SooWoo Staff Walks Out Over Pay Disputes

It looks like the newly opened SooWoo Miami Beach, a Japanese and Korean fusion steakhouse, is already having some problems as staff is apparently walking out daily due to lack of pay, according to an anonymous tip on the Eater tip line.

According to the tipster, SooWoo's owner owes the staff thousands of dollars in back pay. The dispute caused the restaurant's assistant general manager to leave and its Executive Chef Joe Bonavita Jr. to resign from his position on December 26.

Bonavita confirms to Eater Miami that he is no longer with SooWoo saying, "Yes these rumors are true. I resigned this past Friday due to it."

Bonavita adds that over the three months he had worked for SooWoo he only received about a third of the pay he was promised. Same goes for the FOH and BOH staff who worked over a month without seeing any income and when finally payed only received about a week's worth of compensation.

Eater reached out to ownership for a comment but hasn't heard back. Stay tuned for more updates.