Today the Sydney Morning Herald published an expose on Swillhouse, the Sydney hospitality group behind a raft of popular bars and restaurants – Le Foote, Caterpillar Club, Shady Pines Saloon, Hubert, Alberto’s Lounge, The Baxter Inn and the now-closed Frankie’s Pizza. The masthead claimed the group fostered a dangerous work environment, that leant into the boys’ club stereotype: rampant misuse of drugs and alcohol, sexual misconduct and a leadership team that failed to adequately address complaints.

The piece was written by the Sydney Morning Herald’s investigative reporter Eryk Bagshaw and Good Food reporter Bianca Hrovat.

The report comes after a months-long investigation by the paper, where ex-staff shared the historic happenings behind the scenes at Swillhouse. An ex-Hubert bartender, who is pursuing legal action, alleged she was raped in the restaurant’s bathrooms after becoming “blackout drunk” from a cocktail given to her with “10 different gins”.

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After bringing the allegations to her employers, she was allegedly offered counselling but also placed on a performance management plan, had a reduction in hours and pay, and experienced post-traumatic stress disorder at work.

Swillhouse’s first venue was Shady Pines, the Darlinghurst speakeasy that opened in 2010. Group founders Anton Forte (now CEO) and Jason Scott (who left the group in 2018) teamed up with an idea of how the Sydney nightlife scene “could be better”. The CBD basement bar Baxter Inn followed in 2011, and then the underground (and now-closed) Frankie’s Pizza in 2013.

Alleged behaviour across those two subterranean venues spans bartenders using coded language to signal when a woman with large breasts entered the bar, notes on the wall ranking the attractiveness of customers who staff had slept with, and managers showing violent porn to female bartenders.

STC – meaning “suck the cock” – was allegedly graffitied across venues and appeared in the caption of an image Forte published on Instagram in 2015. “Multiple recordings of people having sex in [Frankie’s] without their consent” were allegedly distributed within the team.

“The people that are making money are doing it off our broken bodies,” one bartender is quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald. “This industry that I have given so much to has completely f---ed me over.”

“They wheel you out on International Women’s Day, but you are afraid to be feminine,” another bartender was quoted. “It was established that if you say anything, you are out.”

In 2019, in the wake of repeated reports of misconduct, Forte allegedly “reminded staff to respect their co-workers and to report incidents to their managers”. An HR specialist was employed, and specific sexual harassment policies brought in. Forte told the Herald that Swillhouse only hired its first female bartender in 2012, roughly two years after Shady Pines opened.

In February 2023, Forte issued a company-wide email stating 50 per cent discounts and free knock-off drinks were no longer available to staff, in a move to “prioritise and promote a culture of safety and wellbeing”.

“As the reporter for Good Food in Sydney, I’m able to celebrate all of the creative, intelligent people who make our hospitality scene so great,” Hrovat tells Broadsheet. “But it’s equally important for us to hold businesses to account. These women were incredibly brave for speaking out, and their stories deserve to be heard.”

In a second piece published today by the Herald, journalist Dani Valent writes of the “endemic” level of sexual misconduct and gender-based violence, looking to the hospitality industry in general. The Herald’s reports come in a year plagued by big-league hospitality players being called out for misconduct, representing one more piece in a much broader issue.

The Sydney Morning Herald made clear there were no suggestions that Forte had assaulted or harassed his staff. Broadsheet has reached out to Swillhouse for comment.

If you’ve been the victim of sexual harassment in a hospitality workplace or witnessed an incident, read activist Jamie Bucirde’s advice on navigating the situation.

If you would like to speak with someone about an experience you have had, or would like more information, please call 1800Respect on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800respect.org.au.

You can also alert Broadsheet to misbehaviour of any kind in the hospitality industry via report@broadsheet.com.au. We cannot act on specific tips, but your valuable information may inform future coverage.