Sarma Melngailis

Sarma Melngailis (born September 10, 1972)[1] is the former owner and co-founder of Pure Food and Wine, a raw foodism restaurant in New York City,[2] and the founder and CEO of One Lucky Duck.[3] Both businesses closed in 2015 after staff walked out over unpaid wages and Melngailis was arrested for fraud in 2016 and convicted in 2017.

Sarma Melngailis
Born (1972-09-10) September 10, 1972
Newton, Massachusetts, USA
EducationUniversity of Pennsylvania
Wharton School
French Culinary Institute
Known for
  • New York restaurateur, 2001-15
  • Fugitive and convicted of fraud, 2015-17
Culinary career
Cooking styleRaw foodism
Websitewww.sarmaraw.com

Background

Melngailis was born and raised in Newton, Massachusetts,[1] and attended Newton North High School. Her early interest in food came from her mother, a professional chef. Her father was a physicist at MIT.[4]

Melngailis graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994 with a B.A. in Economics, and a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School.[3] She moved to New York City, working at Bear Stearns until 1996, then moving to Bain Capital in Boston on private equity investment.[3] She returned to New York City in 1998 and joined a high-yield investment fund at CIBC, but soon left to enroll at New York's French Culinary Institute[2] from which she graduated in 1999.[1]

Business

Together with her then-boyfriend chef, author, and speaker Matthew Kenney,[5][6] she opened Commissary in 2001, but it closed in March 2003, after which she consulted for Jeffrey Chodorow's China Grill Management.[1] With Chodorow and Kenney, Melngailis opened Pure Food and Wine in June 2004 as New York City's first upscale raw food restaurant.[1][7][8][9][10] Located in Manhattan's Gramercy Park neighborhood, the restaurant was listed twice in New York magazine's “Top 100 Restaurants”[11] and five years in a row in Forbes magazine's list of “All Star New York Eateries."[12]

One Lucky Duck Juice and Takeaway[13] is the name of the takeaway retail store attached to the restaurant, Pure Food and Wine. OneLuckyDuck.com, launched in 2005, is an online store for snacks prepared and packaged from her restaurant as well as ingredients, skincare, supplements, books, apparel, and home products, all related to raw and organic living. A second One Lucky Duck location was open in New York City's Chelsea Market from December 2009 through January 2015.[14]

In 2014, One Lucky Duck Juice and Takeaway's first location outside of New York City opened in San Antonio, Texas.[15]

Controversy

In January 2015, Pure Food and Wine and One Lucky Duck staff walked out en masse due to Melngailis' failure to pay employees a month's worth of owed wages.[16] This was the second time in a year a month's worth of wages had been withheld from employees, the first happening in July 2014.[17]

On February 8, 2015, Melngailis addressed the walkout and closure in a blog post.[18] She apologized for the incident, but her blog post was subsequently removed. In an interview with Well+Good, Melngalis said that the delayed wages were due to slim margins caused by debts and expensive ingredients, and that she had also previously missed her own rent payments.[19] During the ordeal, Melingailis provided employees a different explanation, blaming the situation on changing banks.[20]

In April 2015, Pure Food and Wine, One Lucky Duck, and OneLuckyDuck.com reopened.[21] A majority of staff did not return to the restaurant after its reopening.[22]

Again in July 2015, the staff of Pure Food and Wine as well as One Lucky Duck walked out due to unpaid wages. The restaurant has been permanently shut down.

Arrest and guilty plea

On May 12, 2016, it was reported that Sarma and her then husband Anthony Strangis (also known as "Shane Fox")[23] were arrested in Sevierville, Tennessee, after he ordered a pizza from Domino's Pizza. The couple were staying in separate hotel rooms.[24][25][26]

It has been reported that "(I)n addition to the fugitive from justice warrants, Strangis was wanted for grand larceny, scheme to defraud and violation of labor law. Melngailas was wanted for grand larceny, criminal tax fraud, scheme to defraud and violation of labor law."[23][27][28]

On December 19, 2016, prosecutors offered Melngailis a plea deal in which she would agree to serve one to three years in prison.[29][30] Melngailis' attorneys were reported by Vanity Fair to be planning a "coercive control" defense.[31]

Melngailis pleaded guilty in May 2017 to stealing more than $200,000 from an investor, and scheming to defraud, as well as criminal tax fraud charges. She received a nearly four-month jail sentence.[32] She filed for divorce from Strangis in May 2018.[33]

Bibliography
  • Raw Food/Real World (2005)[34]
  • Living Raw Food (2009)

References
  1. Duecy, Erica (9 August 2004). "Sarma Melngailis: ex-financier uses raw talent in the kitchen". Nation's Restaurant News. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  2. Miller, Jenny (11 December 2009). "Chatting With Sarma Melngailis of Pure Food and Wine: Raw Food, Criticism From Vegan Purists, and Global Expansion". Fork in the road. Village Voice. Archived from the original on 14 December 2009. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  3. Frakes, Julia (30 March 2009). "Spring Cleaning With... Sarma Melngailis". Paper Magazine. Archived from the original on 14 February 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  4. MeIngalis, Sarma. One Lucky Duck http://oneluckyduck.com/pages/about-sarma Archived 2016-06-21 at the Wayback Machine Accessed June 6, 2016
  5. Felsenthal, Julia (25 January 2016). "Chef Matthew Kenney on the Plant-Based Revolution Coming Soon to a City Near You". vogue.com. Vogue. Retrieved 13 May 2016. In 2004 Matthew Kenney and his then girlfriend, Sarma Melngailis, opened Pure Food and Wine...
  6. Fabricant, Florence (12 October 2005). "Owner and Manager In Dispute With Chef". New York Times. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  7. Fabricant, Florence (12 October 2005). "Owner and Manager in Dispute With Chef". nytimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
  8. Meredith Bryan (13 January 2010). "A Rough Time in Smoothie World: Raw-Food Queen Scuffles With Chelsea Market". Observer. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  9. Jenny Miller (11 December 2009). "Chatting With Sarma Melngailis of Pure Food and Wine: Raw Food, Criticism From Vegan Purists, and Global Expansion". Village Voice. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  10. Fabricant, Florence (16 June 2004). "Food Stuff; Off the Menu". New York Times. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  11. "Pure Food and Wine". NYMag.com. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  12. Steve Forbes (4 December 2008). "The Forbes 2008 All-Star Eateries in New York: Three Stars". Forbes. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  13. One Lucky Duck Takeaway review
  14. Florence Fabricant (29 October 2009). "Off the Menu: New Kiosks at Chelsea Market". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  15. "NEW JUICE BAR IN… TEXAS!". ducknews.oneluckyduck.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-30.
  16. Ferst, Devra (13 January 2015). "Union Square's Pure Food & Wine Currently Closed, After Staff Walks Out En Masse". Eater.
  17. Casey, Nell (13 January 2015). "Pure Food And Wine Employees Walk Out Over Unpaid Wages". Gothamist. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015.
  18. Melingailis, Sarma (8 February 2015). "WHAT HAPPENED?". Archived from the original on 9 February 2015.
  19. Held, Lisa Elaine (February 10, 2015). "Exclusive: Sarma Melngailis opens up about what's going on at Pure Food and Wine". Well+Good. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
  20. Preston, Marguerite (Jan 16, 2015). "What's Going On at Pure Food & Wine, Where Staff Remains Unpaid and Owner Is MIA". Eater NY.
  21. "WE'RE BACK: ONE LUCKY DUCK IS OPEN!". ducknews.oneluckyduck.com. One Lucky Duck. Archived from the original on 2015-06-05.
  22. Tishgart, Sierra (April 30, 2015). "How a Prominent Restaurant Owner Is Bouncing Back After a Public Staff Exodus". Grub Street.
  23. "Fugitive restaurateur who championed raw food caught, charged". cbsnews.com. CBS News Crimesider. 13 May 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  24. Emily Saul; Carlos Greer; Beckie Strum. "Vegan restaurateur ordered Dominos before $2M bust". nypost.com. New York Post. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  25. "Latvian American celebrity vegan betrayed by cheesy pizza". Public Broadcasting of Latvia. 16 May 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  26. Dana Schuster; Georgett Robert. "The downfall of NYC's hottest vegan/". nypost.com. New York Post. Missing or empty |url= (help); |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  27. "2 New York fugitives arrested in Sevierville". wate.com. WATE 6. 11 May 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
  28. "Owner of Vegan Food Business and her Husband Indicted for Allegedly Stealing from Employees, Defrauding Investors, not Paying Taxes". brooklynda.org. The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  29. Avila, Theresa (December 20, 2016). "Prosecutors Offer Plea Deal to the Vegan Restaurateur Facing Grand-Larceny Charges". New York Magazine. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  30. DeGregory, Priscilla (December 19, 2016). "'Vegan Bernie Madoff' gets plea deal offer". The New York Post. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  31. Salkin, Allen (March 2, 2017). "Why Sarma Melngailis, the "Vegan Fugitive," Is Using a "Gaslighting" Defense". Vanity Fair. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
  32. Tempey, Nathan (May 10, 2017). "Fugitive Pleads Guilty To Fleecing Staffers, Investors". Gothamist. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  33. Bekiempis, Victoria (May 8, 2018). "Vegan fraudster Sarma Melngailis files for divorce from estranged husband after $1 million restaurant scam". New York Daily News.
  34. Black, Rosemary (24 August 2005). "What's cooking? Nothing". New York Daily News. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
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