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INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 71
©2020 The Michigan Daily

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OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4A

CROSSWORD................6A

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A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 A

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 B
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School of Music, Theatre & 
Dance junior Chloe Castro-
Santos was working at Sava’s, a 
popular Ann Arbor restaurant, in 
2018 when the head chef Gustavo 
Salazar 
Esquivel 
allegedly 
propositioned her for sex.
This was the summer after her 
freshman year at the University 
of Michigan, and he had just 
helped her during a particularly 
busy shift. She tried to thank 
him for his assistance.
“I was like, ‘Thank you so 
much for helping me today, really 
appreciate it.’ And he was like, ‘I 
helped you, so you help me.’ And 
he alluded to oral sex,” Castro-
Santos said in an interview with 
The Daily. “It traumatized me 
because I was at work. I’m just 
trying to make my rent and go 
home.”
On July 28, 2018, Castro-
Santos emailed a resignation 
letter to Sava’s management. 
She 
alleged 
that 
she 
had 
been 
repeatedly 
sexually 
harassed while working in the 
restaurant’s kitchen and that 
Sava’s management, including 
the 
restaurant’s 
owner 
and 
SavCo Hospitality CEO, Sava 
Farah, had failed to address this.
“I have the upmost (sic) 
respect 
for 
Sava 
and 
the 
establishments she has built 
from scratch and that is why it 
was so heartbreaking to see what 
was willingly condoned and even 
on a certain level encouraged in 
her restaurant,” Castro-Santos 
wrote. 
About one year after Castro-
Santos’s email, former Sava’s 
employee Ghia Parow alleged 
that Esquivel and a male cook 
committed sexual misconduct 
against her. 

Parow posted on her Facebook 
page about the incident. Before 
she made the post private, it was 
shared 628 times, with many 
former employees sharing their 
own stories of alleged sexual 
harassment 
and 
misconduct 
at Sava’s and Aventura, two 
restaurants owned by SavCo 
Hospitality.
Esquivel, who also goes by 
“Gustavo Salazar,” according to 
confidential Sava’s documents 
obtained by The Daily, did not 
respond to multiple messages 
from 
The 
Daily 
requesting 
comment for this article.
“I think Gustavo was very 
good at his job but I don’t think 
that should matter,” Castro-
Santos said in an interview with 
The Daily. “If you’re choosing 
to give your money to this 
company, you’re making a very 
clear statement about what your 
values are and whether you value 
the quality of human life for 
women.”
Sava’s is widely considered 
a staple of the Ann Arbor food 
scene. Last year, The Daily 
ranked it as the “Best Romantic 
Dinner” in its yearly Best of 
Ann Arbor series. Aventura, a 
Spanish 
inspired-restaurant 
and bar, and Wilma’s, a trendy, 
health-minded cafe, are other 
SavCo Hospitality-owned local 
favorites.
An investigation by The Daily 
uncovered numerous previously 
undisclosed allegations of sexual 
harassment 
and 
misconduct 
from former Sava’s employees 
against other employees since 
June 2018. The allegations range 
from sexually explicit verbal 
statements to groping, unwanted 
touching and propositions for 
sex.
The Daily found evidence that 
SavCo Hospitality management 

was repeatedly made aware of 
many of these allegations.
The Daily contacted Sava 
Farah and SavCo Hospitality 
requesting comment for this 
article, and was referred to Chief 
of Staff Janelle Zini.
“We are beyond disappointed 
that an institution like the 
Michigan Daily would engage 
in 
such 
inaccurate 
and 
irresponsible reporting,” Zini 
wrote in a statement to The 
Daily. “These claims are so far 
from the truth that it would be 
absurd for us to respond. We 
have no further comment and 
are focused on continuing to 
take care of our staff and guests.”
Zini 
noted 
that 
SavCo 
Hospitality could not turn over 
more confidential employment 
information, 
citing 
SavCo 
Hospitality’s 
obligations 
as 
employers.
Management disputed these 
allegations to staff. In an email 
to SavCo Hospitality employees 
sent Tuesday evening, a copy 
of which was obtained by The 
Daily, Zini and SavCo Hospitality 
Training & HR Manager Maggie 
Jennings reiterated their belief 
that they could not respond to 
The Daily’s reporting.
“In 
order 
to 
maintain 
confidentiality of all parties 
involved, SavCo is unable to 
respond to these claims even 
when every ounce of us wants 
to take this opportunity to 
illustrate the reality of each 
of 
these 
mischaracterized 
situations,” Jennings and Zini 
wrote. “What we can say is 
that we stand behind the way 
any instances of misconduct or 
harassment have been, and will 
continue to be, handled and 
addressed.”
The Daily was provided with 
a statement from Laura Peretick, 

a server at Sava’s for the past 
seven and a half years. Peretick 
is also president of the Employee 
Experience Council, a group 
that she wrote “gather(s) once a 
month to discuss how to improve 
the employee experience, and 
create positive change in our 
restaurants.”
Peretick said in her time 
working at Sava’s, she never once 
felt “unsafe.” 
“I am very proud to work 
at Sava’s, and to be a part of an 
organization that truly cares 
about it’s (sic) employees. My 
immediate managers, as well as 
upper management take our well 
being very seriously,” Peretick 
wrote in an emailed statement 
to The Daily. “I have seen lives 
transform here because Sava’s 
gave them a chance. I have seen 
countless times my managers 
go above and beyond for my 
co-workers.”
Peretick said she believed 
Sava’s 
handled 
allegations 
of 
sexual 
misconduct 
with 
integrity, adding that she was 
involved with the investigation 
into Parow’s allegations.
“This is not an organization 
that 
takes 
sexual 
assault 
allegations 
against 
it’s 
(sic) 
people lightly,” Peretick wrote. 
“To 
say 
that 
management 
mishandled the situation alleged 
in the Facebook post, fueling your 
article, is absolutely false. There 
was a thorough investigation 
that I personally was a part of. 
I know all parties involved in 
the claim very well and I solidly 
stand behind Sava’s.”
Castro-Santos attributed the 
disparity in experiences between 
employees to a difference in 
culture between the workers in 
the front of the house — meaning 
employees who interact with 
customers — and the those in 

back of the house, which includes 
the kitchen.
In her first month working 
at Sava’s in May 2018, Castro-
Santos 
said 
she 
witnessed 
occasional 
sexually 
explicit 
verbal 
statements, 
though 
she attributed this to kitchen 
culture.
“I’d 
worked 
in 
kitchens 
before,” 
Castro-Santos 
said. 
“Sexist stuff sometimes happens 
in the kitchen because it usually 
is a male-dominated field.”
However, 
Castro-Santos 
alleged the restaurant’s culture 
worsened toward the beginning 
of June 2018, with the arrival of 
Esquivel. 
Castro-Santos 
alleged 
that 
an employee warned her about 
what he thought Esquivel might 
do to her.
“I was told by (an employee) 
that I would be ‘if not groped 
then at least verbally harassed,’” 
Castro-Santos wrote in her July 
28 email to Sava’s management.
She alleged in her email 
that another male employee 
repeatedly 
verbally 
harassed 
her. 
Management 
from 
the 
restaurant, 
Castro-Santos 
alleged, repeatedly witnessed 
these comments.
“(I)t became a joke on the line 
that he would verbally harass 
me daily. Everyone working in 
the kitchen knew about it, but 
nothing was ever actually done 
about it,” Castro-Santos wrote 
in her letter to management. “If I 
were a man … I wouldn’t be given 
demeaning nicknames.”
She alleged that she was 
subjected to more than 20 
instances of unwanted touching 
from other employees while 
working along the kitchen’s 
narrow line in a six-hour shift.
“Men who worked there would 
walk behind me,” Castro-Santos 

told The Daily. “And when they 
walked behind me, they would 
always grab my waist.”
Three days after sending her 
email, Castro-Santos received a 
reply from Farah, who referenced 
her own experiences of sexual 
harassment at a restaurant when 
she was younger. 
“As a woman who started 
working in kitchens at 13 years 
old, I was exposed to this type 
of misconduct 20 years ago — at 
a time when sadly, no one was 
willing to hear about this sort 
of thing,” Farah wrote. “Long 
since, I have vowed to run things 
differently in my business and I 
have always taken pride in the 
fact that our kitchen culture 
is female friendly, until now, 
hearing about your encounters.”
Farah 
told 
Castro-Santos 
Sava’s would take action to 
address her allegations.
“What you experienced and 
how you were treated should 
have never happened and I am 
deeply regretful for the conduct 
you reported and the responses 
from my managers that left 
you feeling dismissed an (sic) 
unheard,” Farah wrote. “As of 
receiving your note, we have 
implemented a hyper vigilant 
zero-tolerance 
policy 
for 
harassment of any type, we have 
re-trained every single manager 
on our policy and also how to 
properly handle these matters in 
the future and we have held each 
person in your email accountable 
to their actions and inactions.” 
On April 6, 2019, another 
Sava’s employee complained to 
management 
about 
Esquivel, 
this time over sexually explicit 
comments 
she 
witnessed 
Esquivel make against Parow. 

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Monday, February 17, 2020

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

ZAYNA SYED & 
SAMMY SUSSMAN 
Daily Staff Reporters

‘It traumatized me’:

DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily

Former employees of Sava’s bring numerous allegations
of sexual harassment, misconduct

See SAVCO, Page 2A

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