If you happen to find yourself in Oakland, Calif., for some reason and need to make dinner rezzies, you’d better cross Hi Felicia off your list. The venue was billed as a “radically inclusive” restaurant owned by a black queer woman. It was reported to be “bold and brash,” with a high-end menu. According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle:
A young transgender cook of color, [Parker] Kim said Hi Felicia, which opened at 326 23rd St. last April, was the first restaurant where they didn’t feel tokenized or othered. They saw their own dreams in Hi Felicia’s 26-year-old owner, Imana, who uses just her first name. The staff, almost entirely people of color and many queer-identifying, wore crop tops and blasted music while serving a $195 tasting menu to diners clamoring to experience Imana’s much-celebrated vision of “vulgar” fine dining.
But this paradise was destined for failure. Fourteen employees told the paper that the restaurant had a toxic work environment, which is odd since such a place should be the very antithesis of toxicity. Two ex-employees said Imana had touched their backsides and engaged in inappropriate conversations on the job. Those conversations included remarks about “the genitalia of an employee who had gender-affirming surgery.”
Employees were promised health insurance, a promise that remained unfulfilled. On top of that, wages were reduced and paychecks started bouncing. Employees are taking their wage issues to the California Department of Industrial Relations and the Oakland Department of Workplace and Employment Standards. One employee told the Chronicle, “For a lot of us, our life’s passions were harmed or at least dimmed by this experience. I feel like I lost a part of me there.”
Imana admitted to the paper that she had hired friends and that they drank and used drugs together. She said that there was never any sexual harassment, although she did allow an unprofessional atmosphere to develop. But she also said that the employees were “complicit” in helping to create the situation. She opted to open a wine bar, complete with pole dancers.
That a restaurant should fall on hard times and close is nothing new. It is a notoriously tough business, and I have seen many come and go. People often get into the food service business with no idea of the costs and demands of their time.
Normally, when one hears about toxic workplaces and allegations of sexual harassment, the first culprits that come to mind are white, cis-gendered males. But Hi Felicia was supposed to provide an alternative to that, a glorious, free, and expressive place where “folx” could be themselves, and as it turned out some were themselves. As things like inclusivity and non-binary sexuality become the norm, it will be interesting to see what happens when the left finally realizes that bad behavior cannot be confined to the “usual suspects.”
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