Opinion: We Actually Can’t Afford to Lose Any Of Our Restaurants
Recently, Esquire published a list of “100 Restaurants America Can't Afford to Lose.” While we understand that they were trying to highlight unique, historic and important restaurants in American cities, I couldn’t help but feel frustrated by the entire premise of the idea that some restaurants were inherently more “essential” than others.
While I think we can all agree that many neighborhoods could benefit from a few less McDonalds and a few more locally-owned restaurants, the idea that some restaurants are more valuable than others, based largely on their popularity in a magazine like Esquire, just rubbed me the wrong way. My biggest issue with a list like this is that it only highlights restaurants deemed “historical” or “interesting” through the lens of a white-dominated culture and mainstream media. While many of these restaurants are vibrant places with cuisines from all over the world made by chefs using family recipes, a large portion are in white-dominated neighborhoods and are evaluated from a white “foodie” perspective of what constitutes a good restaurant — sleek interior design, trendy branding, and highly-Instagramable plating.
What’s more, with a focus on the popularity of established eateries, we can so easily forget that or many restaurant workers, this shortlist ignores the very restaurant where they were working, an establishment they surely couldn't afford to lose. The pandemic has cost the US 5.9 million restaurant jobs and, despite the fact that some areas “opening back up”, many are continuing to scale down staff, , because they simply been limping along for so long. Restaurant workers already experience poverty at nearly three times the rate of workers overall, and workers of color experience poverty at nearly twice the rate of white restaurant workers. Our restaurants (all of them) need our support right now, and supporting those that are struggling, rather than just a handful of popular ones, is so important at this time. Every lost job right now is a household losing income and being forced to turn to other sources of support, placing even more strain on an already overwhelmed social service sector.
There are small family-run restaurants that line the streets of different neighborhoods in my hometown of Portland, Oregon — a city famed for its food scene — that might never make the tourist lists, but are all part of what makes each neighborhood lively and unique. I know I personally have so many spots that aren’t often the top “ranked” restaurants in the city, but I would be devastated if they were gone. These restaurants are essential to me, and while I might not like the list from Esquire, it might be helpful for us all to consider a personal list of the “most essential” restaurants in our own lives.
Life during the pandemic can be really overwhelming, and it can often feel so much easier to opt for quick convenience foods than to take the time to mix up our habits and walk down the street to support a local restaurant. I’ve started making a personal list of places that I want to make sure I support whenever I feel I have the funds to do so. Rather than grabbing a cup of coffee from the Starbucks right by my house, my personal list reminds me to go a few more blocks to the sweet small coffee shop that I used to love to sit and study in. While I can’t sit there now, I do want to when the pandemic is over, so I invest my coffee money there instead.
How can you support your neighborhood restaurants:
Buy food! In person or delivery, supporting restaurants by going and eating is the best thing you can do to keep restaurants in business and able to pay employees.
Tip. This seems pretty self explanatory, but even if you are getting takeout, people are still putting themselves at a higher risk of catching COVID to make you food.
Call ahead and order directly from the restaurant, not through third-party services like GrubHub or Postmates. These third-party services will charge you a fee and also take a cut from the restaurant themselves so they often earn 20-30% less than if you order directly from them. You may need to jump in your car and pick it up, but it will save you money and give more to the restaurant owners.
Follow on social media and spread the word! Even if you don’t have the funds to support restaurants as much as you’d like to (I know I’d go way more often if I could!), you can still support them by following them on social media and spreading the word about their delicious food. It’s a free way to let them know their hard work is worth it.
Be thoughtful before slamming them with a review. We’re all suffering from a bit of “pandemic fatigue” right now, which is all the more reason to be compassionate and patient when it comes to delivery times and service. Before writing a negative review, consider everything that the restaurant owners are dealing with at this time and if the review is necessary.
Author’s Note: Fundamentally, the loss of our restaurants is the result of a poor government response, not the lack of effort on the part of communities to sustain and support restaurants. While the focus of this piece is on what you can do with your dollars, the concept of “voting with your dollars” is inherently flawed in a broader system that supports corporate welfare over community and environmental well-being. This being said, we really wanted to complain about this damn Esquire article so we went for it. Thanks for coming along for the ride.
