This is why when I want my eye-wateringly expensive meat, I go to A Cut Above 
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This is crazy, time to cancel Belcampo.
Iāve spent so much money on buying meat from them, this makes me so mad.
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I always enjoyed the restaurant - in the Before Times - so I didnāt bother to even look at the lamb chops they gave me (the only time I went in the store) about 6 months ago.
When I got home I was appalled - I was given the shittiest, most poorly butchered - and expensive - lamb chops. It was like a sick joke. As if an untrained monkey was given the job of preparing the meat.
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Iāve always viewed Eater as an outlet which is simply tasked with reporting on new openings and changes in the restaurant scene. Hard-hitting investigative journalism is not exactly their schtick. I felt the Eater coverage on Koslow affair, while well-done, was a departure from their usual bread and butter. (Their coverage on āsakura-mochi gateā was well-received also.)
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The Guardian has another echo-chamber story with no new information.
We donāt know who @nela_butcher is. We know heās to some extent credible, given that Fernald has acknowledged that thereās a problem, but a real journalist would need additional sources before alleging that sheās covering up company-wide fraud.
If theyāve got a reporter digging up additional sources that undercut Fernaldās story, why bother repeating it?
Believe itās been reported his name is Evan Reiner, though Iām not sure thereās much beyond that.
Oh yeah. SF Gate interviewed him, and said he asked to be identified only by his first name, Evan. Modern Farmer reported his last name as Reiner but said he declined to comment. Nothing else so far that I can find.
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the man brought pictures.
evidently this was put together at some point:
Well thatās about as different from Sqirlās jamgate response as can be.
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The best part about the Belcampo response is the 15% coupon for next order floating at the bottom of the screen.
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They also concede he was an employee.
Erika Victoriaās still not satisfied.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CPYgO1VndOh/
Whatās to concede? Admitting to the Chronicle that there was substance to the accusations tacitly confirmed his claim to be an ex-employee.
You are saying this isnāt ripe for Eater to report on, because of the anonymous sourcing and the allegations were unverified. I am saying the sources arenāt anonymous, and Belcampo has admitted a mistake. I donāt know what you are taking issue with; I donāt think itās controversial to say there is something reportable here. You are defensive about this for some reason.
The LA Times hasnāt reported anything either.
Of course thereās something reportable here. The question is whether thereās more to add to the story. So far the only hard data is the original Instagram posts, the SF Chronicleās interview with the author, Modern Farmerās report of his last name, and Belcampoās statements.
Thereās hearsay that mislabelikng was going on in Belcampo locations in the Bay Area, that employees are under NDA, and more. I guarantee you that real reporters are busy running those down.
Any publication with a line on something bigger than what Belcampo has admitted has a scoop in the works, so no good reason to step on that by publishing the same echo-chamber crap as Grub Street and the Guardian.
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More echo-chamber from Boing Boing, repeating content from the original Instagram post, Chronicle, and Guardian.
āEvan, who started noticing Belcampoās outside products last fall, was let go last week after working for the company for 2 1/2 years, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.ā
I havenāt read the Chron article but noticing outside meat since last fall is a lot different than the 2.5 years of lying he mentions in his original post
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Iām getting more offended by the day.
we were shocked and upset by the videos we saw on Instagram
We appreciate your patience as weāve been investigating the allegations
LOL
I dunno, I actually think the written response is pretty good. They really do need time to do an internal investigation to see what the heck was happening. It didnāt seem overly defensive to me.
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If Belcampoās statement is in fact a cover-up of company-wide fraud, the storyās more for Forbes and the LA Timesās business section than for Eater.
But it seems highly plausible to me that it was fundamentally mismanagement. Giving restaurants and retail butchers owned by a small, whole-animal meat company autonomy to fill in gaps in the supply chain invites abuse, since there will be constant pressure from customers who want cuts that are inherently in short supply and thus prone to run out, such as tenderloins and chicken breasts. Which would still be a story for the business press, albeit about the dangers of vertical integration.
Actually, they say theyāve changed their practices, and the retail branches will no longer be allowed to source meat from other suppliers. Within four days of the Instagram post.