Brewery Bhavana owners step down, announce new CEO as restaurant tries to weather scandal
Just months after multiple sexual harassment and assault complaints rocked two of Raleigh’s most acclaimed restaurants and led their founder to resign, the two other owners also are stepping down.
In a pair of emails sent to employees of Brewery Bhavana and Bida Manda late Thursday, restaurant owners Vanvisa Nolintha and Patrick Woodson announced they would leave their leadership roles in the embattled company.
In June, the downtown restaurants were at the center of complaints from former employees, including allegations of misconduct by owner Vansana Nolintha. He resigned and divested from the company.
Woodson and Vansana Nolintha’s sister, Vanvisa Nolintha, told employees they too would step away. The email didn’t mention a similar divestment from the company. Operations of the two restaurants now fall to new CEO Frederique Leonard.
“Words can’t express how devastating these past few months have been, as we’ve tried to do what we thought was right at the time and we remained silent when we should have been more transparent,” Vanvisa Nolintha and Woodson wrote in an email. “It went against everything that we stood for. We are sincerely sorry and take full responsibility in acknowledging that our failures in those crucial moments have caused people immense pain.”
In June, allegations of sexual harassment, assault and racist remarks within the restaurant surfaced on social media, leading to the firing of beverage director Jordan Hester and Nolintha’s divestment from the company.
Last week, the restaurants opened for the first time since the pandemic, offering takeout dishes from Bida Manda and Brewery Bhavana. The reopening was met with protests on the sidewalk in front of the side-by-side restaurants. Currently, online ordering for the restaurants is closed.
In their email, Vanvisa Nolintha and Woodson acknowledged missteps.
“Looking back, we see the missteps that led us to where we are today,” the email to staff members said. “Feelings of guilt, sadness, and anguish take over us every day. But we know that these feelings are nothing compared to what some of you are feeling. We know that apologizing will not fix anything. We could have done more. We could have been better. And for that, we are sorry and will forever feel shame.”
In a separate email, Vansana Nolintha wrote an apology letter to restaurant employees, largely for being silent in the months since his resignation.
“I know that nothing I say will make up for the pain that you feel,” Vasana Nolintha said in the email. “While I know that it won’t change anything or take away any of the pain, it’s my humble hope that it will provide some clarity and offer my deepest apology to those that have been wronged and have felt hurt. I was scared to say the wrong thing. I was fearful that my words could be perceived as a performance or something that I just “had to do.”
“I felt paralyzed and it kept me from apologizing and kept me from defending myself against the things that I did not do. I just didn’t have the courage to follow what my gut, my heart, and my soul were telling me to do — and that was to acknowledge and apologize.”
This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 9:26 PM.
