Platform Beer’s Columbus Taproom Staff Resigns, Citing Unsafe Working Conditions

Employees of Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned Platform Beer Company’s taproom in Columbus, Ohio, walked out en masse on Saturday, February 27, citing unsafe working conditions, according to social media posts.

“As a global pandemic ravaged the world, the country, the state and our very own city, Platform’s handling of the situation — and the praise for its employees — has been almost entirely performative,” the staff wrote in a letter that was shared online.

The staff announced their collective resignations, which necessitated the taproom’s closure, in a sign taped to a taproom door. In total, six employees left the company, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Platform co-founders Justin Carson and Paul Benner, who sold the company to A-B in August 2019, shared a statement on the Columbus taproom’s Facebook page at 9 p.m. on Sunday, February 28, announcing that the location would remain closed, and they would meet with current and former employees to discuss their concerns.

“Over the last year, our priority has been the health and safety of our employees and our guests,” Carson and Benner wrote. “We have implemented health and safety protocols that closely follow CDC and local health authority guidelines, including contact tracing and proper communication following positive cases of COVID-19.⁣⁣”

In their letter, former Platform employees alleged that COVID-19 safety protocols are for appearances. They wrote that three co-workers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past six months, but staff only made aware of two, and not the third, a kitchen employee.

“We never closed, we were never notified officially in order to specifically disinfect the area, or to get tested ourselves — and the contract tracer sheets have never been used to notify the public of an outbreak in the taproom,” they wrote. “The tracer sheet is only being used as a device to lure customers to the taproom and give them a false sense of security.”

In addition to their pandemic-related concerns, the former employees detailed “uncontrollable” black mold in a cooler.

“The mold is currently breaching the wall to our main cooler, where it attaches itself to our cans and cardboard boxes and we have to use bar rags to wipe it off of cans on a regular basis,” they wrote.

A Columbus Public Health inspector last visited Platform in October 2020, when the inspector “observed chlorine in the mechanical dish machine below 50 [parts per million] at the bar,” which facilitated two follow-up visits.

In their letter, staff described an imbalanced schedule that required lower-paid bartenders to assume the duties of higher-paid kitchen staff and slow weekdays in which bartenders would finish seven- or eight-hour shifts with $12 in tips. Delivery drivers were asked to use company vehicles so that Platform would not have to pay them for mileage, which cut pay by 50% on average, the employees wrote.

“None of the boots-on-the-ground, hourly essential employees have received hazard pay, or any financial support knowing full-well that the taproom itself does not get many customers, and by extension, no tips,” they wrote.

To cut staff hours, bartenders were often scheduled to shut the taproom down alone several days each week, which the former employees deemed “an unsafe practice.”

The taproom’s general manager resigned in January, which “has had a detrimental effect on operations,” the employees wrote. Staff brought their concerns about scheduling and safety to the unnamed previous GM, who “advocated on our behalf for some or all of the issues through the proper channels,but nothing was ever addressed appropriately.”

A-B’s careers portal has open job listings for a human resources position — an assistant manager, people for the Columbus taproom — which was posted on February 26, the same day the staff walked out. The company is also seeking a senior general manager of pubs for all Platform locations, which was posted on February 4.

A spokesperson for A-B said that the company was unable to comment on the situation while meetings with current and former employees were ongoing and referred to Carson and Benner’s statement.