Le Gourmand Grocer Cafe

The photo with the tea bag in the cup is disgusting and ruins what was a somewhat enjoyable review.

Thanks for the feedback...I'll replace the photo with one that's less disgusting for your sensitive peepers.

What a great review. I'm tempted to go there right now.

I'll take two of each... and then... maybe one more :)

Smita, can I reserve a date with you to this lovely pastry shop when I'm back? I'll need you to peel me away from the display or else i'm sure I'll drool over everything.

:) Sure Mae - ANYTIME! (Seriously) :)

Hi Smita,
thx for the review. We have not sold La Paloma Gelato for the past 2 years. La Paloma was having some partnership issues that was making it difficult for us to do business together. Our Gelato is from Gelato Fresco. Their Gelato is very good and reputable, they do not use artificial flavours so I am having trouble understanding why you would have the impression that they were. The cookies you are reffering to are Nookie Cookies not to be confused with Nocci (walnut cookies). Thx again, its nice to hear good things about our hard work. Cheers

this place is so dirty it hurts. am never coming back

Le Gourmand has a history of treating their staff like crap. Milton, in particular, refuses to pay staff properly while verbally abusing them. He has also fired people without a valid explaination or warning and bullies female staff while critizing their work habits based on their gender.

Just a heads up.

as a former employee, i can vouch for being treated like crap. i worked 10 hour days only to get yelled at by the owner. in the summer, it was easily 40 degrees inside and we still had to wear our black golfshirts and long black pants and a hat. we felt physically sick due to the lack of ventilation and air conditioning.

i also got verbally attacked to the point where the police had to be called.

milton will probably attack me yet again here, but i am only telling the truth and i have witnesses and a police report to back it up.

thank you.

Hmmm.... it might be harder to "get an experienced staff member" due to turnover.

Screw that i will never eat there poor employee

Wow...The things you don't know when you're on the other side of the counter. I've always wondered how the staff can stand to wear those uniforms in the warm weather. It's really too bad to hear the negative comments of the goings-on in the restaurant, especially when it doesn't come across in the food preparation. I recently went to Le Gourmand again and an older man was behind the cash register. He was quite rude...perhaps he is Milton? If so, I wish something could be done about his ill treatment..it makes me angry to think that such a place is run like this. If the police are aware of his behaviour why hasn't anything more been done to solve the problem?

I am sickened by the fact that these comments have been posted. The employee in question (Megan) had a complete meltdown while working and started crying and shouting during servie because she was asked to undue a series of gift baskets that she had put together unproperly. When I asked her why she had put them together without being asked how to do it she replied that she had worked at Second cup and knew what she was doing. I simply asked her (did not as rudely, I asked politely) to undue them because they did not have the items I needed in them and She began to cry histeracly and shout obscenities about how she was unnnapreciated and continued to swear and throw herself at me. I tried to escort her off the premises while she attacked me verbally and physially pushing me. There were many staff members present in the kitchen that all witnessed this. When we finaly got her out the door she kept trying to reenter the premises. I slammed the door behind us out of frustration and she picked up her phone and called 911 screaming saying that I had attacked her, which was totally untrue. My Manager and other staff members were present and can all confirm this. When the Police came she was asked not to come back and the officer spoke to me and said that he could clearly see that she was unstable because she couldnt get her story straight. The police asked ME IF I WANTED TO PRESS CHARGES and I said no, I just want her away from here. After speaking with other employees regarding Megan they had told me that she was going through some personal problems with her boyfriend. I did withold her paycheck for 3 weeks after because I was considering legal action after the fact. I have never mistreated any of my employees and my employees get paid very well. Everyone starts at $9/hr and if they are able to prove that they are worth more than they get it. My dishwasher started at 9/hr and within 3 months he was making 13/hr. My full time employees also all have benefits. I have employees both male and female that have been with Le Gourmand since the very beginning and we have never had a problem with eachother. I am totally appauled that this person is still able to cause problems by writing what she likes at will on the internet. As far as the heat goes I just spent and extra 25K out of pocket to have an additional AC unit put in because the units the landlord had installed were not powerful enough. Unifroms must be worn. Megan, the disgruntled employee wore skirts sevral times and would sit there behind the counter picking away at acne on her legs (would you prefer that) and she was asked to go and get changed immediatly, something she didn't approve of either. I have certain standards and customer expectations to hold up, I can not let employees do as they please or I will be out of business just like 98% of restaurants that open.PLease try to understand this. And Smita, I am no longer behind the counter, I havent been for a long time so I find it hard to believe that my manager was rude. He never stops smiling (he gets paid handsomly and gets a very nice bonus). I am still very disturbed about what I just read and I will now definately take further legal action against Megan. I apologize for anyone who has read the negative comments, they are not true.

Wow, I've never been to Le Gourmand, but I don't think I will!
Either the complaints are correct, in which case Milton's a jerk that doesn't deserve my money.
Or the complaints are lies, and Milton's reply is so ridiculous that he doesn't deserve my money.

His insults, grammar, and admittedly illegal actions (withholding pay????) do sound like a nightmare boss, and this is SOLELY FROM HIS OWN POST!
"25K out of pocket..." Of course it's out of pocket - you're the owner! It's all out of pocket for THE OWNER...

I'll be heading elsewhere.
Milton, take a class somewhere on employee/employer relations, and maybe anger management to boot... "

Hey Matt,
I dont own the space. Its leased. When my lease is up in 4 years i have no use for an industrial HVAC system that the landlord should have put in. I have very happy employees that have been with me for a very long time. I didnt get to where i am by treating my staff like crap. So give your head a shake and think twice before reading certain posts.

To where you are, hahaha. Where is that exactly? Owning a mediocre cafe and having a bloating sense of self? Well done you!

Btw, insulting potential customers and telling them to "give their head a shake" is AWESOME business rhetoric. And(because you obviously need to read the content of these posts more closely) Matt was criticizing YOUR post as he stated with the capitalized text that reads: "and this is SOLELY FROM HIS OWN POST!"

Milton, the more you post the bigger an asshole you appear to be. Your angry little self is just going to have to deal with the fact that not everyone agrees with your seemingly illegal business practices.

My sugegstion: maybe do some yoga to relax - I can envision you exploding a vein in your forehead while in a vicious, red face inducing, rage.

Milton,
I was pretty equal in my post. I took routes showing the other posters as being correct, and as being incorrect.
Most of the information I took was actually from your own posts, not from the others, as one bad experience can snowball into a dozen. At various times, I've been a minimum-wage employee, and also had staff of my own, so I understand both sides of the dynamic.
Your own responses show a very negative persona, implying that the complaints may not be far off.

As for your HVAC issue, that is between yourself and your landlord. Not me, not your employees, strictly the signatures on your contract. If they should have put it in, it should be in the contract, and you can pursue it legally. I digress, those are solely your concerns.

Here it is. This is the definative OPINION. And I say 'opinion' because that's all these nonesensical blogs really are, they have no true merit in this physical world. I realize that I am also discrediting my own blog, but this is the truth as I see it. The truth is, the food service industry is tough industry to work in. I've literally worked in every single position from the bottom rung up to upper management, I know this industry inside and out. It's not for the weak minded or the weak hearted. I've seen people crack under pressure and lose it. I knew the Le Gourmand employee (Megan) on a personal level and I also know the owner (Milton) on a personal level. As for the turmoil that occurred at Le Gourmand, it doesn't matter what happened because a police report does exist and Megan was asked to leave the premises by the responding officer. But I'm not here to discuss he said she said stuff though. I'm here to shed a little bit more light on the Le Gourmand scene. It's great place to go on a lazy afternoon or to drop in for a coffee 'to-go' before work. Is it a good work environment??? ...Yes it is. I am an employee of Le Gourmand. I started there close to the beginning at the very bottom years ago when minimum wage was lower. The truth is I started at 8.50/hour (Everyone starts at 9/h now). Le Gourmand is a really cool place that is like no other. That's the vision set out by the owner. I saw it as something on the verge of becoming big. I know a winner when I see one. I've seen employees come and go but on the account that the food service industry is plagued with high turn-overs for the reason I stated above, it's not for everybody. But at Le Gourmand I saw it as people who couldn't share that vision. These are people with aspirations for something else. That's perfectly fine. I wish that for anybody even if it means losing an indespensible member of staff. Pursue your dreams I say! But my problem is that we are here hindering this man's dream. Are people ill treated at Le Gourmand? Are females ill treated in particular? The answer is simply no! Le Gourmand does have many female staff members. In fact Le Gourmand has had staff members who had left to pursue other things and then return. Many of which are female. Any long time regular of Le Gourmand can tell you that. I can tell you that those staff members who do return to Le Gourmand don't necessarily share the owner's dream but respect and understand it. Some people who work in this industry can't even offer their employer those two things. I know all of these things because I've been with this company for years and I have both respect and understanding for a dream being pursued. I have dreams of my own but I'm smart enough to know that the experience I can gain with this budding company and Milton will give me the tools I need to chase them. There it is! There's the turth as I see it. I started at the bottom and within two and a half years I'm now managing Le Gourmand Bloor. My staff are very happy people and are happy with Milton. But don't take my work for it. Check it out for yourself! That's more effective than anything I could ever type up on a blog.

Smita - The reason that the police have not done anything to intervene such an 'abusive' employer is a logical one. The claims are not valid. Le Gourmand Bloor would not exist because the owner would be tied up in legal battles up to his ears and a business licence would not have been issued. I would suggest that we put the baby to bed.

Also nobody named Courtney has ever worked for Le Gourmand, but maybe that's an alias.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Again, someone that can't read content. I never claimed to have worked there. Milton has given people enough reason to avoid Le Gourmand simply by his own illiterate ramblings.

What positions do the female staff hold? Is there a bias regarding the type of females Milton and his management hire based on their physicality? There are all sorts of reasons people won't press charges against abusers. Fear of safety, financial reasons, and simply because they are treated like they are not worthy of anything more, all serve as explanations. The same can be said about people hired by verbally and mentally abusive employers. Your simple black and white reasoning is inadequate and does a dis-service to people who are brave enough to make actual claims against such employers.

The Last Dinosaur, if Milton is your role model, I suggest you find a new one. Perhaps one that respects both his employees and potential clients on the same level as anything "out of pocket."

I've been a customer for years and have come to know staff members on a personal level and I've never heard of any ill treatment by management or by milton. Sounds like someone is upset because they lost their job. Time to move on...

This is hilarious.

Milton, the fact that you had enough balls to come and attack former employees months (PERSONAL attacks, no less), maybe years, after it happened is a little bit pathetic, especially for a grown man.

The fact that a girl just "randomly blew up at you" I'm sure had something to do with your place of business and wasn't just a personal problem.

And you can't press charges for something someone writes on the internet. If you could, half the world would be in jail.

Maybe you should calm down and realize you're an asshole and just deal with it.

I've never seen any staff treated badly, but I've not seen any happy staff (though they did exist when the shop first opened).

For the kind of shop that it is, I'm always surprised by how dirty it gets, esp on the weekends. Dirty plates and cups aren't cleaned up quickly. Customers move them to another table, which quickly turns into a faux garbage.

Tables should be cleaned right after a customer leaves, not left for a few hours.

regardless of what people think of the owner, the cookies are the best I ever had

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