counter- group demands $15/hour minimum wage from their food, service providers

Our restaurant group is keen to redress wealth distribution, specifically as it happens in the restaurant business. We will no longer work with companies that do not pay their employees at least a $15/hour minimum wage. 

Rewatch Chef Sam’s Instagram Live on this topic.

restaurants focused on social change

Chef Sam is in Chicago this week for the 2022 James Beard Awards. While in the Windy City for the awards, Sam has been catching up with other chefs and learning about the social impact they have in their communities. 

Restaurants are providing food to shelters, creating safer places to work, and building urban gardening for their communities. We are amazed and excited to be part of an industry that is leaning towards a healthier, more inclusive future. 

But more work needs to be done, and our restaurant group knows there is more than we can do, too. This is why we are requiring all the companies we source from--be they farmers, wineries, linen suppliers, or manufacturers--pay all their employees a minimum of $15/ hour.

minimum wage in north carolina restaurants

The minimum wage in North Carolina is just $7.25/ hour, the current Federal Minimum Wage rate. The tipped minimum wage--i.e. the minimum wage for workers who could receive tips for their work--is even lower: $2.13/ hour. 

Low minimum wage contributes to the egresses wrongs of wealth distribution in the United States and across the globe. The 500,0000 to 1 million documented and undocumented workers that tend the farmers, manufacture and package the proteins and transport the food to restaurants make up a large percentage of the workforce that is undervalued by low minimum wages in this county.

changing the way we purchase for our restaurants 

We have focused on what we prepare in our restaurant and how we prepare our food; we've been mindful about who we have in the kitchen, actively considering the diversity and inclusion in the industry; and we have addressed how we pay our 11 employees. 

Now we are focusing on the companies we do business with, holding them to our own standard of payment. So we are changing the way we purchase, only purchasing from companies with at least a $15/hour minimum wage for their hardest-working employees.

We're excited to continue working with Freshlist (https://freshlist.com) as our primary source of local North Carolina-grown foods. As well as Halperns (https://www.halperns.com) for our locally raised proteins. Rare Tea Cellar (https://rareteacellar.com), which provides us with a lot of our "luxury goods," exceeds our new minimum requirement for their employees. 

sourcing struggle

This is not an easy decision to make. Our day-to-day work at the restaurants will be more difficult and expensive. We've yet to find a linen service that has a $15/minimum wage and a place to get the basic goods for the kitchen like salt and oil. 

Our initiative is to source 100% of our goods and services for the restaurant group from companies with at least a $15/ hour minimum wage by Sept 9, 2022, counter-'s second birthday.  

A restaurant can't operate without electricity just like it can't operate without the people preparing the food, transporting the food, and cultivating the food. They are a necessity too and should be valued as such with their compensation.