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Sarma Melngailis

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Sarma Melngailis
Born (1972-09-10) September 10, 1972 (age 52)
Newton, Massachusetts, USA
EducationUniversity of Pennsylvania
Wharton School
French Culinary Institute
Culinary career
Cooking styleRaw foodism
Current restaurant(s)
    • Pure Food and Wine
    • One Lucky Duck Juice and Takeaway
Websiteoneluckyduck.com

Sarma Melngailis (born 10 September 1972)[1] was the owner and co-founder of Pure Food and Wine, a Raw foodism restaurant in New York City,[2] and the founder and CEO of One Lucky Duck.[3]

Background

Melngailis was born and raised in Newton, Massachusetts[1] and attended Newton North High School. Her early interest in food came from her mother, a professional chef. Her father was a physicist at MIT.

Melngailis graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994 with a B.A. in Economics and a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School.[3] She moved to New York City, working at Bear Stearns until 1996, then moving to Bain Capital in Boston on private equity investment.[3] She returned to New York City in 1998 and joined a high-yield investment fund at CIBC, but soon left to enroll at New York’s French Culinary Institute[2] from which she graduated in 1999.[1]

Business

Together with Matthew Kenney, her then partner,[4] she opened Commissary in 2001, but it closed in March 2003, after which she consulted for Jeffrey Chodorow's China Grill Management.[1] With Chodorow and Kenney, Melngailis opened Pure Food and Wine in June 2004 as New York City’s first upscale raw food restaurant.[1][5] Located in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan, the restaurant was listed twice in New York magazine’s “Top 100 Restaurants”[6] and five years in a row in Forbes magazine’s list of “All Star New York Eateries."[7]

OneLuckyDuck.com, launched in 2005, is an online store for snacks prepared and packaged from her restaurant as well as ingredients, skincare, supplements, books, apparel, and home products, all related to raw and organic living. One Lucky Duck Juice and Takeaway[8] is the name of the takeaway retail store attached to the restaurant, Pure Food and Wine. From December 2009 through January 2015 a second One Lucky Duck location was open in New York City's Chelsea Market..[9]

In 2014, One Lucky Duck Juice and Takeaway's first location outside of New York City opened in San Antonio, Texas.[10]

Controversy

In January 2015, Pure Food and Wine and One Lucky Duck staff walked out en masse due to Melngailis' failure to pay employees a month's worth of owed wages.[11] This was the second time in a year a month's worth of wages had been withheld from employees, the first happening in July of 2014.[12]

On February 8th, 2015 Melngailis addressed the walkout and closure in a blog post.[13] She apologized for the incident, but the blog post was subsequently removed. In an interview with Well+Good, Melngalis said that the delayed wages were due to slim margins caused by debts and expensive ingredients, and that she had also previously missed her own rent payments.[14] During the ordeal, Melingailis provided employees a different explanation, blaming the situation on changing banks.[15]

In April 2015, Pure Food and Wine, One Lucky Duck, and OneLuckyDuck.com reopened.[16] A majority of staff did not return to the restaurant after its reopening.[17]

Again in July of 2015, the staff of Pure Food and Wine as well as One Lucky Duck walked out due to unpaid wages. The Restaurant has been permanently shut down.

Bibliography

  • Raw Food/Real World (2005)[18]
  • Living Raw Food (2009)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Duecy, Erica (9 August 2004). "Sarma Melngailis: ex-financier uses raw talent in the kitchen". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  2. ^ a b Miller, Jenny (11 December 2009). "Chatting With Sarma Melngailis of Pure Food and Wine: Raw Food, Criticism From Vegan Purists, and Global Expansion". Fork in the road. Village Voice. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  3. ^ a b c Frakes, Julia (30 March 2009). "Spring Cleaning With... Sarma Melngailis". Paper Magazine. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  4. ^ Fabricant, Florence (12 October 2005). "Owner and Manager In Dispute With Chef". New York Times. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  5. ^ Fabricant, Florence (16 June 2004). "Food Stuff; Off the Menu". New York Times. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  6. ^ New York Magazine article
  7. ^ Forbes Magazine article
  8. ^ One Lucky Duck Takeaway review
  9. ^ Chelsea Market opening
  10. ^ "NEW JUICE BAR IN… TEXAS!". ducknews.oneluckyduck.com.
  11. ^ Ferst, Devra (13 January 2015). "Union Square's Pure Food & Wine Currently Closed, After Staff Walks Out En Masse". Eater.
  12. ^ Casey, Nell (13 January 2015). "Pure Food And Wine Employees Walk Out Over Unpaid Wages". Gothamist.
  13. ^ Melingailis, Sarma (8 February 2015). "WHAT HAPPENED?".
  14. ^ Held, Lisa Elaine (February 10, 2015). "Exclusive: Sarma Melngailis opens up about what's going on at Pure Food and Wine". Well+Good. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  15. ^ Preston, Marguerite (Jan 16, 2015). "What's Going On at Pure Food & Wine, Where Staff Remains Unpaid and Owner Is MIA". Eater NY.
  16. ^ "WE'RE BACK: ONE LUCKY DUCK IS OPEN!". ducknews.oneluckyduck.com. One Lucky Duck.
  17. ^ Tishgart, Sierra (April 30, 2015). "How a Prominent Restaurant Owner Is Bouncing Back After a Public Staff Exodus". Grub Street.
  18. ^ Black, Rosemary (24 August 2005). "What's cooking? Nothing". New York Daily News. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
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