![]() ![]() He also capitalized on his newfound fame by opening more restaurants. Meanwhile, Gökçe leaned into his memeification hard, posting Instagram videos of himself sprinkling salt out of a helicopter, drinking a drone-delivered, gold-topped cappuccino under the Hollywood sign, and scattering rose petals on top of meat arranged to look like a heart for Valentine's Day. Suddenly, everybody wanted a slice of the mysterious Turkish butcher: The late-night talk-show host James Corden called him the "Christian Grey of red meat," a "Saturday Night Live" skit parodied him as "the most important chef in the world," and A-list celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and David Beckham flocked to his restaurants. Gökçe performs his signature pose during a soccer match between AC Milan and Napoli in 2022. Nusret employs more than a thousand employees around the world - it is a shame that a few old lawsuits and some unflattering remarks should overshadow the tremendous amount of effort that goes into maintaining a global restaurant workforce, particularly through COVID, or the contributions made by Chef Nusret in creating a mobile kitchen to provide over 6,000 hot meals to victims of the tragic earthquakes." "Unfortunately, high profile restaurants and popular chefs are often targets for salacious and meritless claims. In response to a detailed list of queries, Christy Reuter, a lawyer representing Gökçe and his businesses, said in a statement: "The allegations are really nothing more than a re-hash of old lawsuits where the claims were disputed and have long since been settled." Gökçe did not respond to interview requests from Insider. Their identities and employment histories are known to Insider. "But shit from inside." Do you have a story about working for the Nusr-Et restaurant empire? Contact reporter Sophia Ankel.Īll of the former staffers requested anonymity, fearing professional repercussions. It looks "gold from the outside," a former bartender at Nusr-Et London told Insider. The former staffers - whose jobs ranged from front-of-house roles like waiter, bartender, and host to manager and head sommelier - told Insider the internet icon was prone to favoritism and frequent, unpredictable firings. And while he puffs on cigars and flashes his expensive watches, his restaurants offer a false promise of luxury, the former staffers say. His clownish image camouflages a darker pattern, according to the lawsuits and interviews: allegations of wage theft, discrimination, labor violations, and a testosterone-saturated culture of fear. His most recent headline-grabbing antics - finagling his way onto the World Cup pitch following Argentina's victory over France - were widely panned.īut seven lawsuits in two cities and interviews with nine former staff members from six restaurants depict another side to Gökçe: a petty tyrant whose obsession with wealth and excess extends only to himself. Over the years, his wealth, persona, and ubiquity - he has opened 22 of his very pricy steakhouses in some of the biggest cities around the world - have turned him into a caricature, the living embodiment of a stale meme. At his New York restaurant, customers can expect to pay $300 for a "Golden Burger." His London restaurant alone reported £7 million, or $9.2 million, in sales in its first three months, public financial documents show. Now he's dressed in a suit with a cigar in his mouth, a glistening watch flashes on his wrist. His online presence, in particular, oozes wealth: There he is on a private jet, and on a speedboat. ![]() Glitz and showmanship are the lifeblood of his empire. The presence of the salt boy is classic Gökçe: ridiculous, performative, and all in service of the meat maestro's image. ![]() Gökçe's meme-ification happened in 2017, when he posted a now-infamous video that showed him sprinkling salt on a piece of meat. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.
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