Rift At Vegan Restaurant By Chloe Escalates As Namesake Claims She Was Forced Out

WEST VILLAGE, NY — The chef and namesake behind vegan restaurant By Chloe said she was "pushed out" of the business by her co-managers.

Chloe Coscarelli, who created the menu for By Chloe which has outposts in the West Village, SoHo, Flatiron and Willamsburg, split from the restaurant group ESquared Hospitality with which she ran the eateries.

The group's CEO Jimmy Haber confirmed the split to the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, faulting Coscarelli for acting "in her own best interests."

But Coscarelli responded with her own statement on Tuesday night.

"Thank you to everyone who has reached out regarding the recent news, which revealed that I have been pushed out of by CHLOE.— the restaurant I founded in 2015," Coscarelli wrote on Facebook.

"I imagine this news has come as a surprise to many of you, especially to the thousands of loyal customers who have helped make by CHLOE. a success. Honestly, it’s quite surreal for me too."

Coscarelli described the years she spent developing vegan recipes, like the restaurant's famous beet ketchup, as a "labor of love," but refrained from directly addressing the conflict between herself and Haber's ESquared. The chef, who made a name for herself by winning the TV show Cupcake Wars, promised that she had some "exciting new projects in the works."

The split is the culmination of months of feuding between Coscarelli and ESquared management. The messy dispute escalated in June when Coscarelli sued Haber, accusing him of threatening her after they disagreed over the future of the chain.

According to Coscarelli's suit, Haber wanted to open non-vegan restaurants under the By Chloe name and, when Coscarelli refused, Haber allegedly told her "she would need a bodyguard if she dared to meet with him in person," according to Eater.

The restaurant chain reaffirmed its commitment to a vegan menu after questions swirled following Coscarelli's departure and lawsuit.

"We want to make clear that recent reports that we were considering serving non-vegan items are simply not true," the company wrote in a post. "We have always been – and remain – 100% committed to serving only vegan items."

The company also shared a redacted copy of a document that it said was from an independent arbitrator involved in the dispute between the two parties. The arbitrator apparently concluded that Coscarelli was "grossly negligent"and that her partnership with the hospitality group could be terminated.

The bitter back-and-forth might continue over the chain's name. Coscarelli told the Wall Street Journal on Sunday that she would take steps to prevent the storefront from using her name.

"I will protect the integrity of my brand," she told the Journal. A spokeswoman for Coscarelli did not immediately respond to an email from Patch on Wednesday seeking additional information.

ESquared's creative director (and Haber's daughter) Samantha Wasser dismissed this possibility in a statement on Wednesday, saying the name would "stay intact 100%."

"The by CHLOE. brand is my baby that I created and have worked steadfast to maintain and grow every single day," Wasser said in the statement.

"Nothing about the by CHLOE. brand will change other than the fact that we are finally able to grow, expand, and bring our concept to more diners nationwide without anyone holding us back - working with a team whose sole goal is to do what’s best for our by CHLOE. customers, employees, and the brand as a whole."

The first By Chloe location opened in the West Village in 2015. Two new locations are set to open later this year in Midtown and at the South Street Seaport.

Lead image courtesy of By Chloe on Facebook.