Why top Democrats are boycotting Stephen Starr’s D.C. restaurants

Philly’s most famous restaurateur is weathering allegations of union busting in some of his Washington, D.C., establishments, prompting top Democratic lawmakers to boycott some of his highest-profile properties there. The boycott is the most recent development in a fractious, monthslong campaign to unionize.

Nearly 65 U.S. House representatives and senators signed a pledge last week to boycott six big-name restaurants in D.C., including three owned by Stephen Starr (Le Diplomate, Osteria Mozza, and three-month-old hit the Occidental), according to Unite Here Local 25, the hospitality-oriented union representing Starr-employed organizers. Among the representatives who signed are Pennsylvania Democratic Reps. Brendan Boyle, Dwight Evans, and Mary Gay Scanlon. They are joined by national figures like Sen. Chuck Schumer, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Speaker emeritus Nancy Pelosi, as well as independent Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Starr is a regular donor to Democrats, having donated thousands of dollars to the campaigns of numerous politicians over the years, including Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Sen. John Fetterman, Tom Wolf, and Ed Rendell, as well as to the Democratic National Committee, according to OpenSecrets.org.

Workers at Le Diplomate, St. Anselm, and Pastis — all owned by Starr Restaurants — have been lobbying for union recognition since January. Three separate union elections that were scheduled for February are being contested for various reasons; organizers and Starr leadership have each accused the other of intimidation. Meanwhile, Local 25 has been holding rallies and leading pickets in front of Starr’s D.C. restaurants since March. (The other three restaurants involved in the boycott — Rasika, Modena, and Bombay Club — are owned by Knightsbridge Restaurant Group, which is in the throes of an equally contentious union drive.)

“Local 25 has called on [Starr Restaurants] to agree to a fair process for workers to decide on unionization at all of STARR’s D.C. restaurants free from threats and intimidation,” a representative of Local 25 told The Inquirer on Monday. The representative declined to elaborate on why the boycott targets two Starr restaurants (and one Knightsbridge establishment) that aren’t involved in the union drive, pointing to an earlier news release that noted these six restaurants are “among the region’s most prominent dining establishments, frequented by the Democratic political elite.” The representative noted that “Osteria Mozza has quickly become a ‘power’ dining spot for D.C.’s elite, with famous guests including President Barack Obama, Jeff Bezos, and the Bidens.”

Starr Restaurants has denied charges of union busting and, in a statement to The Inquirer, noted the boycott would inflict harmful consequences on workers. “Local 25’s call for a boycott is baseless,” said a Starr representative. “A boycott of any kind can result in lost hours, wages, and tips that our hardworking employees rely upon.”

The restaurant group also disputes that workers at Le Diplomate want to form a union.

While Philly has seen an uptick in unionization in hospitality in recent years, none of the staffs at the 20 Starr restaurants here have organized.

The creator of Parc, Buddakan, Barclay Prime, and numerous other Philly restaurants, Stephen Starr got his professional start here in the 1980s, booking then-budding acts like Jerry Seinfeld, Bruce Springsteen, and U2, and opening scene-y nightclubs like the Bank. He applied his knack for showmanship when he branched out into hospitality in 1995, opening the Continental in Old City. It was the first of more than 40 restaurants he would go on to open. Starr Restaurants now operates in New York, D.C., Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and soon, Nashville.

The group’s six D.C. properties include Le Diplomate (a recreation of Parc), Pastis, and the seven-month-old Osteria Mozza, which the Washingtonian named “D.C.’s hottest table” in January — the same month staff at Le Diplomate, St. Anselm, and Pastis announced their union drive. The organized Starr employees were joined by workers at two other prominent D.C. restaurants, Rasika and Modena, constituting roughly 500 front- and back-of-house workers.

The dynamic between organized workers and Starr Restaurants has been tense from the outset. In early February, the Washingtonian reported on allegations of pro-union workers at St. Anselm and Pastis facing retaliation and intimidation, including disciplinary crackdowns and the use of paid anti-union “persuaders.” Starr Restaurants denied the allegations. Weeks later, Eater reported that on-the-fence Starr employees felt pressured by union organizers, with one St. Anselm server describing the union’s presence in the restaurant as a “hostile takeover.”

In February, employees at St. Anselm voted 51-42 to unionize. The Starr team appealed the results, arguing that the National Labor Relations Board cannot certify unions at this time — the same objection that is holding up the certification of Philly’s Pennsylvania Avenue Whole Foods’ union. (By law, the NLRB needs a quorum, or at least three board members, to rule on cases. It is currently down to two board members after President Donald Trump removed board member Gwynne Wilcox without cause in the middle of her term. Wilcox has challenged the termination in court; her case, and the fate of her reinstatement, is in a holding pattern with the Supreme Court.)

Meanwhile, workers at Pastis voted against unionization 36-56 in February. Unite Here is contesting that outcome with the NLRB, claiming that Starr Restaurants interfered with the conditions of the election in such a way that workers feared retaliation. Starr Restaurants petitioned the NLRB to cancel the March election at Le Diplomate; the request was approved.

“Between STARR’s objection to the election at St. Anselm where workers won the union, their interference in the Pastis election, and their cancellation of the election at Le Diplomate, it’s clear that STARR does not respect free and fair NLRB elections,” a representative for Unite Here Local 25 told The Inquirer.

Starr Restaurants leadership says the union is overstepping. “To the best of our knowledge, a majority of Le Diplomate employees have no interest in engaging in that process nor in being represented by a union,” a Starr representative said. “It is unfortunate that an organization that claims to want to represent the employees of Le Diplomate would call for an action that would harm them.”

For now, no union vote is on the horizon at Le Diplomate, determinations on the elections at Pastis and St. Anselm are in political limbo, and Democratic lawmakers will be making reservations elsewhere.