Stefano De Blasi’s company accused by Fair Work Ombudsman of underpaying staff

The company of a young restaurant baron who is behind Brisbane’s ultra-trendy new rooftop bar Cielo has been accused of ripping off pizza truck workers.

One of Brisbane’s fastest-rising young bar and restaurant barons has been accused of ripping off his staff who were working in his pizza truck in Brisbane’s most hipster neighbourhood.

The company of Stefano De Blasi, 33, from Fortitude Valley, who owns several Italian restaurants in Brisbane, has been slapped with a lawsuit in the Federal Circuit Court by the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO).

The suit alleges that SMC Food Truck Pty Ltd (SMC) only paid casual staff flat hourly rates and failed to pay penalties for weekend and overtime work, under the Fast Food Industry Award.

The suit relates to payments between October 2018 and February this year.

The FWO filed the case as part of a wider crackdown on claims of wage-theft in the hospitality industry in Queensland.

Stefano de Blasi at his new restaurant La Costa. Picture: Mark Cranitch.

SMC – which ran a wood-fired pizza truck based on Boundary St, West End called Fuel by SMC – faces a maximum penalty of $31,500 as well as repayment of the staff underpayments if the court finds against it.

The truck is a spin-off from De Blasi’s Italian restaurant business Salt Meats Cheese which has multiple casual-style restaurants including at Haven in Newstead, South Bank and Surfers Paradise, as well as four locations in up-market Sydney suburbs.

De Blasi is also a co-owner of up-market Italian restaurant Eterna Dining on Ann St in Fortitude Valley which sells a T-bone steak for $95, and a full owner of Bar Ombre Rooftop in Sydney’s Circular Quay.

The FWO alleges in the claim that the SMC food truck was asked in February by the FWO to calculate how much they owed workers for underpayments and then back-pay their workers, but that SMC failed to do so.

Salts Meats Cheese Woodfired Pizza van.

The pay watchdog investigated Fuel by SMC during an audit of 44 fast food, cafe and restaurant businesses in the West End food precinct between December 2018 and March 2020.

The FWO asked SMC several times to calculate the back-pay owed before it launched the lawsuit last month, the FWO said in a media statement.

De Blasi’s latest ultra-trendy bar ventures called Cielo and La Costa in Fortitude Valley are opening on Friday.

Cielo is on the rooftop the $600 million FV by Peppers building in Brisbane and is billed as Amalfi coast-inspired, and La Costa – on the ground floor – is a tapas bar at night and an eatery by day.

The site of the new rooftop bar Cielo. Picture: Mark Cranitch.

Cielo will feature theatrical modern-style style cocktails, full table service and DJs.
De Blasi was born in the Italian seaside town of Finale Ligure in the Italian riviera.

No date has been set to hear the case in the Federal Circuit Court and no defence to the claims has been filed.

SMC Food Truck is owned equally by Mr De Blasi, business partner Eduardo Perlo, from Bondi, and Daniel Saab, from Petersham.

The claim states that the FWO compliance officer investigating the claims sent a compliance notice via email to Mr De Blasi in February and did not receive a response.

Mr De Blasi did not return calls seeking comment today.

Originally published as Stefano De Blasi’s company accused by Fair Work Ombudsman of underpaying staff