Mario Batali's business partner admits he knew the celebrity chef harassed women but insists he never witnessed groping - as it's revealed that Batali has been BANNED from all the restaurants he owns

  • Joe Bastianich said Friday that he knew Mario Batali said 'inappropriate things' to staff, but 'never heard' of sexual misconduct accusations
  • The two are co-owners of the B&B Hospitality group with Bastianich's mother Lidia, which includes 24 restaurants and five Italian markets across the U.S. 
  • Bastianich's new comments come as a new report accuses him of contributing to a 'boy's club' in his company 
  • In response to the new report, the company released a statement on Friday, saying they are in the process of restructuring the business
  • As part of the restructuring, Batali has been banned from visiting any of the restaurants or markets that he owns
  • Bastianich's mother Lidia, and celebrity baker Nancy Silverton, will be taking on new leadership roles in the company 
  • The statement doesn't say whether Batali will be working remotely or if his financial stake in the company has changed 

By Ashley Collman For Dailymail.com

Published: 14:28 EDT, 22 December 2017 | Updated: 15:27 EDT, 22 December 2017

Mario Batali's longtime business partner Joe Bastianich spoke out on Friday, saying he knew the celebrity chef said 'inappropriate things' to staffers - but that he 'never heard' of sexual misconduct allegations. 

This comes as a new report in Eater accuses Bastianich, who also acts as a judge on the TV show MasterChef, of contributing to the 'boy's club' culture at he and Batali's company, B&B Hospitality. 

In response to the latest report, the company issued a statement on Friday, saying that they are in the process of restructuring - with Bastianich's mother Lidia, a co-owner, and baker Nancy Silverton, taking on new leadership roles 'to help ensure everyone has a safe workplace'.  

'It has become clear that we need to improve our culture,' the company said in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter. 'Some employees have violated our policies. We have fallen short in creating an environment where every employee feels comfortable reporting complaints. And we have fallen short at times when enforcing our policies. We are already taking steps to change.'

Mario Batali's (right) longtime business partner Joe Bastianich (left) spoke out on Friday, saying he knew the celebrity chef said 'inappropriate things' to staffers - but that he 'never heard' of sexual misconduct allegations.

Mario Batali's (right) longtime business partner Joe Bastianich (left) spoke out on Friday, saying he knew the celebrity chef said 'inappropriate things' to staffers - but that he 'never heard' of sexual misconduct allegations.

Batali and Bastianich's company, B&B Hospitality, said Friday that they are restructuring the company. As part of that, Batali will be banned from visiting any of their properties (including New York's Eataly, above)

Batali and Bastianich's company, B&B Hospitality, said Friday that they are restructuring the company. As part of that, Batali will be banned from visiting any of their properties (including New York's Eataly, above)

As part of the restructuring, Bastianich will be refocusing on the restaurant side of the business while Batali will be banned completely from entering any of the businesses they own. More senior management will be brought on to pick up the slack in day-to-day operations.  

The company will also be hiring an outside firm to survey employees about the company culture, and fire harassing employees if need be. 

The statement doesn't say whether Batali will be working remotely or if his financial stake in the company has changed 

The B&B Hospitality group is made up of 24 restaurants and five Italian markets across the U.S. - including the high-end eateries Del Posto and Babbo.

Allegations of Batali's sexual misconduct first came to light in an Eater report published on December 11. 

The first Eater report including the stories of four women who said the chef had inappropriately groped then over the years

Bastianich's mother Lidia (left), who is a co-owner, and Nancy Silverton (right), will be taking on new leadership roles

One of the women said that Batali groped her chest after wine spilled on her shirt while another said he grabbed her from behind and held her tightly against his body.

Three of those four women asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution from Batali, who was their boss at that time. 

Following the report, Batali apologized for his behavior and stepped down from day-to-day operations at his company. He was also fired from ABC where he has been a co-host on The Chew for six years.  

The initial report led to another follow-up report on Friday, which accused Bastianich of not doing enough to protect his own employees from Batali. 

One male manager who worked at the company's Carnevino restaurant in Las Vegas during the 2010s told the food outlet that there was a 'boy's club' at the company propagated by Batali and Bastianich. 

He said that employees felt the pressure 'to hang' whenever the partners were in town. The former manager also said he saw Batali inappropriately touch employees while drunk. 

Multiple other managers told the outlet that they can't imagine how Bastianich would not be aware of Batali's inappropriate behavior, given how closely the two worked. 

Others said that while they didn't see Bastianich inappropriately touch women, his behavior towards staffers was 'sleazy'. One former Del Posto manager said that a hostess would ask to be moved to different tasks whenever Bastianich visited because of the way he behaved toward her. Another hostess said he opened flirted with her and encouraged her to drink while working. 

Speaking to Eater, Bastianich said he knew that Batali had said 'inappropriate things' to staffers and said he 'should have done more'. But he maintains that he had 'never heard' of the accusations of sexual misconduct detailed in the first report, which included groping. 

'I’m reexamining my own behavior to ensure that everyone I work with feels that respect,' Bastianich told the Hollywood Reporter. 

He added: 'The stories I have read and heard these past two weeks about Mario and our company have shaken me to the core. Other stories I have now heard about employee mistreatment, violation of our sexual harassment policies and that some employees felt they had no future in our company are terrible and unacceptable. I am sorry that I didn’t devote enough attention to the business, didn’t do enough to protect my employees and delegated too much of the day-today to others. I’m now refocusing my energies here where they belong, and have already taken specific steps to do so.' 

As for his own behavior towards his employees, Bastianich denied flirting and said he was just trying to 'be friendly' and 'put people at ease'. He added that he put a 'zero-tolerance policy' on drinking on the job more than 10 years ago and wouldn't have encouraged anyone to break that rule.  

Bastianich said the restructuring, including the new roles for his mom and Silverton, is to 'better reflect that we're comprised of many diverse and talented people and far more than just one or two'.    

'Our central goal is to develop the right culture where employees don’t have to file complaints,' he said. 'Our management and staff number more than 1,700, and it would be wrong to paint them with a broad brush. Every day and night, great teams work long hours together to give our guests exceptional dining experiences, and the actions of some should not diminish the hard work and accomplishments of so many.'

Batali also issued a statement about the restructuring, calling it 'significant' and 'meaningful'.   

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Mario Batali's business partner knew he harassed women

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