Photo by Maryland Route 5

Photo by Maryland Route 5

Beyond the charming exterior walls of the Tabard Inn, there’s a good amount of ugliness brewing between the business’s owner and employees.

The Washington Post’s Tim Carman has a lengthy and worthwhile account of the growing issues at the historic Dupont Circle restaurant and hotel. To summarize: Owner Fritzi Cohen’s son Jeremiah Cohen was demoted from general manager then fired in May after 18 years of service. Those connected with the restaurant fear Fritzi Cohen is being manipulated by her younger boyfriend and new Tabard board member Keith Stavrum.

The Tabard offers an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), granting employees 30 percent ownership in the business, which Stavrum told the Post Jeremiah Cohen mismanaged:

The Tabard managers who attended the March meeting could not comprehend some of the changes that Fritzi Cohen had made. More to the point, they could not understand what the daily operations of the Tabard Inn had to do with the administrative problems of the ESOP. Why couldn’t the board of directors just fix the problems with the ESOP and let the Tabard continue to run as it always had? In the meeting, managers repeatedly pressed Fritzi Cohen to explain the correlation, but, according to the transcript, no explanation satisfied them.

In addition to Jeremiah Cohen, seven other Tabard employees in leadership positions have been fired or have resigned recently.

Current and past Tabard employees have created the Save the Tabard campaign, which features a petition to gain majority control of the business.

“More than 110 years worth of institutional knowledge, experience, and vendor and patron relationships have been drained from the Tabard in just one month,” the petition says of the recent culling of employees. “This loss has left a significant void in Tabard’s employee leadership.”

Stavrum, however, told the Post that these employees “were way overpaid for the amount of work they knew how to do as managers.”

The Tabard Inn Employee Committee’s petition got a high-profile boost today, as it was tweeted out by “Avengers” director Joss Whedon.

The committee is also soliciting donations through Indiegogo, so they may buy out Fritzi Cohen’s shares. A Save the Tabard support party will be held at a future date.

Filed Under: family feuds, petitions, tabard inn,