Chef Chooses Pizza Principles Over Pineapple Paycheque

A customer spending more than $15,000 asked for ham and pineapple pizza, and La Costa’s head chef refused for the third time, inviting his boss to “check how important it is for Italians not to put pineapple on a pizza”. It was a principled stand, although not one especially tailored to the hospitality industry.

Davide Tamburella was head chef at La Costa in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, an elegant restaurant promising classic Italian dishes, sea foam-green and white decor, exposed brick columns and European oak tables. Its website assured diners: “We promise, it’ll only take a moment to realise you’re not in Brisbane any more, you’ve made it to the Italian Riviera.”

Pineapple, however, brought everybody straight back to Queensland, a state sufficiently fond of the spiky tropical fruit to have built a large monument in its honour.

A Fair Work Commission ruling filed on Tuesday heard that Tamburella was sacked on May 20th, two weeks after being called before his boss, restaurateur Elliot Ingram, to discuss performance concerns. Among them was the chef’s refusal to put pineapple on pizza because he considered it “an insult to his culture”.

The decisive request came during a large function. “We had a large function come in, and they were spending in excess of $15,000, and the guy paying for the whole thing says: ‘Look, I need to get some ham and pineapple pizza,’” Ingram said.

Tamburella acknowledged that it was the third time he had refused such a direction. Ingram, who had spent 17 years in hospitality and more than a decade running restaurants, said experience had taught him to “pick your battles”.

He did not claim pineapple pizza as a personal passion. “Do I go and buy a ham and pineapple pizza? It’s probably not my absolute favourite,” he said. “But I’m not going to turn my nose up at it, that’s for sure. And, look, we have had ham and pineapple pizza on the kids’ menu previously.”

The dismissal had serious consequences for Tamburella, who was more than three years into a 186 visa process, an employer-sponsored route to permanent residency. Ingram said he waited as long as legally possible before telling the authorities he was no longer employing the chef, hoping the visa would be approved before he had to withdraw sponsorship. It was not, meaning Tamburella would have to begin the process again.

Tamburella alleged that his dismissal breached the Fair Work Act and was partly motivated by a workplace injury. He had fractured his right hand in two places after striking a metal handrail.

Commissioner Jennifer Hunt dismissed his general protections application because it had been filed too late and did not satisfy the test for exceptional circumstances. He therefore lost his attempt to challenge the dismissal.

La Costa itself closed in July when its lease expired. Ingram blamed the high cost of doing business in Fortitude Valley. Tamburella is now employed at another Italian restaurant, where pineapple does not appear on the menu.