Rick Stein is refusing to pay his staff while his restaurants close due to the coronavirus lockdown. The celebrity chef is not planning to pay his employees until the government’s subsidy scheme to aid businesses kicks in, which would leave staff without money for a month.
A message on the staff internal message board, obtained by MailOnline, reads: ‘We cannot afford to pay anybody after March 21. ‘If we were to do that the company will be gone within a few weeks.’ The message, written by managing director Ian Fitzgerald, continues: ‘This is a terrible thing to be telling you, but it is the most responsible thing we can do to save your job.’ It adds that when the money from the government comes in, staff ‘will receive it immediately’.