Chef Lee Skeet bans rude diners and gives £1,000 bill to waitress they 'disrespected'
Chef Lee Skeet has banned a group of rude diners from his restaurant and given a waitress they treated badly the entire proceeds of their £1,000 bill.
Skeet, who runs Cora restaurant in Cardiff, said a 22-year-old front of house worker had been "talked down to, disrespected and touched unwantedly" by members of the group.
In an email to the customers shared on social media on Wednesday, the chef told the unidentified guests "never to come back" to the restaurant.
He said he felt it was time to "start calling out rich people who think they can treat people like crap".
Skeet initially said he would refund the £1,000 the group spent, which was the "biggest bill" Cora had ever seen for one table, but then backtracked as he didn't want to give them a "free meal".
The chef later clarified that the unwanted touching had not been sexual in nature.
He told The Caterer: "[The guests] arrived late for their table and were rude from the second they got there and kept talking down to [the staff member]. She told me a bit about it, but I hadn't realised [at the time] how rude they were.
"It's not normal to see that in our restaurant. Cora started as a supper club and we've got a close-knit customer base, most of them are like our friends."
Skeet said he hadn't heard back from the diners after initially emailing them to refund their bill.
He added: "I said I was going to give their money back and wanted them to stay away from the restaurant and didn't want anything to do with them. Then I calmed down a little bit and it was pointed out to me that that was just giving them a free meal. They spent £1,000, so I decided to just give it to [the staff member]. I didn't want their money, but she deserved it."
Skeet said he had been "very much impressed" with how his team member had handled the situation.
He said: "She has been up since 7am [on Friday] to appear on national radio and television to talk about [what happened]. The reason is she wants to do it even though it's difficult, to make it known you have to stand up to people like that."
Skeet was formerly head chef at Michelin-starred Hedone in London and his career includes time as sous chef at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's, chef de partie at Marcus Wareing Restaurants and sous chef at Restaurant Tom Aikens in London.
In 2017, he was severely injured in a hit and run, leaving him unable to work and out of the kitchen for four years. During the pandemic he began running a supper club from his living room, which evolved into Cora.
