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A statement from Amisfield owner John Darby received after this story was published says Mabee was “immediately removed” from the workplace following more recent complaints about his conduct, while an investigation was conducted.
It comes soon after Amisfield was named one of the world’s 100 best restaurants, and had been tipped by some media as a frontrunner for New Zealand’s first Michelin star this year.
Garland took the role at Amisfield before it won its accolades; she took the role upon arriving from New York on a working holiday visa. The restaurant wasn’t as famous then as it is now, she says, but its winery was well-known and the restaurant was busy.
Mabee, who had been there since 2012, was executive chef at the time.
When he walked into the kitchen, Garland says the atmosphere would change; he would regularly speak inappropriately about female staff members’ appearances. But he enjoyed an “untouchable” status due to his close relationship with executive staff.
One day at work in January 2016, she was speaking with a colleague about her experience with an illness, which has since been diagnosed as endometriosis, when Mabee joined the conversation.
“I was openly talking to one of my co-workers, saying: ‘Oh, I feel sick, something’s going on.’ And he was like: ‘Oh, you must be pregnant.’ I said: ‘Not that it’s any of your business, but I actually struggle to get pregnant, so I would prefer you not saying anything’.
“He then looked at me, he was like: ‘Well, that’s good to know that I could f*** you without a condom.’
The incident happened in front of numerous kitchen staff, Garland says. Several months later in April, the day before Garland was due to take annual leave, she alleges Mabee asked of her plans and whether she was coming back.
“I replied with my return date and his response was: ‘Oh good, because we have to f*** before you leave for good’.”
“I was 22, I had just moved here from New York,” Garland says. “It was my first job overseas, and I was just trying to fit in and make it all work.
“I decided not to stay at Amisfield but instead to go to the UK, to do something over there. But before I left, I was gonna bring this up to the HR, because it was still happening, and I was hearing from other women about what he was saying to them.”
The dining room at Amisfield Restaurant,.
Amisfield
Believing she had the support of several other chefs, Garland lodged a complaint about the incident and sent it by email to a human resources manager on June 17, 2016. Newsroom has a copy of the emailed complaint, which details the alleged verbal harassment along with Garland’s fear of coming forward.
“This being a complaint about someone in a higher position than myself, I was scared about coming forward and speaking to someone about it,” Garland said in her complaint.
“I am writing this letter because Vaughan Mabee needs the proper punishment for sexual harassment and this cannot go on for any longer. I am happy to speak with anyone about this matter and any further information you may require on the incident.”
Garland says she did not receive an email in response but that the human resources manager spoke to her about the complaint either in person or by text message.
A meeting with HR followed, but nothing else; Garland says she did not ask for an apology from Mabee and didn’t want him to find out what she had said, as she “wasn’t in the mental state”.
Newsroom has heard from a second person, who says she raised concerns with Amisfield’s chief executive, but was told “what can I do about it, my hands are tied”.
And a third person, former White Tie Catering director Katie Duncan, confirms she too laid a complaint in 2021, about alleged homophobic and anti-Jewish slurs, offensive comments to women in the kitchen, and drug use at an industry event in Christchurch.
In the statement received on Sunday night, Amisfield owner John Darby says: “Amisfield is aware of historical complaints from 2016 and 2022 involving Vaughan. At those times, the issues were investigated and resulted in formal written warnings. We clearly outlined that any further breach would result in dismissal.
“Following more recent complaints regarding Vaughan’s conduct, he was immediately removed from the workplace while an independent investigation was conducted. Following the conclusion of that investigation, Amisfield accepted Vaughan’s resignation in February, ending our professional relationship with him.
“We do not tolerate inappropriate behaviour of any kind, and all matters raised by staff are always fully investigated and followed up with appropriate action. While we operate in a high-pressure environment, we categorically reject outdated ideas that justify a toxic culture.
“Our focus is now entirely on supporting our staff and ensuring a safe, inclusive environment. We are deeply grateful to the staff members who came forward; their courage is essential to the positive transformation of our workplace.”
Mabee has not responded to questions about the allegations.
The White Tie Catering event took place late in 2020 at the Christchurch Art Gallery, a collaboration with the gallery foundation and other companies.
Duncan communicated her unhappiness to Amisfield after the event, and lodged a formal complaint the following November. In it, she said she was “extremely uncomfortable” with Mabee’s behaviour leading up to the event and during the event itself and suggested he get “support and training”.
The problems started soon after he arrived at the Christchurch venue, a day ahead of the big event. “They were in the kitchen for half an hour before I had to ask Vaughan not to refer to his staff as ‘fag’ and ‘retard’. This happened in front of our staff and me, and we were reasonably taken aback,” Duncan wrote.
“The following morning when I was absent from the kitchen, he apparently made a ‘Jew joke’ that the staff were not happy about.
“On the night itself, Vaughan got drunk quite early and told me he had been snorting lines in the bathroom. He was difficult to manage and quite rude.”
Mabee later asked Duncan about the stylist, and Duncan explained she was incredible at her job, but also that her husband had died suddenly just months before at the age of 43, leaving her with two young children. Despite that, she pushed herself to make the Art Gallery dinner the first job she did after her husband’s death.
“To which Vaughan replied, ‘oh she’s single? I’d pound the f*** out of her’. Obviously I found that incredibly gross, distasteful and upsetting. I told him that.
“I was called over comms at one stage by our Head Chef to pop into the kitchen because he was uncomfortable with the way Vaughan was speaking to the young female staff. Nothing like that has ever happened in the many 100s of collabs we have done over the years.
“Finally, in his speech to the room when he was auctioned for a private dinner, he told the guests he was ‘up for anything’ because when you buy him for a dinner, he’s ‘25 percent chef, 75 percent man whore.’ He then told all the guests he was bought for $32,000 at an auction the previous year against Peter Gordon who got $15,000.
“He told the room when Peter congratulated him for how much he raised, Vaughan told him: ‘Yup it’s cos you’re gay.’ Which actually resulted in audible gasps from the guests. Several have since raised it with me.”
In the complaint, Duncan said Mabee was “very obviously” drunk and high when speaking to the room.
Duncan tells Newsroom she did not receive a response from anyone in Amisfield’s management team.
However several weeks later, the day before he was announced as judge on MasterChef New Zealand , she received a call from Mabee himself in which he told her he was going to Alcoholics Anonymous and therapy sessions. She says he also told her: “I almost lost my job because of you.”
This was not the first time there had been concerns raised about Mabee’s drinking. Several years earlier, he was convicted of drink-driving after crashing his Toyota Hilux into a ditch beside Arrowtown-Lake Hayes Rd about 1am, then fleeing the bloodied wreck to the nearby home of his boss John Darby.
Police found him there two hours later, where he breath-tested over the limit – then challenged the conviction all the way to the Court of Appeal, without success.
In a statement provided to media on Friday, Mabee said his departure was planned.
“I resigned my role as executive chef at Amisfield early this year in order to be able to spend more time with my young family while also pursuing several overseas opportunities.”
In 2025 Amisfield, where a lunch tasting menu starts from $395 per person, placed third in Food & Wine’s Global Tastemasters awards. Amisfield was also named Restaurant of the Year in Cuisine magazine’s 2025 Good Food Awards.
In 2023 Mabee was named as one of the world’s top 100 chefs by The Best Chef Guide; he was also named Cuisine Chef of the Year in 2019.
Before joining Amisfield, Mabee worked for several years overseas, including at Michelin-starred restaurant Noma in Copenhagen.
The Danish restaurant’s former head chef René Redzepi resigned in March of this year, following a report by the New York Times in which witnesses told of abuse including physical violence and episodes of public shaming.
Former Amisfield food runner Garland is now back in Queenstown, where she is working on building a women’s cycle health app, and as a food photographer.
“It’s a shame, because Amisfield and what it represents could be so amazing, and it’s so sad that they’ve backed someone like this for so long.
“It took too long. I know more women than just me who came out and tried to make a difference.
“It’s all about them making money and their credibility and nothing else. This could have been fixed 10 years ago, when me and these other women were strong enough to say something, and then all these people who worked there for the last 10 years wouldn’t have had to go through the same things that we went through.
“I’m happy he’s finally gone.”
