore, he told Insider. While staff members were permitted to bring food from home, he said the job's grueling hours and $15-an-hour wages meant he lacked the time and money to do so.
Eleven Madison Park, once named the best restaurant in the world, struggled to hire enough workers after the pandemic despite its renowned culinary reputation. Its hiring difficulties paired with a lack of ingredients meant overworked chefs had little time and resources to make meals that properly sustained workers, three former employees told Insider.
The family dishes had to be vegan to satisfy celebrity Chef Daniel Humm, a former employee said, even though Humm himself eats meat. One former employee recalled eating cauliflower and beets day after day. After their shift, some employees would get Sticky's fried chicken or a burger at McDonald's, another former employee said.
"Everyone was depressed," one former kitchen employee told Insider, who recalled employees at after-work drinks in 2021 fantasizing about quitting. "Everyone was like, 'This place is not OK.'"
The experience was one example of how Eleven Madison Park's chaotic shift to veganism impacted its employees on the ground, as chronicled by Insider's Kate Taylor. Some of the 11 former Eleven Madison Park employees interviewed for this article requested to remain anonymous for fear of professional repercussions, but their identities are known to Insider.