Article by Joshua Fitzwater and Josh Gregory
Lead photo of pre-made southern style biscuit dough in the Cotton Kitchen provided by Steve Jefferys
Rocco DiSpirito once claimed that “Nine out of ten restaurants close in the first year.” While not accurate, (in reality, 60% of restaurants close in the first five years) it highlights an irrefutable point; opening and operating a restaurant is difficult when done with the very best business practices. And to wit, one imagines that the odds of failure only increase when ownership makes questionable choices. Are we then to believe that the only measure of success is simply keeping the open sign on?
On January 27th of 2016, by order of the Virginia Tax Commissioner, Cotton Southern Bistro at Hilltop in Virginia Beach was padlocked shut due to $32,620.00 of unpaid taxes dating back to a June 2015 court case. The next day it was reopened. Just over a week later, on February 5th ― first on Channel 10 and then again on Channel 3 ― stories ran detailing unpaid employees protesting outside of the other Cotton location in Chesapeake after having arrived for work to a locked restaurant with a sign reading the restaurant was “closed for renovations”.
Notice from the Virginia Tax Commissioner posted on the Virginia Beach Hilltop Cotton Southern Bistro restaurant on January 27th 2015
The longer of the two spots, Channel 3, featured Chesapeake Cotton servers Lahoma Dixon and Jessica Miele recounting their experiences regarding issues of non-payment for their work and overtime with checks issued to each of them bouncing. Prior to these stories breaking, I, the editor at Southern Grit, had heard of similar issues with receiving payment for work in 2015 privately from Joshua Gregory, the former kitchen manager at Cotton’s Hilltop location and the recently added contributing head Virginia Beach writer to Southern Grit. In addition, I had in months previous been in conversations with Cotton’s Owner Chef Jeff Brown concerning advertisement. Due to those ties, we at Southern Grit hesitated in following up on the information we were privy to and that, in hindsight, was a mistake. We (Gregory and I) encourage you, however, to make up your own mind after reading this article, knowing in advance of these noted connections.
A little under a week ago, Gregory and I began contacting Cotton employees to see if others would be willing to go on the record as Dixon and Miele had with Channel 3. We also spoke with both Dixon and Miele to learn more about their claims. In an effort to ensure both sides had a voice in our reporting, we also tried to elicit Jeff Brown’s side of this story. After several attempts to get him to speak with us on the record he stated, “No, thanks.” As of the time of publishing, the offer still stands to Jeff Brown to speak with Southern Grit magazine on the record if he would like to.
Photo of Jeff Brown Chef/ Owner of Cotton Southern Bistro
Miele was the first employee we spoke with and she informed us that “Problems have been going on for months. Every paycheck I’ve had for the last 6 months has bounced. In December, we could no longer cash out our tips and were switched to cards for payment instead, which caused a lot of problems.” In reference to being switched to cards and not being able to cash out at the end of the night, both Dixon and another Cotton server, Alina Puckett, (not featured in the Channel 3 report) told us that when customers would use credit cards the 3% processing fee was taken entirely out of their (the servers) tips. Dixon and Puckett both informed us of grievances that they had with not being paid around the Christmas pay period. Dixon telling me, “Between the 23rd to the 30th of December I was not paid. I cannot work for free. I am owed 79 hours of overtime in total.”
After speaking with some of the servers, we decided to attempt to speak with some of the cooks and chefs that had and still worked for Brown at Cotton. We spoke to former cook Paul Roberts, former Kitchen Manager Steve Jeffries, former line cook Justin Robinson, former cook Nic Hagen, line cook Arrol Britton who quit two weeks ago, and a still employed member of Cotton at Hilltop who, due to their job, wished to remain anonymous.
Roberts, who worked as a cook from January until April 2015 and did shifts at both the Chesapeake and Virginia Beach location, informed us that he was not compensated for shifts at the Hilltop location. Further, he told us that after restaurant week, he had a verbal argument with Brown about not getting paid and ended up, “[…] putting it in writing.” Roberts informed us that to date he is still owed payment for 63 hours of work.
Jefferys, who was a kitchen manager at Cotton from November 2014 until June 2015, also explained to us that he had issues with being paid for his work, “After 6 checks bounced, I ended up going to his [Brown’s] bank.” Jefferys further explained, “[Brown] would change salaries without notice, saying that business is not looking good and then give you $300 less. He would also wait until the bank closed on the weekends to issue checks to allow for extra days [before payment].”
Passionately, both Jefferys and Roberts also detailed how, despite Cotton’s marketing ― heavily consisting of being “from farm to fork” and championed on the restaurant’s website ― nothing could have been further from the truth. Jefferys informed us that, “After a month working there, it was obvious that Jeff [Brown] was being dishonest to the public. Just about everything was canned and pre-packaged: Sysco eggs, the sausages, the pickles, most all of it. I can’t lie, I was embarrassed to work there. I’ve worked in the industry for 20 plus years now and Jeff was lying to the public.”
Assorted pre-packaged food inside the Cotton Kitchen (Photo provided by Steve Jefferys)
Roberts in turn referred to Brown’s claims of being “from farm to fork” as “[…] complete hypocrisy.” Roberts and Jefferys were the first of the employees from the Cotton kitchen to also inform us that the heralded Cotton biscuits, featured prominently in Distinction Magazine’s “Biscuit Tour” article, were, as Robert’s stated, “vacuum sealed pre-made Pillsbury biscuits.” A claim that Jeffries first mentioned when telling us, “Jeff [Brown] likes to blame staff for issues at Cotton, but it comes down to putting bad things on the plate. He was serving Pillsbury puffy frozen biscuits to the public. I ran to Walmart to get them.”
Assorted pre-packaged food inside the Cotton Kitchen (Photo provided by Steve Jefferys)
Both Jefferys and Roberts however worked at and left Cotton before the Distinction article was actually published. So it is feasible that Brown could have switched up the biscuits he served and began making them from scratch, using a recipe his “Nanny” as a child taught him, by the time Lorraine Eaton at Distinction met with Brown in July for the article. So we asked line cook Justin Robinson who was an employee working in July and through October 2015 at Cotton in Chesapeake when the Distinction article was published. He informed us that he himself went to Walmart to grab the biscuits, corroborating that they were pre-packed and frozen. Robinson also has outstanding issues with being compensated for his work at Cotton. Server Dixon, who was employed in November of 2015, also informed us that she was “[…] sent to Walmart to pick up biscuits in a red bag.” However, it is true both Robinson and Dixon worked at the Chesapeake Cotton location and Eaton visited the Virginia Beach Hilltop location for her article, so we spoke to line cook Arrol Britton who was a line cook at Hilltop in July during the creation of Eaton’s article for Distinction and he informed us of the following:
“I can estimate that over 95% of the time they [Cotton’s biscuits] were frozen/premade. I’ve seen them made [by hand] twice. But to be honest that is because we were out of the Pillsbury frozen biscuits.”
We then reached out and spoke to the current Cotton employee at Hilltop who chose to speak on the condition of anonymity. They also confirmed that the frozen biscuits were being served to the public at the time the article was written and that the biscuits have been served continuously that way since.
Tiffany Ross’s facebook post of Jeff Brown giving a lecture on the importance of “farm to fork” food
Based on Facebook posts of Cotton and related supporters, Brown is often represented as championing the importance of the “from farm to fork” food movement and sourcing local. Most recently, the general manager at the Cotton Hilltop location, Tiffany Ross posted a photo of Brown with Cape Henry student’s with the caption, “Chef Jeff Brown teaching Cape Henry students the importance of from farm to fork, local & veggies.” Nic Hagen however informed us of a contradictory experience when he was briefly hired as a cook at Cotton in Chesapeake in 2012. He explained to us:
“I read that Cotton was from farm to table. I also heard it from others in the business. I truly went in there thinking it was from farm to table. But when I walked in the kitchen it was all canned vegetables and frozen food. At first, I was thinking of ways maybe I could help turn it around, but by the end of the day, I knew there wasn’t any hope. I asked Jeff why he [ran the restaurant] like that and was told, ‘That’s what the public wants.’”
Assorted pre-packaged food inside the Cotton kitchen (Photo provided by Steve Jefferys)
After completing his first full shift at Cotton, Hagen quit. Hagen, who ― after watching him work and documenting many of the dishes which he makes as the now chef and owner of HomeGrown in Portsmouth ― is soundly one of the staunchest supporters and practitioners of “from farm to fork” that we have covered. During the interview, Hagen also explained that, “So many people these days claim to be from farm to fork, but it is hard to do and a lot of work. I work really hard with local farmers and it hurts when others claim to do it but don’t.” A sentiment echoed by others in the industry with a strong commitment to the practice.
Assorted pre- packaged food inside the Cotton Kitchen (Photo provided by Steve Jefferys)
To date, Lahoma Dixon, Jessica Miele, Alina Puckett, and Justin Robinson, all employees at the time of the Channel 3 and Channel 10 pieces, have told us they still have not received their final paychecks, in addition to the claims of payments in arrears for other hours worked as previously noted. Paul Roberts also has told us that, to date, he has not been compensated for the shifts he worked at Hilltop. With one in six restaurant workers living below the poverty line in the US, [Economic Policy Institute, 2014] and with up to 46% below the poverty line for families where both members are industry workers for their primary source of income, we feel an impetus to report on any substantial new information as we speak with other employees in the coming days concerning outstanding pay for their work.
We, to date, have attempted through several channels to contact Lorraine Eaton for comment and have not been able to reach her. We spoke briefly with Clay Barbour the current editor of Distinction Magazine via email who informed us, “Hey, thanks for reaching out to us. I appreciate the position you’re in, but I’m afraid we just can’t comment on something until we have all the facts.” We hope after reading this article Distinction will look into the statements of so many of the cooks/chefs/employees that worked under Brown at Cotton and gather more facts to ascertain if the dish represented in Eaton’s article is accurate to the customer experience.
Link to the Distinction “Biscuit Tour” article distinctionhr.com/2015/10/biscuit-tour/
Link to Distinction feature video on Jeff Brown’s Miss Mary’s (Nanny) biscuits www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckjOu8-C9hk
Link to Channel 3 news report on Cotton wtkr.com/2016/02/05/cotton-southern-bistro-employees-demanding-paychecks-after-doors-temporarily-close/
Link to the Channel 10 news report on Cotton wavy.com/2016/02/05/chesapeake-restaurant-temporarily-closes-some-employees-not-paid/
59 Comments
That’s how you tell a true story!!! If everyone only knew what’s still going on..
I worked at cotton from june 2015 til Nov 2015 as sous chef at the hilltop location and was promoted to head chef of the Chesapeake location. Both locations was a disgrace, I had never seen a professional kitchen to be such a disgrace. My first day was horrible and was ready to quit but after being reassured by the head chef that he was trying to clean it up I stayed. My thoughts of cotton is that of poor management as I told chef brown my last day at the grass field location. Most equipment did not work staff was not properly trained and the conditions were nasty along with having disgruntled employees standing around about bounced checks. I thought I was up for the task but after never discussing my pay raise and being improperly criticized about production I quit. Most of the foods are prepackaged or frozen as I will confirm. The hilltop location had roaches when I first started and the fryers we’re so nasty it took a total of 8 hours to clean three deep fryers and I literally had to scrap off all the caked up grease.. I remember my second week there shutting the restaurant down for four hours after extermination the night before and brown still trying to open the doors, but instead getting all employees to clean the kitchen while servers and other wait staff cleaned the front of the house……
My name is Cory Morrell I was the kitchen Manager at the grassfield location in Chesapeake from August 2015 until December 2015. My first day working I knew this place was a HUGE mistake. The satitaion was very pour. The first thing i said to myself was ” How did the place pass Health Inspection?” I continued to work because of my resturant experience I felt I could help, because it did have potential to be successful. The staff was very unhappy and had no motivation to work due to lack of non payment. I myself even worked for months with no payment. I sat Jeff Brown down to dicuss my pay and lack of payment and he immediatly became angry because I was asking when I would recieve pay. He then called the police and had me removed from the premises. I was disgusted by his actions. He latered called me to come back to work because he said he really needed me and he would make sure I got paid. I decided to give him a second chance. I worked a week with no dicussion about when I would recieve my money. I decided to sit him down again to dicuss when I could recieve my pay. He went into to computer and said my hours were not there. He clearly removed my hours. I asked him why werent my hours in the system anymore and he replied “I dont know”. He became very upset and called the police again and had me removed off the premises. He later that day sent me nasty text messages about How he was going to kill himself in the bar area the next morning but before he does he will leave me a check. He also told me if I contact him he would press charges on me for harrasement.
That sounds similar to my experiences with him, although he never called the cops on me, but he fired me for no good reason, only to ask the manager to rehire me a week later. I came back for a few more weeks of abuse before I quit. He subsequently cyber harassed me on Facebook and on my cell phone. I had to block hon on both.
I worked at the Hiltop location when it first opened and i remember our first employee meeting he said if you don’t show, you don’t have a job. I told him I didn’t have a babysitter for my then 7 month old and the meeting was at 10:00 PM. I had to bring my baby out on a winter night in order to keep my job. After a while i realized I was paying to go to work and was never confiscated for only walking out with $10 on a 8 hour shift. The owner is rude, doesn’t know how too talk to people, and needs to own up to his mistake and pay his employees. As a long time server i have seen a lot of owners who don’t know how to communicate and don’t take any advise from the employees actually talking to the customers. All the staff is trying to do is have a job tomorrow. We shouldn’t have to deal with other peoples issues. We have our own
I have no doubt that you have your own issues.
I worked at Corton for almost two years. Left because I was asked to step up and manage FOH, and was never paid for it.. So I was working not making tips and bringing home 2.13 an hour. Everything at both locations was either frozen or canned, I personally did the shopping a couple of times at Restauraunt Depot. I worked with Paul, Josh, and Steve and it was always a running joke that nothing was farm to fork. Sad that Jeff Brown had to lie… Basically about everything. Currently I am owed for 60 hours at 10 an hour and 93 overtime at that rate. I’ll never see it and I know that. Let’s also throw in too how completely inappropriate he is with female employees he had on 2 separate occasions sent myself naked pictures, as well as had threatened my job if I didn’t come pick him up because he was drunk and stranded. The guy is a low life.
Expose it for what it is. Good job. I hope he sees this article. He owes me 600.00 to this very day for work I was not paid for. FRAUD is right! Isn’t it a crime to knowingly write bad checks? Yep I think so. He should be prosecuted. How can you have a restaurant in a neighboring city owing that much money to another state. What is HIS plans for paying us, his loyal, devoted “servers” I’m surprised the one on the news didn’t bring up that a few of us cleaned the restaurant after closing as a VOLUNTEER. They didn’t ask to be paid for it. In fact, some of them were there cleaning until 4am out of the kindness of their heart. What suckers we were. Tell the truth, Jeff, for once in your life. Do some soul searching brother. Do the right thing.
Amen!! Somebody finally told the truth.But that’s just the tip of the iceberg!! He treats all of his employees this way!! Hopefully people will finally see whats really going on!! I am a former employee and believe me I am glad that I am done with this concept and him!!Keep digging.you’ll find much much more.
I worked for cotton for long time as well my checks were short and they to would bounce he still owes me money i know i will never see…i worked in the kitchen evetything came from sysco i still have pictures of what that kitchen looked like and what some of the food looked like..and boy some of his recipes i seen him do for catering events came from google i have no problem telling people all about him and the kitchen he had he work the kitchen manger to death i felt bad for him
I also work at Cotton about 2 years ago. I am still owed my last paycheck as well as payment for 2 catering jobs I did for Jeff. There were many times that vendors would come in to collect payment and Jeff would sneak out the nack door. Place went down hill fast.
I have plenty of information and pictures from inside the kitchen I could share. I too worked at cotton in Chesapeake AND Hilltop, I also am still waiting on my last check(since November). Jeff brown not only has refused to pay me but also tried to sabotage the job I acquired after leaving is establishment out of juvenile spite. The man is dishonorable and deserves everything he’s getting right now.
He tried black balling me too!!!
I worked for jeff brown from July 2013 to early 2014. He blames his staff for all his problems, has or had a drug problem and is pretty much a monster to work for. I’m surprised both his locations are still open.
Hey, you guys have called the department of labor, right? About 8 months after I left a certain restaurant in Ghent, I got a call from the department of labor about an investigation going on with that restaurant. Someone called them about not getting overtime, and hours being messed with. Many of us got our money. It just took awhile. Give it a shot. Good luck.
I worked at Cotton Southern Bistro when it first opened up at the grass field location a while ago and I only applied as a dishwasher and I too haven’t received paychecks that the resteraunt owes me I got about two checks out of my four months of working there which not to mention they both bounced everything and that I also worked over time and was never paid for. I was fired for having a dirty shirt one day after a long night of closing the place and decided to quit after that. Chef Jeff Brown you’re business is a complete joke. And I still hope my damn shirt is hanging on the wall after I threw it on the floor and walked out. I feel I worked for free and that’s not what I signed up for.
I was one of Jeff Brown’s first employees as I was a part of the team who opened up the first location in Grassfield. Not only is every word true in this article, I am just one of the many who is still owed money. I also left in 2012 so it seems as if nothing has changed. Beyond his fraudulent approach to food, his lack of respect for his team is utterly disgusting and I regret having put up with it for as long as I had.
I work at Restaurant Depot and have seen the cap he buys. He regularly buys marketed down meat and chicken ready to go out of date or meat reduced because of broken cryo. How about that frozen catfish or flounder? He does but some fresh Vegetables but they are certainly not local farm to fork. This guys,walks outs with three to four carts if food per visit so where does the local farmer come into the picture? Total FRAUD!!!
And those instant grits lol
I work at Restaurant Depot and have seen the crap he buys. He regularly buys marketed down meat and chicken ready to go out of date or meat reduced because of broken cryo. How about that frozen catfish or flounder? He does buy some fresh Vegetables but they are certainly not local farm to fork. This guy walks outs with three to four carts of food per visit so where does the local farmer come into the picture? Total FRAUD!!!
I was the assistant General manager at Cotton Hilltop when it first opened. After going through two General managers in a matter of months I became the General manager (even though I said no thank you) I was never paid for the new position, worked at least 20 more (60+ total) hours and week and never paid for that, never saw my bonus, knew the farm to fork was a joke, and had at least 3 checks bounce. This article does not surprise me one but. I’ve been waiting for something like this to happen. I loved all the employees both front of the house and back of the house. I cared for every one in there deeply. But enough was enough and I had to quit.
Chelsea is a class act, all the way. She was the best manager anyone could ask for!!!
Food wuz guud. Yummy
If anyone still has their bounced check, drive over to your local police department. If it’s under $200 it’s a misdemeanor and if it’s $200 or over it’s a felony. Virginia Criminal Code § 18.2-181
Each and every one of you “Stella’s servers” needs to stfu. Every time I visited the restaurants and Jeff was not there I received crap service and incorrectly prepared food. When the cat was away you rats played and some of you got fired for that. When Jeff was there I never had any problems and the food was great. What’s your excuse now? I wouldn’t hire one of you.
Wowww…you know absolutely nothing! You must be Jeff’s Bestie! What a good friend?
theres a reason you’re anonymous. You’re a nobody, clearly.. If you had any sort of sense you would simply see that numerous people, my sled included are owed hundreds of dollars and had numerous checks bounce. I’ve also has Jeff duck me when asked about being compensated for the money he owed me. And if you received “good” service when Jeff was there and you’re a chick it probably because he wanted to get into your pants. Jeff Brown sexually harassed me numerous times, he corned me in his Chesapeake office and the va beach walk in freezer numerous times, then proceeded to threaten termination if I told anyone. That’s not not including his bullshit lectures and cotton meetings he would have where he would yell and scream at us for his incompetency. He’s a joke, cotton is a joke and I’m glad that this is finally being exposed for what it truly is.
How much were you paid to post that?
Your an idiot
How long have you been in bed with that phony piece of crap.
Hahahaha im SO weak u must be one of his girlfriends! He was the WORST boss anyone could EVER ask for and we ALL know it….well maybe accept for u lololol
He’s a pervert
And since your protecting your anonymity, your comment is akin to toilet paper.
If the kitchens were that bad… did anyone contact the local health dept. in Ches. or VB? Was anything done if so?
While I was there they were called twice anonymously.
I am a former hostess at the Chesapeake location Cotton Southern Bistro. I worked there for a very short three months. I was discouraged when I would sometimes not be able to clock in to work because “labor law” hours were getting overdrawn. Also, Jeff never had enough money to pay his employees. He was very unprofessional in his work. His former girlfriend Regan, had worked there a short while as well, and they were always getting in disputes. I remember one morning when we had a full house he had come up to the front with Regan Kiefer in tow telling me ‘to call the cops, call the cops right now, to escort regan off of the property.’ He did this everytime they disagreed about something. Jeff had embarrassed his partner beyond belief. She would not step foot back into the restaurant. Things started going downhill frim that point. we never had food. We were always out of a dish on the menu. Customers were always unhappy because of cold food, waiting long amounts of time, or having poor service. Cottons was very disfunctional, and the manager, Chef Brown is disfunctional. In addition, a former General Manager in training, named Whitney, had got in contact with me right after i quit and let me know that she has seen paper sudits were Jeff was falsifying bank statements and forging emails to cover up the fraud he was so bad at trying to hide. Shes even stated, (I have the screenshots to prove it), that she watched him shave off hours, even whole shifts at a time from peoples paychecks. Cory was a nice kitchen chef we had there, and Jeff had shaved off over half of the hours he worked. Cory even brought in his receipts and sat dien with everyone and showed us just how much hours were shaved up. Nothing was adding up. Jeff constsntly gave false promises ans exoected us all to comply. I staed in that restaurant, hours upon hours of not being clocked in, cleaning and doing other jobs that werent intended for me. Also, Jeff has slept with a former coworker, April. Very unprofessional. He waa emotionally neglecting towards the employees. He had no sympathy for anyone. When we came together to demand our paychecks he called all of us selfish. This restaurant needs ti be closed down and Chef Jeff needs to re-evaluate his business technique.
This does not surprise me at all. In fact I have been waiting for this all to come out. My daughter worked there briefly (which seems to be the common thread with most people) and the stories she would tell me………
Well, it explains a lot. I really wanted to like the place because it was local and “farm to fork”. But for years, every time we went something was wrong with our order. Being out of wings on wing night was the last straw.
Yep. Jeff Douche is a class act. He owes me around 800.00 . First of all, my pay checks as well as tax return, had someone else’s social security number on it. Not mine. Second, when I would arrive to work at 5:30 a.m., I would be told personally, by Jeff, not to clock in. He expected me to be there about 3 hours before I was able to. If I did not comply, he would adjust my hours. Clearly this guy is straight up out of his mind, and needs serious mental care. I just can’t grasp the fact this jack leg is allowed to be open for business, and even walk the streets freely. Justice needs to prevail.
As a one time customer of the Hilltop location, which was close to my home, it was obvious that food was canned and I HATE canned green beans. The biscuits were flat, food had that processed/preservative taste. I also had a my girlfriend there, and she’s a vegetarian, where they had nearly zero options…at a ‘farm to table’ restaurant.
We never went back. Now I wished I’d had left a cash tip.
I am a former line cook of cotton southern bistro and work at the restaurant from May 2014 to March 2015 and left because of Jeff. Everyone in the restaurant was amazing and nice just working under someone who thought it was ok to talk down to every employee and run a restaurant off of frozen food, which I thought was hilarious my first day. I can date back back to December of 2014 when my first check bounced for a little over 600 dollars and it continued till the day I quit.
I worked in the pest control industry for over 15 years. I never worked in these particular restaurants, but people would be surprised at the amount of restaurants that use pre-packaged foods and poor kitchen practices. I am talking about some of the big restaurants, too. I’m not surprised at all by this news. It takes a special person to successfully operate a restaurant. Many owners and managers I worked for were egotists and abusive to their employees and vendors. I’m glad I’m out of that line of work. Never again.
Jeff brown was by far the WORST boss i have EVER had in my entire life id rather go scrub toilets at mcdonalds then work for that man again! He would constantly downplay and disrespect his employees and customers like he was better than them bcuz he runs a shit hole restaurant lol i just knew this place was going to fail and quite frankly im kind of glad to see karma working its magic! Im glad youre failing jeff brown its FINALLY slapping u in the face!! Hey maybe youll be working for a former employee once your hell.hole finally closes for good! Man i bet youre gonna wish you werent such a douche bag then!
Jeff is a lying piece of shit who treats his employees terrible!! He will give you a bad check knowing it’s bad!! His kitchen was roach infested. He steals all the servers tips and pockets the money and sits at eagles nest all day obviously using their tips that they busted ass for. !this man deserves to be arrested for bad checks. Luckily our bank statements show holds on my account. Jeff brown is also a pervert who leaves Facebook messages to his employees wives and girlfriends. Something has to be done with this situation and all the money he owes his employees!! I say let’s go to hilltop and picket out there and demand our pay. Anyone who supports this man by eating there is a fool. I’m sure by all of us working together we can get all our back pay!!
We’ve eaten at the Grassfield location many times, but only for convenience because it’s close to home and Walmart. The service was (past tense-will never go back) horrible there, not to mention the even more horrible food. In the end, the ONLY thing I’d eat there were the wings. Miss Mary’s biscuits? Yeah, sure they were….not! Hard, dry, and tasteless, as was the cornbread. Most of the food was pretty bland. There was nothing fresh about any of their food. I didn’t realize Jeff even claimed it was farm to fork-that’s a real joke. Back to service- Jeff was rude to me once when I questioned my bill. And we finally stopped going because it took forever to get our food in an almost empty restaurant. I can’t believe how poorly run the restaurant is!
Ate there many times, mostly to support local ownership. Food was never that good, mostly cold and took way too long to b served. I have seen him scream at his employees , which was unnerving. For sure I will never spend another dollar at one of his endeavors.
Living close to Cotto , my husband and I were very excited to have a southern bistro close to our house, plus we love supporting local business versus the chains that consume Chesapeake. While neither of us are southern or have a special appreciation for that style of food, we still found many things on the menu we liked. At first, we chucked the inconsistencies to it being a new restaurant. However, with every visit we noticed it got worse. Every time we went there for dinner, the food was cold, unflavorful, and not up to snuff for a bistro. We often said we couldn’t figure out the style Cotton was going for…down home southern fixins or upscale new twist on southern favorites. The latter was our hope with a name like Cotton Southern Bistro. To be clear, I do feel that there was a clear drop in professionalism when he and his wife separated or divorced, not sure what happened. With that, she was nice to customers and ALWAYS remembered guests. She would bring the kids to restaurant and they all seemed delightful. I often recall her sitting at end of bar working on the books and constantly asking Jeff questions. Things went down hill when she was no longer there. The last time we ate in the dining room was for brunch, and I ordered an omelette but noticed that it did not come with cheese. I asked the waiter and he said cheese was extra, really?
Okay, even with bad dining room experiences we still returned. We decided the bar was a better spot and it was! We had two especially fabulous bartenders, Kat and Tracy. Great times and great meals, mostly apps. Like others, we noticed when Jeff wasn’t there, the place was a mess, specifically the kitchen. One night, we ordered a “fresh”fish dish and I asked if I could have it broiled instead of fried and the kitchen cook gave some lame excuse as to why that couldn’t be. I told him to just admit it was frozen and not fresh. We never orderd specials again, just drinks! One night we were there and Jeff was prepping his evening wait staff for the nights menu and how to pair wine with the meal. Well, many of the customers don’t even drink wine, nor would care about pairing, and the wait staff was mostly inexperienced, so clearly Jeff was stil confused on the direction he wanted to take his restaurant in…fine dining or southern diner. Anyway, he proceeded to yell at the wait staff and I asked the bartender if that was the norm, and she said that was nothing! Our favorite bartenders eventually left and we never returns.
I am saddened to read what has happened to CSB, but none surprises me because we saw it first hand. His lack of regard for his staff, customers, and even his very own reputation and personal integrity reflect poorly on him. He had some potential yet never learned how to run the kitchen and manage his staff…yelling and demeaning humans is not managing. I wish the staff best of luck in their future endeavors and hope they are compensated for all their work.
Sound just like the Green Onion’s old ways….Cotton was garbage anyways, service was always horrible and food was always so-so. It was OK at first, but went downhill faaaaast.
Chef Jeff isn’t the only one claiming farm 2 the table. It’s another fake in downtown Norfolk doing the same thing and I got pics…..the food writers at the Virginia pilot is clueless. It’s all political, it’s lazy journalists…thanks 4 standing up
Vintage Kitchen?
If the chef/owner is respected by his staff, he will never have to worry about the quality when he is not there.
In the very beginning, at the end of every shift, Jeff (or whichever manager was on), went into the system and voided every cash sale. I watched this happen with my own eyes, and how he never got caught for that I’ll never know. I became a FOH manager for a short time, not GM mind you because i want stupid enough to take the salary. I worked my shifts and still made tips, got my manager meal, had free drinks and at the end of the week took my 200 extra for being in the position straight out of the deposit at the end of the night. During this time, i trained 7 GMs, all of which quit within weeks because of Jeff. It was a game with us, as employees and regulars alike put cash bets on how long they would last. in the end, it wasnt Jeff being a crazy ass that had me leave, it was the regulars, who themselves left. After a while, one by one people that you know well, that know you well, that have been responsible for paying your bills, come to you and apologize that they won’t be returning, wish you the best, and tell you to let then know where you end up working next. Once that happened, personal tip average dropped through the floor and i left for better things, and from what i heard happened there afterward, it was at the perfect time.
This “Chef” Jeff Brown is essentially forking everyone!
still waiting on pay
Owed about 600$ from this fucker
Hey Big shot Jeff “I worked at the French Laundry” Brown. My name is Karma, and I’m F******g Hungry!!!
If it s waitstaff, they make most of their money from tips. Those checks were probably around $120 for two weeks of work, meanwhile the person was taking home $400 a week in cash.
Justin you are wrong. He took our credit card tips from us and was supposed to get it weekly. That never happened. I am owed tips from 3 weeks worth of work. We didnt rely on our hourly check at 2.13 an hour. Not only did he take our credit card tips, but charged us 3% every night that came out of the tips. If we were lucky enough to get a cash tip, is the only time we had money from our tips. He started doing that right before Christmas. Those you relied on their tips to pay bills or give their kids Christmas, were screwed. Of course the labor board has been contacted. The only reason Hilltop location is open is because he put it in someone else’s name. Owing 32,000.00 in unpaid taxes, you would think they would shut him down. But alas, he is quite sneaky. We will NEVER see this money we are owed. It’s a damn shame he hasn’t been prosecuted for knowingly writing checks on an empty account. The fact that he is making money everyday at Hilltop and still owes us money, makes me irate. Picketing out there sounds like a great idea. In fact, maybe the news stations would be interested in knowing about his Hilltop location and his shady business practices. Oh, and if any authorities that need to know what happened to all the stuff inside the restaurant he was not supposed to remove, just contact me and I will give you the details. I am going to pray for Jeff Brown. He needs it.
I had a run in a couple years ago with him at food fest in Chesapeake VA, the confontation left him 10 stitches near the eye. I had no intentions on hurting the man but he attacked me and I defended myself. The people who ran the food fest tried to have me arrested but when I explained the story and told them I would sue they quickly changed there tune and gave me money to leave