Anton Forte, the head of a hospitality group that has been engulfed in controversy in recent months has stepped aside from his chief executive officer role.
Swillhouse faced explosive allegations about rape, drug use and sex competitions among staff in its ritzy venues, leading Mr Forte – who is not personally accused of any wrongdoing – to admit the company ‘messed up’.
The business, which owns six high-profile venues in Sydney, including Le Foote restaurant in the Rocks and the CBD whisky bar Baxter Inn, has been left reeling after the explosive allegations made by staff 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 Swillhouse’s CEO.
In an email sent to staff on Friday, Mr Forte, 40, said Ms Hobbs would build ‘a better, stronger future for Swillhouse’.
Mr Forte’s move out of the limelight is more sideways than back, as he is staying on in the newly created managing director role.
He told staff he would be ‘working closely with Lisa and supporting her as she drives the evolution of Swillhouse’.
Mr Forte is the sole director of Swillhouse and his family company, Mangia Questa (Eat This), is the only other shareholder, corporate records show.
The head of hospitality group Swillhouse (one venue is pictured), which has been engulfed in controversy in recent months, has stepped aside from his chief executive officer role
Ms Hobbs told the Sydney Morning Herald she would working with staff ‘to identify our opportunities and challenges’.
‘As CEO, I will be responsible for day-to-day operations of the entire business, with Anton moving into more of an oversight role,’ she said.
The disturbing allegations made against Swillhouse include accusations of sexual assault, widespread drug use and staff who were 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 its lifestyle publication Swill.
Daily Mail Australia does not suggest any of those three people have been accused of any wrongdoing.
‘We sincerely regret and apologise to any former employees who felt unsupported,’ Mr Forte said when the allegations first emerged.
One woman who worked as a bartender at Hubert, another of the company’s award-winning restaurants, alleged she was raped in the toilets in 2013 by a male colleague after being made a cocktail containing 10 different gins.
‘I got completely blackout drunk and blacked out and came to with him raping me in the women’s bathrooms at work,’ the woman, who is pursing a complaint with the police, told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Other staff members at the restaurant claimed there was a special room where they would do lines of cocaine during their shifts, while the all-male bartending team at the Baxter Inn allegedly competed to sleep with customers in a store room.
A $1,000 bottle of wine was allegedly up for grabs for the first bartender to have sex with a customer.
The all-male bartending team at the Baxter Inn (pictured) allegedly competed to sleep with customers in a store room – 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 down and ranked in order of attractiveness during staff meetings.
Swillhouse has been inundated with complaints from disgusted former patrons.
‘The fact that your PR frontman and Frankies director 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 name ‘@wangdangsweetpoontang’ on one of his accounts.
It is the title of a 1977 song by American rock musician Ted Nugent, which fantasises 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 its lifestyle publication Swill
‘She lookin’ so clean, especially down in between,’ the lyrics state.
Nugent, who is 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 that it was his ‘private Instagram’ and insisted ‘it had nothing to do with Swillhouse’.
‘I changed the name because it was not appropriate and I regret it,’ he said.
When asked why he had tagged Swillhouse Hospitality and Frankie’s Bar in the description, he did not respond.
In an email announcing his resignation as Swillhouse general manager, Mr Hilton said working there was ‘the best part of my life’s work’.
‘The past few weeks have been very hard but an important lesson in realising that good actions or intent mean little if the experience is not consistent for all,’ he wrote.
‘There is clearly a different reality between what we thought we had created versus what existed for some, for which I am truly sorry.’
Mr Forte has denied any claim that he was responsible for the company’s culture or that he encouraged inappropriate conduct.
