The Restaurant Industry
Prior to the pandemic, the foodservice and restaurant industry was the Nation’s second-largest private-sector employer, providing jobs for 10% of the total U.S. workforce.
Restaurants struggled financially during the pandemic but innovated and adapted quickly, nonetheless. Since the recovery, inflation and supply chain shortages have presented a new set of challenges.
Currently, the restaurant industry is one of the Nation’s fastest growing industries. Unfortunately, much of that growth has not benefited its workforce.
Problems Facing Restaurant Workers
With no disrespect to hardworking restaurant owners, restaurant workers face a plethora of problems and often have very limited resources to deal with them.
Partially related to tight profit margins on food (a perishable resource), restaurants are notorious for paying low hourly wages. Many restaurant workers rely on tips, which can be inconsistent and unpredictable. Lack of employment benefits such as access to childcare and paid time off lead to further financial instability.
Even when a business offers health insurance, employees might not be able to afford it. Meanwhile, restaurant employees consistently have some of the highest rates of workplace injuries.
In an industry of over 9 million restaurant workers, unfair and unpredictable work scheduling practices are widespread, including less than one week notice on schedules and frequent changes to their schedule.
Women comprise a majority of the hospitality and food service industries. Often in tipped positions, they account for 14 percent of ALL sexual harassment claims – the most of any industry.
Although people of color make up almost half the restaurant workforce, many still face racial discrimination and occupational segregation in the industry. For example, white workers are more likely to work in higher-paying, front-of-the-house positions.
Long hours, physically demanding work and burnout have also caused some to experience mental health and/or substance use challenges.
Free Resources for Restaurant Workers
While the issues that plague restaurant workers go unnoticed by many, well-intentioned people from the hospitality industry have been teaming up to start non-profits that help fill the gaps of a broken system. Are you ready for this? It’s pretty great.
Another Round Another Rally
A nonprofit financial and educational resource for the hospitality industry, Another Round Another Rally issues emergency aid to hospitality workers facing unanticipated hardships and reimbursement grants and immersive educational scholarships that further the education of historically excluded voices in the community.
Heard
The Heard program is an online mental health support group for the food and beverage industry. On Monday nights at 7pm ET | 4pm PT, it hosts a free Zoom meeting to make space for issues facing front line workers in the hospitality industry. You don’t have to share, and you don’t have to have your camera on. Enter room 817 5343 6363 with password 12345 to join the conversation.
One Fair Wage
One Fair Wage, a national nonprofit advocating on behalf of restaurant workers, aims to end all subminimum wages in the United States and increase the sustainability of wages and working conditions in the service sector.
On Wednesday, March 9, 2022, it announced a new hotline number, (786) 233-9344 to help service workers facing workers’ rights violations by providing them with legal support.
Not 9 to 5
Not 9 to 5 is a non-profit global leader in mental health advocacy for the foodservice sector. Through practical education and training courses like their CNECTed certification course, they are breaking stigmas and fueling hope.
CNECTed is the world’s first mental health educational platform designed for the hospitality industry. It distributes educational content to develop mental health and substance use support skills. CNECTed stands for Change Needs Everyone Coming Together.
Restaurant After Hours
Restaurant After Hours is a charitable organization providing mental health support for the hospitality industry. They have compiled a list of health resources, many free, for you to explore.
If you are in crisis, resources include crisis hotlines, mental health organizations, 12-step programs and support groups. Links are provided to restaurant focused organizations and communities, as well as LGBTQIA+, women-led and online communities.
If you need help navigating these resources, you can send them an email at [email protected].
Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) United
The Restaurant Opportunities Centers United is a non-profit organization and worker center with affiliates in a number of cities across the United States. Its mission is to improve wages and working conditions for the nation’s low wage restaurant workforce.
ROC United’s signature COLORS Hospitality Opportunities for Workers (CHOW) Institute provides professional workforce development training in front- and back-of-house restaurant skills at no cost to either employers or employees across seven cities: Los Angeles, Oakland, Detroit, Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, DC.
Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation
Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation is a nationwide advocacy and action nonprofit created by and for restaurant workers. It focuses on raising and distributing funds to community-based social change efforts.
And no, we didn’t forget to list the National Restaurant Association. Sometimes referred to as the “other NRA,” it lobbies on behalf of corporate restaurants in an attempt to stop legislation that would provide workers with living wages and benefits.
Programs to Benefit Restaurant Workers
The resources offered by the organizations below are only free to restaurant workers if their employers opt to foot the bill. However, they offer some valuable services in the form of programs and coaching, so maybe your manager needs to hear about them.☺️
Focus on Health
Focus on Health believes that hospitality begins with taking care of yourself. Their team specializes in developing No and Low ABV cocktail menus suitable for your bar or restaurant’s needs. They also offer a wide range of training to help shape responses to mental health and addiction, as well as provide guidance for creating safe bars.
Safe Bars
Safe Bars helps bars, restaurants, breweries, and other alcohol-serving spaces create safe and welcoming cultures for patrons, and safe and respectful workplaces for staff. It offers in-person and online low-cost training programs to teach active bystander, de-escalation, empowerment, and self-defense skills to hospitality professionals.
Have you ever needed to pick up an extra shift here and there? Maybe you want to keep an open schedule while job hunting, maybe your current employer cut your hours or maybe you just got hit with an unexpected bill. If that’s the case, then here is good way to make up the difference.
Poached Jobs
Poached is a hiring website specifically designed for the food and beverage industry. Job seekers can create an account on Poached and then upload their resume. Employers also create accounts and post listings for demand shift jobs or full-time positions they are looking to fill.
Poached works with employers to set fair hourly rates for job listings so job seekers always know what a shift pays right from the start. After a job is finished and hours are confirmed, payment is made through the Poached platform so workers can get paid fast, with no fees or extra charges.
Restaurant Worker Advocacy Groups by State
While the organizations above offer services nationally, there are many more that are making a difference locally. Local initiatives are important because they bring people together and help us form meaningful connections. Within a community we are empowered to take care of ourselves and others. ♥
“We are on the front lines whether we want to be or not. So, the better prepared we can be to take care of people, the better off we all are.”
Sarah Norton, Executive Director, Serving Those Serving
Did we miss one? Feel free to drop us a note in the comments below and we will add it to the list!
You Are Not Alone
I’m a Millennial and my niece is Generation Z. Even though we are a generation apart, we have managed to stay close throughout the years; something I am grateful for because she doesn’t open up to very many people.
A few weeks ago, we were talking about work, and she told me the story of why she quit working at one local restaurant (one that has been around since 1931).
As she kept talking, I kept saying, “that’s sexual harassment,” “he had no right to do that,” “how unprofessional,” “did you save those texts,” “you have a case,” “I will hire a lawyer for you if you want to go after those bastards!”
As a single mother, she has neither the time, energy nor money to devote to advocating for her rights. Her focus is on paying next month’s bills, not rendering justice, and I’m pretty sure the men she was working for knew that.
It was my niece’s experience that moved me to write this article, but from my own time as a bartender I know that everyone in the restaurant industry has a story to tell.
We are not alone in our struggles. There are organizations that offer support and information – tools that can help us to cope and manage.
Our Favorite Fundraisers for Restaurant Workers
If you are looking to get involved, you can always donate online directly to any of the non-profits listed in this article. That is an easy, helpful place to start.
But, if you like “in-person” opportunities to eat, drink and be merry, consider attending a fundraiser that gives back to the restaurant community.
Negroni Week
September TBD, 2025
Participating Venues Worldwide
Since 2013, Imbibe Magazine has hosted Negroni Week, a celebration of one of the world’s great cocktails and an effort to raise money for charitable causes around the world. Thousands of venues around the world participate by signing up, donating, and then serving classic Negronis (or variations) for one week in September. Every year, a different charity is chosen as the benefactor.
Southern Smoke Festival
October 4, 2025
Houston, TX
The festival hosts some of the food and beverage industry’s most talented chefs and personalities and throws a party to support restaurant workers in crisis nationwide. You’ll eat your share in big and bold bites; have your choice of superb wine, beer, and spirits; and enjoy outstanding live music to enhance the chow-down experience. Proceeds benefit Southern Smoke Foundation, which has distributed more than $10.6 million to restaurant workers nationwide.
Old Fashioned Week
October TBD, 2025
Participating Venues Worldwide
Old Fashioned Week operates pretty much the same as Negroni Week. It runs for 10 days and to no surprise, it’s hosted by Elijah Craig and PUNCH Magazine. Participating bars and restaurants nationwide keep it classic or discover creative twists on the Old Fashioned while donating $1 for every drink sold to support food and beverage workers.
