Burger chain Grill'd accused of exploiting workers to keep wages down

One of the country’s most popular and profitable burger chains, Grill’d, is using government-subsidised, low-paid traineeships 92 per cent of its workers say are a waste of time.

An investigation into the chain, which is owned by Melbourne businessman Simon Crowe, reveals that workers are not getting properly trained or taught about food safety and that one outlet had an average hourly labour cost of just $14.16.

Grill'd owner Simon CroweCredit:

Confidential internal audit reports - “gap analysis reports” - of company-owned Grill’d restaurants dating back to 2017 show Grill’d has been warned about serious food safety concerns at one-in-10 of its 105 company-owned restaurants. The other 32 Grill’d restaurants are owned by franchisees.

The chain, which opened its first restaurant in 2004 and now employs more than 4000 workers, has made Crowe a rich man with an estimated wealth of more than $450 million.

A two-month investigation by The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald has uncovered poor employment practices, a toxic culture and explosive internal documents that reveal sustained and frequent breaches of food safety standards at company restaurants across the country.

Grill’d makes extensive use of traineeships, known as a Certificate III in hospitality, a nationally recognised qualification for those who want to pursue a career in hospitality.

The government-subsidised traineeships allows Grill’d to pay workers a discounted hourly rate, and trainees are required to spend 20 per cent of their paid hours studying online.

However, an August 2018 survey of 370 workers, representing almost 10 per cent of staff, conducted by the Canberra Students for Fair Work, a student-led organisation associated with the Law Reform and Social Justice program at the ANU College of Law, found 95 per cent weren’t given time by their managers to spend the required 20 per cent of their work hours training for their traineeship.

There was also a three-month period during which the traineeship was not in operation but employees continued to receive trainee wages.

“It’s a scam,” said Patrick Stevenson, a 23-year-old law student who has worked at the Little Bourke Street Grill’d outlet for almost two years on a flat rate of $18.50 an hour. Stevenson said he rarely got time to do his traineeship during work hours because it was too busy.

'It’s all about profit, keeping costs down,' says Grill'd worker Patrick Stevenson.Credit: Simon Schluter

“It’s all about profit, keeping costs down, like making people do traineeships to pay them less, and other ways to cut corners.”

For instance, a 21-year-old working Saturdays as a trainee is paid a flat rate of $18.50, compared with a flat rate of $21.75 if they weren’t a trainee operating under the Grill’d enterprise agreement. Under the Fast Food Award the same worker would be paid $26.76. and would be eligible for other benefits including holiday loading, weekend rates and overtime penalties.

Internal documents show many Grill’d restaurants have average hourly labour costs lower than $17.50, with at least one restaurant paying just $14.16 an hour between May and October 31.

“I have had to ask my parents for help paying the bills because the wages are too low,” Stevenson said.

Workers who spoke to The Age and The Herald complained Grill’d routinely cuts corners to keep costs down, including sending staff home before their shift ended, sometimes after two and a half hours, which is below the minimum three-hour shift Grill’d is meant to pay.

The 2015 enterprise agreement, which is up for renegotiation later this year, has been described as “highly exploitative” by workplace lawyer Josh Bornstein from Maurice Blackburn.

Tim Kennedy, national secretary, United Workers Union said its analysis of the agreement indicated it should not have been approved. He said the traineeship, low wages and zero penalty rates was compounding the exploitation of those workers.

Food safety

Workers have complained there is no time in the roster for cleaning, which has contributed to food safety breaches.

A series of internal food and safety audits of company-owned restaurants dating back to December 2017, as well as other internal documents, reveal serious breaches of the Grill’d food safety requirements and the Food Standards Code Australia New Zealand.

The “gap analysis” audits identify some restaurants failing to keep track of cooking temperatures for meats and chicken, which is a serious breach. Many reports record food not being labelled or date coded, inadequate pest management and incomplete food safety records.

One internal audit included raw chicken not being labelled or date coded, inadequate pest management, and incomplete food safety records. Another in June 2018 showed containers were not cleaned and had “copious amounts of chicken juice and as the containers are stored next to vegetables the risk of cross contamination is not effectively controlled".

A number of others recorded the dress bench with a heavy build-up of food and mould. “As this is directly above the food the risk of old mould food falling into sauces is not effectively controlled.”

Another audit instructed: “do not keep any items that are used in the toilet next to the food” and another found a used band aid in the skewer bucket that holds the wooden sticks that decorate the burgers.

Grill’d management and Simon Crowe declined repeated requests for an interview. A series of questions were submitted, which the company either declined to answer without explanation or cited confidentiality as preventing them.

In a statement it said any suggestion that the enterprise agreement was anything but “lawful, valid or compliant” is strongly denied. It said it was not compulsory for staff to do traineeships “although we encourage our employees to complete the traineeship’’.

It said the government grants were offset by the "significant investment" made into the
curriculum development, ensuring compliance. It said the net cost to Grill’d of running the traineeship program as it relates to government subsidies has averaged in excess of $450,000 each year over the last three years.

It said a recent survey of staff, conducted by a third party anonymously, found that two thirds of more than 2700 respondents recommended Grill’d as “a great place to work” and 72 per cent believed they had “access to the learning and development I need to do my job well”.

In a statement Grill'd said it treats health and safety as an upmost priority. "Grill'd has made significant investments in systems, processes and people to ensure our food safety and team safety is best practice in our industry.

"This includes compulsory food handling and safety training and a monthly third party audit."