6 Major Takeaways from the Sweeping Accusations Against Blue Hill

For instance, staffers told Eater they’d sometimes present butter as the famed “Blue Hill butter,” named for Blue Hill Farm, Barber’s family farm after which his restaurant is named. But that butter was often made at least in part with dairy from a local farm called Ronnybrook. The restaurant referred to butter made from the dairy of a single Blue Hill Farm cow as “single-udder” butter but according to Eater, this butter was often in such short supply that it was reserved largely for VIPs. On nights that the dining room had too many VIPs to serve, they too would sometimes receive butter made with Ronnybrook cream, according to Eater. Blue Hill sent an 1,000 word statement to Eater about the butter, saying—among many other things—that if they ever misrepresented the butter, it was “a rare, unintentional mistake.”

Multiple cooks also said that because of the complex menu, sometimes dishes containing animal products such as creme fraiche or chicken stock would be included in a vegetarian or vegan tasting menu. Staffers alleged that when one sous chef confronted Barber about the practice, he said, “You try writing a whole fucking menu on the fly and see if you can do better.” Blue Hill denied doing this with frequency, and added that vegetarian, vegan, and pescatarian diners would frequently ask for dishes outside of their diet after hearing them described to fellow diners.

The prestigious Stone Barns farm program had a sexist environment, multiple former staffers allege.

Several female former staffers told Eater that they encountered a “boys club,” with farm director Jack Algiere at the helm. One staffer alleged that she experienced hazing by male colleagues, such as presenting the extermination of rodents as a bonding activity. Female staffers complained about conditions, and in 2019, some had a letter-writing campaign to direct their concerns to Stone Barns’ leadership after feeling that they weren’t being heard; two people resigned in protest. A Stone Barns spokesperson denied the allegations.

Workers on the Stone Barns farm alleged unsafe work conditions and overwork.

Some former Stone Barns apprentices, who took part each year in a prestigious nine-month fellowship in organic and regenerative farming, told Eater that Algiere asked them to do tasks that they felt were unsafe, such as standing on a greenhouse roof without harnesses or other safety equipment. According to one apprentice, Algiere responded to safety concerns by saying the work was necessary in order to be a farmer. Stone Barns responded that Algiere was not quoted accurately and insisted upon the safety of the greenhouse re-roofing procedure, saying that “No injuries have ever been reported at Stone Barns for this operation and no one has ever been coerced into roof work against their will.”

Staffers told Eater that conditions at the farm worsened in 2018, after the farm began managing 350 acres of pasture in Rockefeller State Park Reserve in Mount Pleasant, New York. When the pandemic hit and the apprenticeship program ended, some members of the livestock team quit. Staff alleged that they were overworked, burnt out, and that management wasn’t receptive to concerns.

Unnecessary animal suffering and food waste were alleged by workers on the Stone Barns farm.

Stone Barns’ image is built on being a leader in humane and sustainable practices, but some farmers claim that not all the practices were in line with the purported mission. Fiona Harrar, who managed livestock in 2016 and 2017, told Eater that Algiere did things such as deny her request to help protect pigs from summer heat; roughly 30 pigs ended up needing antibiotics after falling ill. “Being asked on a daily basis to care for animals in a way that I know to be less than what they deserve feels like a betrayal of who I am as a farmer,” Harrar recounts to Eater. Siri Gossman, a livestock apprentice under Harrar, told Eater that Algiere saw animals “as a tool, not a being,” a view that multiple former farmers relayed about how Algiere sees the land-livestock relationship. In response, Stone Barns said that it prioritizes “animal health and landscape health equally,” and that they “provide [animal] care with minimal inputs.”

The restaurant is offering tasting menus again with Dan Barber at the helm—and it’s more expensive than ever.

Blue Hill launched a temporary residency program in 2021 with a diverse cast of rotating chefs, and now that’s ended. In Blue Hill’s latest iteration as a restaurant (again), Barber claims staff schedules are less punishing than in the past, and that the restaurant is spending a larger portion of its time doing research and development for Stone Barns. Dinner at Blue Hill now begins with a guided tour of the property by cooks and farmers, and in a podcast taping earlier this year, Barber described how Stone Barns is paying for Blue Hill “to do this research and development and to run these education programs to the public, and to partners, and to disenfranchised communities who are partaking in all this research and education.” While dinner at the restaurant previously cost $258 per person, it now costs between $358 and $398.

Serena Dai contributed to this report.

See parts one, two, and three of the Eater investigations.