Racial inequality in restaurants and food industry

Amidst a pandemic, in the 21st century, there isn’t just a financial crisis, but also a food one. For the first time, people are struggling to put food on the table due to decreases in disposable income. Both food media and food service workers are getting laid off or paid less. This adds more strain to employers that are of color or immigrants who are already victim to racial wage gaps. The Bon Appetit scandal further revealed that even larger food media corporations like Conde Nast paid their employees unequally. 

There is an evident problem in the system as racism underlies in the roots of American history, agriculture, and food access. Colonization involved taking farmland from indigenous people, the enslavement of Africans and Indigenous people for labor on the farms, and the exploitation of cheap labor from immigrants from Asia and Latin America. These events in history may seem distant from today, but it is still affecting how immigrants, black, and people of color are viewed in the food industry. This discrete racism needs to be acknowledged to bring justice to food workers and consumers.

Colonization involved taking farmland from indigenous people, the enslavement of Africans and Indigenous people for labor on the farms, and the exploitation of cheap labor from immigrants from Asia and Latin America. These events in history may seem distant from today, but it is still affecting how immigrants, black, and people of color are viewed in the food industry. This discrete racism needs to be acknowledged to bring justice to the food chain and systems.  

The colorful history of food is extended beyond just the colors on the food pyramids… but to black and people of color who collectively contributed to the industry over time. With people from different backgrounds bringing in influences from various cuisines from their cultures, cities in the States like New York became a food and cultural melting pot. The food industry can bring people together, but at the same time discrimination and inequality looms behind doors of this interconnected industry.  

Before diving into more detail about modern day racism among food consumers and food workers, let's take a look at its roots through the history that has led up to it.

In the 1930s federal officials and mortgage lenders started redlining or separating areas in certain neighborhoods that they do not want to lend loans to. The portions that were redlined were commonly low income neighborhoods where black and people of color were housed. Creditworthy black and people of color living in these communities were denied mortgages based on race. Not only did this stop black Americans from purchasing housing, but also prevented black restaurateurs from obtaining business loans and leasing buildings for their eateries. Black people and minorities were clearly subjected to unequal opportunities which further oppressed them and pushed them to fall into the cycle of poverty. Through redlining, neighborhoods next to each other had major differences infrastructure wise and food-wise. 

Redlining was only among the surface of systemic racism. There were also laws imposed that promoted segregation by preventing black people access to higher education, essential resources and even restaurants. Schools around redlined neighborhoods were poorly maintained and funded. As a result, black people and minorities receive lower quality education that prevented them from furthering their education in which was a gateway for getting higher paid jobs. Black people and people of color were then stuck in labor intensive jobs and certain sectors in the food industry. 

Even though, redlining has been banned the previously segregated neighborhoods have become food deserts. Since the areas are less developed, grocery stores are scarce. Food consumers who are black and of color have less access to grocery stores and pharmacies. These individuals are given no choice but to resort to corner stores and fast food chains which sell less nutritionally dense foods as a source of food.

When talking about systemic oppression, segregation laws are an explicitly huge contributor in terms of promoting a disparity of opportunities between white, black and people of color.

After the Civil war during the 19th century  the 13th amendment was adopted and most states followed Black Codes (also known as Jim Crow laws) which were laws modeled on the former slave laws. The purpose for these set of regulations  is to limit new freedom of emancipated black Americans through driving them into labor intensive jobs that leads to lower income and debt. These laws are the very base of laws that support a system of white supremacy as they promoted inferior treatment and accommodations for ethnic minorities and black Americans. 

Segregated dining was among one of the Jim Crow laws which made it so that black Americans and ethnic minorities could not dine in restaurants and can only order take out in some establishments. These restrictions imposed upon public places took away personal rights and replaced it with feelings of shame. 

In an interview by NPR with Washington Brooker, who grew up in Birmingham in the 60s, recalls that "some restaurants would let you come in, go up to the counter and order," Booker says. "You had to have a certain kind of posture. You had to just stand there, couldn't just be looking around. And then, when your sandwich came, you took it and you left." 

Then there was a call for change during the 1950s when the Civil Rights Act movement started. The following events after a woman refused to obey a bus driver’s demand to give up her seat to a white man. Rosa Parks’  trial for her act of civil disobedience triggered a series of events demanding for change from the Montgomery Bus Boycott to Martin Luther King, Jr.,  and peaceful protests to Jim Crow laws . 

In 1964 the Civil Rights Act passed which banned segregation in restaurants, allowing black and people of color to dine in. However, the law did not stop particular local restaurants from participating in non-integrated dining. In fact, Ollie’s Barbeque in Birmingham, Alabama attempted to sue the law when it passed. The owners at the time believed that seating black Americans would drive away white patrons.

Even though, events throughout history that supported the pro-white and anti-black ideology may seem so distant from today. The traces of this history of racial segregation and redlining still persist more discreetly, in the shape of implicit racial bias.

Implicit racial bias are associations made subconsciously by individuals, which can cause them to act in discriminatory ways without actual intent to offend. The individual may not be overtly racist, but has been influenced by experiences or perspectives that may lead to biased thoughts or actions.

A study by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that historical oppression may play a role in influencing these sub conscious associations. These biases can lead to uncomfortable experiences for workers and restauranteurs who are black and of color.

An article by Korsha Wilson published by the Eater tells a story about her experience as a black American restaurant critic dining at The Grill, a well known fine dining establishment at the Four Seasons hotel in New York.

Upon leaving the high appraised eatery, Wilson felt "unsatisfied, but instead of hungry".

"While for some, Kennedy-era Manhattan is an inspirational time, calling to mind gleaming buildings and uncut optimism, for others, it represents a bleak period of misery and oppression. The original Four Seasons opened in the space in 1959, five years before the Civil Rights Act was passed, meaning I might not have been able to eat where the Grill now stands; in fact, it’s hard to imagine that this space would have been quick to welcome black diners even after the act was passed."

"But, as many black diners know, being in a dining space can often mean choosing between being ignored, interrogated, or assaulted. From being attacked while asking for silverware to being questioned for simply sitting at a table, there are plenty of ways in which restaurant experiences can quickly become unsafe for black diners. I suspect that the critics who loved the Grill have never had to negotiate these same realities."

"From being asked for a drink by white patrons to being told a different wait time for a table (or told there are none at all), restaurant dining rooms too often act in accordance with the same racial hierarchy as the rest of the world. I’ve been cut in front of as if I didn’t exist and been grabbed by a diner who thought I was ignoring her when she wanted another drink, or whatever she felt she needed at the moment. I’ve been handed the dessert wine menu at a bar because the bartender assumed I liked sweet wines, and been asked, “Have you had a Negroni before?” when ordering one — and even after assuring them that yes, I had, still suffered through a lecture explaining the concept of bitter flavor profiles. Experiences like these are constant reminders to people of color that they’re an “other” in dining spaces."

In the food critic industry which has become dominated by white men, as a black American woman, Wilson struggles to relate to the accommodating experiences that other white food critics received in a fine dining setting. Instead she was constantly reminded of historical oppression and her race. Despite claims that racism and discrimination don't exist in contemporary society. This goes on to show how implicit racial bias exists even in a diverse city like New York.

Similarly, a Cornell study shows that unequal treatment of white and black patrons can stem from the belief that white patrons tip more. When actually statistics have shown that the tipping differences are scarce. This suggests that there are some restaurants servers who cognitively exaggerate the magnitude of the tipping difference. These implicit racial biases can lead to discriminatory behavior which can make black patrons and patrons of color feel neglected. The laws may be changed, but unequal accommodation in restaurants still persists for patrons of color.

In the same way that racial inequality also exists implicitly among food workers. Today, the majority of restaurant workers are still subjected to discriminatory hiring practices. Lower paying positions like bussers, runners, kitchen positions, and fast food services go to black Americans and ethnic minorities. While white males appear to be channeled into more higher paying positions.

Black Americans and people of color who still live in low income areas due to red lining are only given opportunities to work minimum wage jobs in the food sector. Working in the restaurants, inevitably subjects workers to depend on tips as significant part of income. This becomes a problem when tipping is affected by implicit racial bias.

Statistics reveal that ethnic minorities and black food workers are given less tips. The racial profiling involved in tipping can lead to more inequality within the food system. This can promote more wage and opportunity disparity between food workers.

The pandemic has also become another obstacle for black restauranteurs who run local eateries. According to CNN "black-owned restaurants in the New York City area have seen their revenue fall as much as 70% to 80% since the start of the pandemic". The Small Business Administration (SBA) has been lending out loans to bigger businesses in Manhattan rather than smaller businesses in lower income areas that need it most. "The city’s Department of Small Business Services found that only 2% of a $20 million city-wide small business loan program went to businesses in the Bronx, the New York City borough with the highest share of black people, while 57% went to Manhattan businesses.". Once again, loans have become harder to access for black owned and minority owned businesses.

"Black-owned businesses entered the lockdown in less secure shape than many other companies. As of 2019, “the overwhelming majority of businesses in majority black and Hispanic neighborhoods did not have enough cash on hand to pay for two weeks’ worth of bills,”

This led to the organization of Black Restaurant Week to help boost revenue. These restaurants received "free registration, marketing and entry into a national registry of Black-owned eateries." Along with sustaining business, the purpose of the event was to create awareness for black owned restaurants.

The food and restaurant industry is highly complex which makes it hard to find solutions a problem that is intertwined to other factors. On a more optimistic perspective, it’s great that stories about racial wage gap and injustice in the food media and restaurants are coming into light and being discussed. . This gives hope to a new food industry, one where discrimination isn’t an ingredient.