Susan Clairmont: A Mezcal owner announces he is ‘exiting the business’

For years, he knew chef Manny Ferreira had a cocaine problem and had been the subject of a sexual harassment complaint made to the Ministry of Labour.

Yet Joe Accardi, Ferreira's business partner, didn't cut ties with him until last week after he read The Spectator investigation into allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault and indecent exposure against the former Chopped Canada" champion.

I am exiting the business," Accardi says of his decision to pull out of Mezcal, a taco and tequila restaurant on James Street South. He says he has met with a lawyer and is dissolving the partnership. I didn't know he was doing the things in the article."

Accardi may not have known everything that was detailed in that 6,000-word story, but what he did know raises questions about why he didn't split from Mezcal sooner.

The Ministry of Labour complaints we were aware of," he admits. The we" he is referring to includes Kristy Ferreira, Manny's sister. She was the human resources manager for Mezcal and for Uno Mas, the downstairs tapas and cocktail lounge also run by Manny Ferreira.

In 2017, the Ministry of Labour launched two sexual harassment investigations after receiving complaints about Ferreira.

The probes determined Mezcal and Uno Mas did not investigate the complaints, nor did they have a sexual harassment policy in place. Staff had not received training in any harassment or violence policies.

Both complainants told The Spectator they felt neither the ministry nor the business ever really addressed the harassment itself.

What did Accardi do when he was informed of the complaints?

We did take that seriously," he says. I made sure we were co-operating with the investigation at all times."

But he never talked to the staff directly.

I wasn't a day-to-day operator," he says.

And what did he do about Ferreira?

We were working with Manny and we were trying to get him back in shape."

Accardi says he has known Ferreira has had some substance issues and alcohol issues in the past five years."

In fact, Accardi sent Ferreira to rehab.

There were times Ferreira was not showing up for work" and was not his professional best," says Accardi.

We would send him away to go get help. He went to a retreat in Northern Ontario. We supported him."

Accardi's recognition of Ferreira's addiction issue reflects what others told The Spec - that the chef was often too drunk or high to cook and that he openly consumed alcohol and cocaine at Mezcal and Uno Mas.

Asked if he was aware Ferreira was doing cocaine at work, Accardi said I had no proof of that."

The Spectator reached out to Ferreira through his lawyer, Peter Boushy.

Respectfully, my client declines to make any comment concerning any interviews The Spec has had with his business partners," Boushy responded in an email.

In a previous statement, Ferreira denied all allegations made against him.

The Spectator's eight-month investigation resulted in eight women and men going public with allegations against Ferreira. The accusations ranged from slapping the butts of kitchen staff, to sending a worker an unwanted video of himself masturbating, to exposing himself to a customer to having sex with a woman who said No."

I was shocked by your story," says Accardi. Thank you for bringing up this conversation."

Like Ferreira, Accardi has been touted as a Hamilton success story.

He came onto the local entrepreneurial scene in 2010 when he was just 25 and starting his first property management company.

Since then, he has bought and sold many high-profile properties in the city - mostly in the downtown core. He has opened and closed a number of restaurants, as well as shared work spaces, and positioned himself as a champion of young professionals.

Currently, he owns Ambitious Realty, a boutique firm specializing in downtown properties, and Forge and Foster, an investment management company that works with business and properties.

He once told The Spectator: Love what you do and surround yourself with good people who want to work toward positive change."

In 2015, he helped Ferreira open Mezcal as a minority-share investor." Jeff Crump, who was once Ferreira's boss at Ancaster Old Mill and Earth to Table Bread Bar, was also a partner, according to Accardi. So, too, was Derek Doyle, who has also partnered with Accardi at Forge and Foster and Ambitious Realty.

Accardi says that in Ferreira, I saw somebody who was talented and believed in downtown Hamilton."

He's a very talented chef," he says. It was a good investment."

But then Ferreira became a problem.

Accardi says though he knew of the personal substance abuse challenges and Labour Ministry investigations, he knew nothing of Ferreira allegedly giving free drinks to women customers before hitting on them or allegedly having sex with women in the Mezcal bathroom while the business was open - behaviour chronicled in The Spectator's investigation.

I've been exiting the business for the past 12 months when I saw he wasn't taking it seriously," says Accardi.

What exactly was he doing to exit?

I was saying Hey Manny, this isn't working. I want to exit. I didn't come into this business to send you into retreats.'"

After publication of The Spectator story, Accardi says he finally made a legal move to exit. He says he has communicated with Ferreira by text only.

He has sent very succinct, brief messages or he hasn't been available."

Accardi had another business relationship with Ferreira. They opened Baroque, a now-shuttered nightclub on John Street South.

For that they had a third partner - Jesse Chiavaroli.

Chiavaroli is currently under investigation by police in Victoria, B.C., after more than a dozen allegations of sexual assault surfaced from women in that city and in Hamilton.

Chiavaroli also operated three nightclubs in Hess Village before skipping town and leaving debt and sexual assault allegations behind him.

At the time of Baroque's opening, Accardi told The Spectator: There's some great chefs and some great operators in the city."

Accardi now says he didn't know Chiavaroli nearly as well as he knows Ferreira.

He also says he held the liquor licence for Baroque and, eventually, he cancelled it and the business closed.

Many people interviewed by The Spectator have talked of Ferreira having an entourage" or posse" of male friends with whom he drank, did cocaine, scoped out women and partied.

Accardi says he is not part of that group.

I don't have a personal relationship with Manny. I never have ... There's a night scene in Hamilton I am not a part of."

Accardi says he has a wife and two young kids and partying late at night, that is not me."

I've literally never gone out with him and his posse."

After the Spectator investigation on Ferreira was published, Ambitious Realty posted on social media that although it had publicly endorsed" his businesses in the past, it would be making a donation to the Sexual Assault Centre of Hamilton and Area (SACHA) in solidarity" with survivors.

Hamilton Police Sexual Assault Unit: 905-540-5553 or online at www.hamiltonpolice.on.ca.

SACHA: 905-525-4162

McMaster University Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office: svpro@mcmaster.ca

SAVIS (Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Services of Halton): 905-875-1555

Susan Clairmont is a Hamilton-based crime, court and social justice columnist at The Spectator. Reach her via email: sclairmont@thespec.com