Restaurant Owners are Not the Victims
I miss going to the bar and sitting at the rail. Heck, some days, I even miss working behind a bar. I enjoyed my time slinging drinks and being part of the community. I am glad I chose that path and equally glad I decided to get out of it a few years ago.
Every week, I read more about how hard it is to run a bar or restaurant during a pandemic, and I think to myself, "there is a massive separation between a restaurant worker and a restaurant owner. Why is it that the owners are the ones complaining when it seems that the workers are getting the short end of the stick?"
I read a post on Instagram the other day from the owner of a local bar that got me steaming:
"I'd like to remind everyone that American restaurant workers are over-worked and underpaid. They are essential in a pandemic, but somehow disposable every day.
It is an industry with razor-thin margins, no healthcare, and little recognition, we are here to keep you fed, healthy, and entertained. We are currently risking our health to not just provide a service, but to ensure we can survive in our daily lives."
"Razor-thin margins, no healthcare, and little recognition," I'd like to argue about each of those points. The establishment decides on their margins; it is a privately owned business. You do have to be strategic and competitive, but at the same time, that isn't anything to complain about, you own a business! Isn't that the name of the game? To say that the staff is over-worked and underpaid seems like a hiring or scheduling problem.
"No healthcare." The owner may not offer healthcare to their employees, but that is their choice. Any restaurant, nay, any business with more than 50 employees must make healthcare accessible; its the law. If you employ less than 50 people, it is optional, so again that is another choice the owner makes. To reiterate, if you are reading this and employed by a bar or restaurant with less than 50 employees, and the owner is not offering accessible and affordable healthcare, they chose that for their bottom line. Another option business owners have is to provide financial support towards an individual healthcare plan if they don't want to sponsor a group plan.
"Little recognition." Who are we talking about here? The owner or the staff? Being a bartender or a waiter is a job. For years, I did it and expected nothing more than to be treated like a person and paid fairly for my work. Most guests and patrons understand this, so aside from a thank you here, there is no needed extra recognition.
We tip these workers because owners get to use the federal tip credit to legally pay their tipped employees a sum far below minimum wage. For example, in the state of Michigan, where I live, the minimum wage is $9.65/hour, but a tipped employee can legally be paid only $3.67/hour from the house if tips from patrons make up that other $5.98. Sure, a bartender or server may make more than that on a busy night, but I am not sure why the owner would be complaining about their personal situation of how hard it is owning a business. If anything, the business owner should be scared of any added recognition on their part. I would say paying someone $3.67/hour makes them pretty disposable.
Another topic owners like to complain about is rent. The funny thing about rent is that it is never a surprise thanks to a legal document called a lease that both the property owner and the lessee sign when they agree on a number. If the number is too high to be sustainable, you shouldn't sign it. If the business goes down the tubes for whatever reason during that period of time, you still owe the landlord per the agreement. That is one of the costs of doing business, not something to complain about; the owners agreed to that number and to pay it.
So, after all of that, I am tired of the bar and restaurant owners saying they are keeping the doors open for their staff, "the family," as the industry likes to call it. They are staying open because it's their necks on the line if they were to close. Odds are they have multiple years left on a lease, investors that want their money back, and possibly the forward to their book on being an indie bar owner already written and waiting in the cloud. It isn't so much about the staff at that point, because it has never been. I am worried we are encouraging this kind of behavior by not doing our due diligence to find the places that treat their employees right.
Foodies, cocktail enthusiasts, and booze collectors look deep into how and where the products they enjoy are manufactured. Are the fish sustainably caught? Does the whiskey come from a non-distilling producer? A few years ago, we were all up in arms about how Flor de Caña treated their field workers enough to boycott their rum. We should be looking for businesses that treat their employees fairly and disregard the ones that don't.
It isn't unheard of to hear a customer ask, "is the salmon wild-caught?" Or inquiring if the chickens served are cage-free, free-range, and or organic. What about next time asking, "are your employees paid a living wage?" Or "does your employer provide you with affordable healthcare?" Find establishments that treat their employees right. Just being open and giving someone a place to work, hoping that people will come in and tip them for their labor isn't enough. I am astounded that idea is considered a proper business model. We are better than that. The industry workers are better than that.
I can't support the entire restaurant industry on my own, and neither can you. I couldn't fit that many meals in a day! I think the big question everyone should be asking is: are these businesses viable? From the numbers, we, the people, pay most of a tipped employee's wages. If the guests are more important to the business than the employees are, then there is undoubtedly a problem with the business model. Knives have to be sharpened, beer lines must be cleaned, glasses washed, and bottles refilled. Use takes a toll, and too often, we aren't looking at how the actual employees are being used and sadly not maintained.
So what are we to do? I don't particularly appreciate being guilted into soggy to-go food and overpriced canned cocktails to pad the owner's wallet while the employee relies on tips. We are the demand; the bars and restaurants are the supply. It has always been that way, and when the demand is high good luck getting a reservation or a seat at the bar. Now that the demand is low, the owners are begging to have us back yet complaining that the current conditions are hard to operate under all while using their staff as cheap bait. Most owners are not "risking their health," but their waitstaff certainly is.
The pandemic makes it clear to everyone that the restaurant industry has been unstable for a long time. Sometimes it is hard to see that when the lights are dim and the drinks are flowing. Now more than ever, we should vote with our wallets and keep the businesses that are operating honestly, lawfully, and conscientiously open for a long time to come.