There’s a chain of three French restaurants called Bagatelle, which for almost a year I used to eat at often on a Saturday or Sunday morning. The food’s great (though not cheap), the ambience is perfect for a breakfast or brunch–all have patios, lots of plants and lots of French cafe cachet.
But about six months ago I found out some pretty unpleasant things about employee relations, and now I make a point of not going there and of telling others the same. It turns out that the owner, through the manager, is pretty much a slavedriver. I heard stories through a friend, but they were just rumors. While walking his dog one day my friend passed the Rosales Bagatelle and saw a waiter on a cigarette break–he asked him about it, but the guy didn’t really want to talk.
I have another friend, though, who knows a lot of poor people because he took juggling lessons from a kid who performs at intersections and got to know the whole extended family (and friends). One of these friends used to work at Bagatelle (she now sells candy in the street), and so my amigo had a few of us over to dinner one night to hear her story.
Turns out that at Bagatelle, there’s a lot of psychological abuse of employees. I had sort of sensed this once when eating there, when the manager (the woman with the large gray streak in her black hair–sort of Cruella de Ville looking) saw a little scrap of paper on the floor during a busy Sunday brunch. She went over and stood next to it, glaring at waitresses until one caught her eye–then looked down at the paper and back up at the waitress, who came running over to pick it up. The manager just had a hate-filled look the entire time and never said a word. Until she caught MY eye, that is, then broke into a smile and was all over me within 30 seconds asking how everything was.
Lucia (name changed for obvious purposes) also told us about how waitresses would have to pay for broken plates, and on a slow day the entire 12- or 14-hour shift pay would not cover the cost of one broken plate. So, the waitress had to pay her salary the next day, too. Anytime the owner thinks the cash register doesn’t balance, he takes an equal proportion of the missing money from everyone who worked that day. There’s a lot of verbal abuse in the kitchen, too.
Now, understand that first of all wait staff in restaurants are generally only tipped 6-10%, so might only make $30,000 pesos (about $13) on a good day. They often work 12 or more hour shifts, even if it’s not busy.
So, why do they do it? Because jobs are so hard to get. But at Bagatelle, Lucia and lots of others are driven to the breaking point, and would rather go unemployed or turn to selling trinkets on the street. Other restaurants are probably similar, I think, because of the unemployment situation in the country, but I’m avoiding this place because I KNOW they mistreat the staff. If you look around in a restaurant, you can usually get a sense of whether or not the staff is at least moderately happy or if they’re in fear of their jobs just about every second. At Bagatelle, it’s the latter.
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December 14th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Hello,
First of all I would like to thank you for your words.
My name is Philippe Zerbib, I was born in Bogota but my parents are from France, but truly I consider myself colombian.
I hapen to be the owner of Bagatelle, a friend of mine just send me this e mail, which made me honestly very sad.
I absolutely respect your opinion and also understand that you don´t consider going back to one of my restaurants.
I don´t intent to make you think that I am not the kind of person you describe. Certainely I have made mistakes during my 10 years with my restaurants, I am a self made man and I often had to learn how to handle some situacions alone, certainly not always the way they should be handle.
I would only like, if there is no problem, the oportunity to show you my work places , and every thing that you would like to know.
The reason why I am asking you that, is because a few years ago, a journalist came to my restaurant in la calle 95, to make a note about Bagatelle and when he came in, he was face to face with my father,who at that time was working with me, and the journalist asked him some questions, but my father never answered to him, so when the journalist wrote the note about Bagatelle he said that the food was ok, but that the owner was a real french arogant asshole,sorry about those words but it is true.
When I read the note on the magasine, I was sad, because what the journalist never got to know was that my father had Alzhaimer, so he never understoud what he was asking him,I never wrote to the journalist to tell him the truth.
This is the reason why I would love to meet you, and to let you know my version of the facts.
Maybe you will think differently, maybe not, but please let me the chance to show you the other face.
June 19th, 2008 at 5:04 am
Te rappelles-tu de moi ? école fr de Bogota ? Je recherchais tes parents, puis je me suis dit tape Philippe Zerbib et peut-être auras-tu quelque chose; jE VOIS QUE les journalistes sont partout pareil, c’est leur gagne-pain, il faut qu’ils écrivent… souvent n’importe quoi et le sensationnel se vend mieux !
Nous venons à Bogota pour quelques jours après 25 ans ! on y arrivera le 12 juillet. Peux-tu nous dire où sont tes parents ? on a gardé de très bons souvenirs d’eux. Bises de ta vieille instit M.Ange
January 6th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Quelle magnifique reponse M. Zerbib. No se podría esperar nada menos.
Un abrazo y muchos más éxitos.
ANDRES A. BUENDIA UCROS
LFLP ‘88
January 29th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Dear Mr. “gringo”, as you call yourself, I want the opportunity to defend Bagatelle and specially his owner, Mr. Zerbib. I have never met a more dedicated owner of a restaurant who loves his job so much as Philippe Zerbib. I know for a fact that he strives to attain perfection of quality and service, and his answer really shows that.
It would be great if you don´t judge before you know the truth. All these rumors and gossip destroy honest working people. Why don´t you boycott places that sell crappy junk food, torture animals, and do really bad things such as Mc Donalds?
Bagatelle is a fine place. His owner, a truly good family man who has worked very hard to build a business and a respectable name. Please, don´t harm Bagatelle with random thoughts that are in reality, superficial random and negative not-so-well thought thoughts!
March 16th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Dear All,
I had the priveliged to be in a meeting with the owner and the staff and I can honestly say that the relationship between him and his employees is fantastic. They receive proper training, always based on quality.
It is absolutely shocking to read these brutal accusations.
Luis Leitao
BBC Producer/ London
April 27th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Dear Philippe, please let me know the name, phone and mail of the person in charge of supplies at La Bagatelle. My company produces Corn Syrup (we are the only supplier in Colombia since 1959) , which is widely used by all the major restaurants and pastry chains in Bogota. I am sure this product can be very useful for many of your recipes.
Looking fwd for your reply.
Ian Donald
Gral Mgr.
CANADIENNE SYRUPS CO. LTDA
Ph. 8617081 , Chia, Bogota.
April 7th, 2010 at 9:19 am
Did the author of this note take ten minutes to confront M Zerbib before posting. Just to balance thing? No, right? You just rushed into the gossip…
June 26th, 2010 at 10:50 pm
For those of us in Bogota looking for free wifi I would check out this place. Its nice enough.
You can also find other listings here: http://freewifiwiki.net/index.php?title=Colombia
Anyways — as I said this place is cool by me