Owner of Pho Dakao Defends Business Against Disgruntled Former Employee
Friday, May 22, 2015
SEE BELOW: Statement by Owner of Pho Dakao Against Former Employee's Accusations
Hiep Pham, owner of Pho Dakao, defended himself against accusations made by former employee Chau Vu earlier this week. As GoLocalWorcester reported on Monday, Vu accused the owners of Pho Dakao of health and food code violations including re-using food, stealing employees pay, and hiring illegal workers.
On Thursday, Mr. Pham sent a letter to GoLocal in defense of his business practices and to deny the accusations made by Vu. Pham asked GoLocal to publish his letter.
According to Pham, Vu has brought the allegations to the attention of regulatory authorities following her dismissal, but never once in the seven years of her employment did she ever make the owners aware of her allegations. Pham also notes that in the 14 years that Pho Dakao has been in business, the restaurant has passed every inspection conducted by authorities.
"As anyone who has dined in our restaurant can attest, our restaurant is always maintained in an impeccably clean condition. Three weeks ago, in response to the false allegations made about our restaurant to the city of Worcester by Ms. Vu (before her posting on social media websites), the City Board of Health conducted an unannounced inspection of our entire operation. As always, the City inspector found no violations of any type, including any sanitary violation, as alleged by Ms. Vu in her postings on social media," Pham wrote in his letter.
Here is Mr. Pham's full statement:
I am the owner/proprietor of Pho Dakao Restaurant in Worcester, MA. We have operated our business on Park Avenue for 14 years, without complaint. All our licenses are up to date and have been renewed without problems during our many years of business.
We train all our employees, as required by state and local regulatory boards. We meet with our employees and make sure that they are clean and polite with our diners. Unfortunately, after much discussion, we were forced to part ways with Ms. Vu, who had worked at our restaurant for almost seven years. At that time she did not make known to us any of the allegations that she posted on social media websites after her employment was terminated.
During our 14 years serving the dining public of the greater Worcester area we have passed every inspection conducted by local and state authorities. As anyone who has dined in our restaurant can attest, our restaurant is always maintained in an impeccably clean condition. Three weeks ago, in response to the false allegations made about our restaurant to the city of Worcester by Ms. Vu (before her posting on social media websites), the City Board of Health conducted an unannounced inspection of our entire operation. As always, the City inspector found no violations of any type, including any sanitary violation, as alleged by Ms. Vu in her postings on social media.
All of our employees are documented with proper documentation, as required by the immigration authorities. We make sure that our entire staff are fairly compensated in a manner common within the restaurant industry and in compliance with all standards established by the United States Department of Labor.
Above all, we take pride in the fact that there has never been a complaint lodged against our restaurant for any reason, especially a food-related or digestive problem from one of our diners, as would be expected if any of the allegations made by Ms. Vu were true.
We want the public to understand that during the years Ms. Vu worked with us, she never once brought to our attention any of the allegations she has made to regulatory authorities or posted on social media. We only hope that our loyal customers will understand that the slanderous and false postings of Ms. Vu are the product of a vengeful former employee. Our customers can rest assured that they will continue to enjoy the same clean, attentive and quality service and food offerings that have been our hallmark for the past 14 years.
Hiep Pham, owner and operator, Pho Dakao Restaurant, Worcester, MA.
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