Acclaimed chef Peter X. Kelly has sued the Abbey Inn & Spa in Peekskill for $140,000 for allegedly firing him unjustly last year, 11 months after he was hired as the executive chef.
Kelly accused The Abbey of breach of contract, in a complaint filed on April 2 in Westchester Supreme Court.
Firing him “with cause,” the complaint states, “has unjustly damaged plaintiff’s reputation as a chef in the lower Hudson Valley.”
But Irene Ginsburg, The Abbey manager who also is named as a defendant, said she had plenty of justification for firing Kelly for cause. “We did everything correct, and I wish him well,” she said. “I think he wasn’t a good fit, and it didn’t work.”
Kelly cultivated a reputation for culinary excellence as the owner of X20 Xaviars on the Yonkers city pier, and with Restaurant X & Bully Boy Bar in Congers. But he has struggled financially, filing four business bankruptcy cases and a personal bankruptcy, from 2019 to 2023.
Ginsburg Development Companies, of Valhalla, also named as a defendant, created The Abbey Inn & Spa out of the former convent of the Episcopal Sisters of Saint Mary’s.
In December 2023, less than a month after bankruptcy court dismissed Kelly’s last two business cases, at the behest of the New York Department of Taxation and the IRS, The Abbey hired him as executive chef of its Apropos Restaurant and catering service.
The Abbey agreed to pay Kelly a consulting fee, 5% of the gross food and beverage revenue, and fees for achieving food and beverage benchmarks, for five years, according to the complaint.
If The Abbey had terminated the deal with 60 days written notice and without cause, Kelly says, he would have been entitled to a $50,000 termination fee and the balance owed on food and beverage fees. Firing him for cause, he says, was an excuse not to pay the termination fee.
Kelly demanded the termination payment and information about his share of food and beverage revenue, according to the complaint, but The Abbey had no intention of paying him or providing the requested information.
Irene Ginsburg said Kelly refused to negotiate the amount owed.
She said he admires Kelly’s personal qualities, particularly his generosity, and she repeatedly stated that she feels no ill-will for him. But if he’s hurting The Abbey, “I can’t let him do that.”
Now he’s working at an Italian restaurant in Chappaqua, she said. “I wish him the best of luck.”
