Media release from July 16, 2025

Plan B Kitchen AG firmly rejects accusations - acting in accordance with the law has top priority

St. Moritz, July 16, 2025 - The management of Plan B Kitchen AG takes the current media reports and protests very seriously and rejects the allegations made with the utmost clarity. The accusations of allegedly exploitative working conditions, unpaid overtime and systematic disregard for labor law are without foundation.

Plan B Kitchen AG adheres strictly to the applicable Swiss labor laws in all matters. All employees are employed and remunerated in accordance with the statutory provisions. Working hours, break regulations and overtime are correctly recorded, documented and - if not compensated - properly remunerated. This data is archived completely, comprehensibly and seamlessly and is available for inspection by the relevant authorities at any time.

"We attach great importance to a fair, respectful and transparent working environment for our entire team. Blanket accusations such as those currently circulating not only damage our company, but also the reputation of our committed employees," explains the management.

Naturally, Plan B Kitchen AG is prepared to engage in constructive dialog with the relevant bodies, including the Unia trade union, on the basis of facts, transparency and mutual respect.

For queries and further information, please contact:

Plan B Kitchen AG
Press contact:
Roberto Giovanoli
Via Üerts 20
7512 Champfer
roberto@plan-b.kitchen
079 55 55 222

Media release dated July 22, 2025

Plan-B Kitchen AG firmly rejects new accusations by Unia

Plan-B Kitchen AG also formally rejects the new accusations made by Unia. The dismissals without notice of four employees (two of whose fixed-term employment contracts expire at the end of July anyway) are not due to trade union activity, but on the basis of a massive breach of fiduciary duty by the employees.

Plan-B Kitchen AG is aware that its employees are free to engage in trade union activities. However, participating in an unprecedented character assassination campaign involving the media, as staged by UNIA last week, does not fall under trade union involvement. "At no point was UNIA obviously interested in actually finding a solution for its members," says Managing Director Roberto Giovanoli of Plan-B Kitchen AG.

This had already become clear during last week's "conversation". "UNIA was not interested in presenting the specific cases, listening to my point of view or even discussing a way to address the outstanding issues. The whole thing was a complete farce," says Giovanoli. If the UNIA had made an honest effort to find a solution, it is unlikely that just 10 minutes later eleven people would have stood in front of one of his restaurants demonstrating with prepared placards - together with media representatives who, according to their own statements, had already been summoned to St. Moritz the evening before.

"Around three quarters of the eleven people were UNIA staff - and not employees," explains Giovanoli, who refers to many WhatsApp messages on his cell phone that he has received from former employees who have no understanding whatsoever for UNIA's actions. "UNIA openly admits in its latest communication that its main aim is to build up political pressure." The action was therefore neither a legitimate protest, let alone a legitimate strike.

Duty of loyalty prohibits harmful behavior

The legal basis is clear: Art. 321a of the Swiss Code of Obligations requires employees not to take any actions that could harm the employer financially or otherwise. This obligation has clearly been breached. Giovanoli is therefore looking forward to a legal dispute with the greatest possible composure, he says, but does not want to slam the door shut completely. "I am prepared to return to the dismissals without notice if UNIA stops its character assassination campaign and explicitly commits to seeking negotiated solutions. Now it is up to UNIA to show what it is really about."

Media release

In a further article, Unia's own Work newspaper accuses Plan-B Kitchen AG owner Roberto Giovanoli of new serious misconduct, which has no basis in fact and is firmly rejected by Plan-B Kitchen AG.

Back in July, the trade union Unia launched a business-damaging character assassination campaign against Plan-B Kitchen AG and made public allegations for which the union has still not provided any reliable evidence. This involved allegedly incorrectly kept pay slips, allegedly late wage payments, unjustified wage deductions, etc. Unia had already threatened legal action in mid-July, but two and a half months later not a single one of these had been brought to court, even though the union claimed at the time that there was "masses" of evidence of the alleged misconduct. To date, only one hearing has actually taken place before the justice of the peace, in which an employee asserted unsubstantiated claims of CHF 10,000 - for example for breaks that he had allegedly been unable to take. The employee has not yet filed an ordinary lawsuit.

Five hearings are also scheduled to take place before the justice of the peace, probably in January 2026. As things stand at present, however, these are not about allegedly outstanding claims, but about the handover of documents such as employment contracts or timesheets, which the other parties have long had at their disposal.

Plan-B Kitchen AG had already regularly pointed out in July that the committees of the L-GAV (collective labor agreement for the catering industry) regularly carried out reviews of the employee system, most recently at the end of June 2025, which had never led to any substantial complaints.

Now that Unia's original accusations have apparently collapsed, the union is continuing its character assassination campaign with accusations of sexual harassment by the managing director, citing as alleged evidence a few excerpts from a WhatsApp communication between the managing director and a former restaurant manager.

Roberto Giovanoli does not deny that the WhatsApp exchange between the manager in question and the managing director, which was never intended for the public, was at times direct and personal and could be perceived as abusive by outsiders who were not familiar with the circumstances. However, there can be no question of sexual harassment or that the manager had called his employee to his office for sex, as is alleged - there were no sexual acts at any time. There is no indication in the chat history that the former restaurant manager was bothered by the frivolous comments. The chat history explicitly refutes the idea that the restaurant manager would have avoided contact with Giovanoli. For example, immediately after one of the offending statements, the former employee asks if Giovanoli could give her a lift in his car.

The flirtatious to frivolous communication style was equally cultivated by both parties involved, even at times when there was no employment relationship at all. For example, the manager wrote "love messages" such as "MYLOVE" to the managing director, sent him kiss emojis or jokingly wrote to him that she would actually like to move in with him when it came to moving house. Anyone analyzing the entire conversation and not just looking for specific excerpts to prove an alleged scandal will come to the clear conclusion that it was clear to both communication partners at all times that this communication was just "silly talk".

This interpretation of the correspondence is also supported by the fact that the restaurant manager in question was in a relationship with another employee of Plan-B Kitchen AG at the time and lived with him in an apartment next door to the managing director's office. The restaurant manager's partner was also aware of this style of communication and did not take offense because it was also clear to him that the statements were to be understood as purely facetious. Accordingly, nowhere in the entire communication is there any indication that the restaurant manager was bothered by the teasing communication at the time, although she was otherwise very direct with the manager when she did not like something about his behavior.