Restaurants created by a local celebrity chef were the subject of protest this weekend, after workers say Chaatable was closed without giving them proper notice. This is among the latest developments in Nashville’s restaurant organizing scene.
Chaatable was an Indian street food restaurant co-created by Maneet Chauhan. She’s best known for her appearances on the TV show “Chopped.”
Workers say they knew the closure was coming, but didn’t know when.
Brenda Waybrant says she showed up to work at the Charlotte Avenue restaurant on Friday planning to strike, only to find out that the business had been shut down.
“So that puts, I don’t know, 10 people out of a job,” she says, “and a couple of us don’t have second jobs to go to quite yet.”
Some workers say the closure was in retaliation after leadership found out about their unionizing efforts. They also say owners at Morph Hospitality Group fell through on a promise to offer them jobs at the group’s other restaurants like Chauhan Ale & Masala House and The Mockingbird.
A Morph Hospitality spokesperson says that Chaatable had been operating in the red for months, and that the restaurant did not close in response to union efforts.
The company says some Chaatable employees are working at one of its other restaurants.
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