Anton Forte, the head of a hospitality group that has been embroiled in controversy in recent months, has stepped down from his role as CEO.
Swillhouse faced explosive allegations of rape, drug use and sex competitions among staff at its upmarket locations, prompting Mr Forte – who is not personally accused of any wrongdoing – to admit the company had ‘made a mistake’.
The company, which owns six high-profile locations in Sydney including Le Foote in the Rocks restaurant and CBD whiskey bar Baxter Inn, is in turmoil after the explosive staff allegations first came to light in August.
Now Mr Forte has announced that Lisa Hobbs, the former head of another hospitality group, Etymon Projects, has taken over as CEO of Swillhouse.
In an email sent to staff on Friday, Forte, 40, said Ms Hobbs would build “a better, stronger future for Swillhouse”.
Mr. Forte’s move out of the spotlight is more sideways than back, as he remains in the newly created role of managing director.
He told staff he would “work closely with Lisa and support her as she drives the evolution of Swillhouse.”
Mr Forte is Swillhouse’s sole director and his family business, Mangia Questa (Eat This), is the only other shareholder, company records show.
The head of hospitality group Swillhouse (one location pictured), which has been embroiled in controversy in recent months, has stepped down from his role as CEO.
Mrs. Hobbs told the Sydney Morning Herald she would work with staff “to identify our opportunities and challenges.”
“As CEO, I will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the entire company, with Anton taking on a more supervisory role,” she said.
The disturbing allegations against Swillhouse include accusations of sexual assault, widespread drug use and staff being encouraged to have sex with customers.
Two Swillhouse executives, Toby Hilton and Jordan McDonald, left the company in recent weeks, as did Myffy Rigby, the editor of lifestyle publication Swill.
Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting that any of these three people have been accused of any wrongdoing.
“We sincerely regret and apologize to former employees who felt unsupported,” Mr. Forte said when the allegations first emerged.
A woman who worked as a bartender at Hubert, another of the company’s award-winning restaurants, claimed she was raped in the toilets by a male colleague in 2013 after making a cocktail containing ten different gins.
“I got completely drunk and blacked out and found him raping me in the women’s bathroom at work,” the woman, who is filing a police complaint, told police. Sydney Morning Herald.
Other staff at the restaurant claimed there was a special room where they could shoot cocaine during their shifts, while the Baxter Inn’s all-male bartending team allegedly competed to sleep with customers in a storage room.
A $1,000 bottle of wine would be up for grabs for the first bartender to have sex with a customer.
The all-male bartending team at the Baxter Inn (pictured) is said to have competed with customers in a storage room to sleep – with a $1,000 bottle of wine on offer for the first to be successful
Former staff told the Herald that all conquests were noted during staff meetings and ranked in order of attractiveness.
Swillhouse has been inundated with complaints from disgusted former customers.
“The fact that your PR frontman and director of Frankies could get away with the Instagram handle ‘Wang Dang Sweet Poontang’ (the title of a sexually explicit song about a teenage girl) says so much about your company,” one person wrote.
This was a reference to Mr McDonald, who handled the restaurant group’s creative direction, events, entertainment, PR and strategy, previously using the handle ‘@wangdangsweetpoontang’ on one of his accounts.
It is the title of a 1977 song by American rock musician Ted Nugent, which fantasizes about a ‘teenage queen’.
Two Swillhouse executives, Toby Hilton and Jordan McDonald (pictured), left the company in recent weeks, as did Myffy Rigby, the editor of lifestyle publication Swill.
“She looks so clean, especially in between,” the caption reads.
Nugent, one of Donald Trump’s most outspoken supporters in the music world, sings in a later verse: “She’s so sweet when she yanks on my Meat.”
Mr McDonald told Daily Mail Australia it was his “private Instagram” and insisted “it had nothing to do with Swillhouse”.
“I changed the name because it wasn’t appropriate and I regret it,” he said.
When asked why he tagged Swillhouse Hospitality and Frankie’s Bar in the description, he did not answer.
In an email announcing his resignation as Swillhouse’s chief executive, Mr Hilton said working there had been “the best part of my life’s work”.
“These past few weeks have been very difficult, but it is an important lesson to realize that good actions or intentions mean little if the experience is not consistent for everyone,” he wrote.
“There is clearly a different reality between what we thought we created and what existed for some, and for that I am truly sorry.”
Mr. Forte has denied any claims that he was responsible for the company’s culture or that he encouraged inappropriate behavior.