A work culture predicated on radical vulnerability — spearheaded by owner Van Nolintha — fostered an atmosphere of misbehavior, abuse of power, and inappropriate sexual conduct at the hit Raleigh restaurants Bida Manda and Brewery Bhavana, numerous workers allege

“We’re like family” is a threadbare slogan in the service industry, but the idea seemed uniquely woven into the fabric of nationally acclaimed Raleigh, North Carolina, establishments Bida Manda and Brewery Bhavana. The familial bond between siblings Vansana Nolintha and Vanvisa Nolintha is at the heart of virtually every telling of their story, which begins with being sent to North Carolina from Laos when they were children. As young adults, they opened their first restaurant, Bida Manda, to celebrate and re-interpret the Laotian cuisine of their youth; named after the Sanskrit for mother and father, it was dedicated to their parents, who sold some of the family’s land to finance it, and whose