Restaurant Workers Can't Afford to Feed Themselves

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Dear Pros,

Erika here. This week, my colleagues on the news desk reported on an industry survey that laid bare just how difficult it is for many hourly restaurant workers to make ends meet right now. As the price of food keeps going up and wage growth lags, the majority of workers who keep the gears turning in restaurants are under extreme financial pressure.

The survey, conducted by global research and strategy firm The Center for Generational Kinetics, polled 750 hourly restaurant workers across the United States between the ages of 16 and 65, from March 3 to 31, 2026. (The survey didn't specify what types of restaurants the respondents worked in.) The responses were tough to read. Some key statistics from the survey:

75% of respondents are living paycheck to paycheck.
97% of respondents say they experience some level of financial stress, and 63% of respondents categorize it as constant or frequent.
61% of respondents say they've skipped more than one meal in the past month because they cannot afford it.

The responses reminded me of something Lindsey Brown, the executive director of the Southern Smoke Foundation, noted while leading a discussion at the American Express x Resy Trade Program by F&W Pro at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen last month. In Southern Smoke's nearly decade-long history of issuing grants to restaurant workers who need emergency financial assistance (these may include car repairs, illness, housing issues, or other unexpected circumstances) the current average grant — $3,500 per person — is higher than it's ever been before.

The Southern Smoke data underscores that many restaurant workers are in a worse financial position now than they were during the pandemic. Frustratingly, the industry's low wages, long hours, and unstable schedules remain the status quo. "Many of these problems that were spotlighted at the time have not been fixed," Brown said.

Why is this still a difficult problem to solve? Even when restaurants were forced to come to a complete halt and then build back up from square one, low employee pay remained an embarrassing fact of the industry. (According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, food and beverage workers across the country earned a median hourly wage of $14.92 in 2024.)

Pros, if you could snap your fingers and change one thing about how restaurants are run in order to ensure employees are paid competitive wages, what would you do? I want to hear your ideas. Let me know your thoughts at the email below, and I may feature your response in a future F&W mailbag.

Take care,
Erika

Erika Adams

Restaurant Editor

IG: @erika.lea.adams

erika.adams@foodandwine.com

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