A new study from the Food Chain Workers Alliance and Restaurant Opportunities Centers United found that restaurants that have higher employment standards are also invested in sourcing food that meets a higher level of environmental and economic sustainability. Virtually all respondents to the survey said they would sign up for a service that connected them to suppliers who share their values.
The study polled so-called “high-road” restaurants, meaning eateries that are already prioritizing higher labor standards and wages. The study’s authors write that as a result of their findings, “restaurants will be encouraged to continue or begin making high-road food choices by seeing the many restaurants that remain viable while making sustainable and equitable food sourcing choices.”
The survey polled 150 restaurant owners and operators, and the authors conducted in-person follow-up interviews with a subset of respondents. Ninety-three percent of respondents said that worker well-being and supporting local economies were “somewhat” or “very important” factors when the restaurant decided where to source its food. Eighty percent responded that environmental sustainability, nutrition, and animal welfare were “somewhat” or “very important” factors. Restaurant owners and operators were also asked whether current immigration policies were making it more difficult to staff their businesses; 50 percent of respondents said they were.
“The story behind the story of this report is that the low wages and rapidly deteriorating working conditions for farmworkers, processing, and distribution workers can clearly be countered in part by restaurant owners that demand food that matches good food values,” said Joann Lo, co-director of the Food Chain Workers Alliance, in a press release.