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July 28, 2004

What Would You Do If...

Posted by Bobbie Gossage at 5:31 PM

Poor Rocco. First his show gets cancelled, and now he's barred from his own restaurant. And to add insult to injury, his own mother is still working there. What would you do if you had a partner who wanted to increase profits by using lesser quality materials and greatly delay paying your vendors (like Rocco claims Jeffrey Chodorow did)?

2 Comments

Posted by: enrico chiocchio at August 2, 2004 10:14 PM

I would like to start with the pronunciation of my name Enrico Chiocchio(say "key-oak-key-oh") yeah its Italian, if it shows on the comment. This situation that has occoured between Rocco DiSprito and Jeffrey Chodorow is one of always bitter resentment and distrust among partnerships. But the fact of all business dealings, is the largest money investor is ultimately responsible for the investment. This/These person('s) have the most to gain and lose. What is not clear is why Rocco is being barred? The management can easily be done by Jeffrey's people or himself. According to NY Times article by Susan Sulany, July 28 2004. The matter of Rocco being "barred" not fired from the establishment would lead me to believe that he is a partner in the venture without much doubt. The question of how much is not addressed. The only viable scenario is that Jeffrey is needing to dissolve the partnership and might try a turnaround of the resturant to make it a viable sucess. Being a coast to coast resturant owner, this would make sense. As for Rocco losing his dream, the harsh realities of the resturant business are difficult to deal with. I could only hope he find's the strength within himself to let this difficult time pass and to remember he is a highly skilled chef. Nobody or business can steal, remove, court order that talent which he possesses. To keep persuing other oppourtunities and refinining his skills as required.

Enrico Chiocchio
Toronto foodie

Posted by: Cat Woman at August 4, 2004 10:04 AM

What Rocco should have gotten a lawyer to sit down with him and Jefferey and define exactly what his responsibilities were. He clearly has a busy schedule as a celebrity chef. He is the face of Rocco's, so he does have to be there sometimes. Wolfgang Puck is not at all 11 or so of his establishments and neither is Mario Batali or Emeril Lagassi. There are time management issues involved. He is the Chef of his own restaurant, he has to run a tight ship! He is not getting good advice on how to handle himself. If you watched the show, you could see the lack of dedication he was giving the restaurant. It was only a matter of time before Jeffery would come in to assess what was going on. I was disappointed not to meet him when I dined at the restaurant and I knew something was amiss, however, I know he has other obligations and didn't expect him to be at Rocco's every nignt!

Meeoow!

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