Industry must unite against smear campaignsIndustry must unite against smear campaigns

Richard

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors and management of Nation’s Restaurant News.

For many people — including myself and others reading this column — washing dishes or waiting tables at a restaurant has been a stepping stone to industry management. And for the one-third of all adults who held their first job in a restaurant, it’s been a pathway to bigger and better things.


But a loud and vocal minority begs to differ. 


Earlier this year, a group called the Restaurant Opportunities Center, or ROC, launched their latest attack on the industry. Restaurants are downright abusive to their employees, they argue in a report, paying 
poverty-level wages while systematically discriminating against their workf...