tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/restaurants-18127/articlesRestaurants – The Conversation2024-03-19T12:25:19Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2226912024-03-19T12:25:19Z2024-03-19T12:25:19Z$50K per year for a degree in a low-wage industry − is culinary school worth it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582641/original/file-20240318-20-1k5k0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C0%2C5618%2C3751&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cooks and chefs regularly debate the merits of culinary school.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/increase-in-the-price-of-gas-concept-of-problems-in-royalty-free-image/1412088087?phrase=burning+money+stove&adppopup=true">Diy13/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>America’s culinary schools are feeling the heat. </p>
<p>When chef Gordon Ramsay appeared on an episode of the YouTube series “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENhfIeZF_AY">Last Meal</a>” in January 2024, he described U.S. culinary schools as “depressing” places that “sandbag” students with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt before releasing them <a href="https://www.bls.gov/ooh/food-preparation-and-serving/chefs-and-head-cooks.htm">into a low-wage industry</a>.</p>
<p>He added that graduates are pressured to select jobs that will put them in the best position to pay off their loans, rather than ones that will give them opportunities to learn and grow as chefs. Ramsay singled out the Culinary Institute of America, one of the most prestigious cooking schools in the country, as it sets students at its New York campus back <a href="https://www.ciachef.edu/cia-tuition/">US$52,090</a> per academic year. </p>
<p>Then, at the end of February, The New York Times published <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/27/dining/chefs-state-of-the-restaurant-industry.html">a compilation of interviews from 30 chefs around the U.S</a>. They chimed in on a range of topics, but they were pretty much in lockstep when it came to culinary degrees: </p>
<p>“People ask me, ‘What’s a good culinary school to go to?’” chef Justin Pioche said. “And I always tell them: Don’t go.” </p>
<p>Chef Robynne Maii added, “I always sing the praises of culinary school, but in community colleges only. All the for-profit schools need to go away. They’re completely unnecessary and they’re predatory.”</p>
<p>These sentiments are not unique to culinary schools. </p>
<p>Trade, technical and for-profit schools are routinely criticized for their lopsided cost-to-benefit ratio, with scholars such as <a href="https://thenewpress.com/books/lower-ed">Tressie McMillan Cottom</a> and <a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/11594/diploma-mills">A.J. Angulo</a> arguing that many of them have predatory financial processes baked into their business models. There has been a similar critique – often tinged with political undercurrents – over <a href="https://slate.com/business/2021/07/masters-degrees-debt-loans-worth-it.html">graduate degrees in the humanities, arts and social sciences</a>, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/financially-hobbled-for-life-the-elite-masters-degrees-that-dont-pay-off-11625752773">described by the Wall Street Journal</a> as “elite master’s degrees that don’t pay off.”</p>
<p>Yet thousands of aspiring chefs continue to enroll in expensive culinary schools, rather than learn on the job while being paid. And in <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/making-it/9781978840126/#generate-pdf">the research for my book on notions of success in the culinary industry</a>, I found that many graduates from these institutions actually feel their experiences were worth the price of admission. </p>
<p>What might explain this paradox?</p>
<h2>Beyond dollars and cents</h2>
<p>Cooks and chefs <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/KitchenConfidential/comments/9qzw4g/is_culinary_school_worth_it/">regularly</a> <a href="https://www.foodandwine.com/lifestyle/culinary-school-worth-it-four-chefs-weigh-in">debate</a> the merits of culinary school. </p>
<p>It’s also a question I asked 50 U.S.-based kitchen workers during a study I conducted from 2018 to 2020. Of those 50 workers, 22 had attended culinary school. And of those 22 chefs, 17 believed their education was worth the cost – over three-quarters. </p>
<p>They were clear-eyed about how much they would earn after graduation – very little – and they also grasped that the debt would constrain their future work choices. </p>
<p>Yet, to them, the worth of their schooling didn’t hinge on wages and earning power. </p>
<p>Instead, they found immense value in the friendships and connections they forged – and in learning the culture of commercial kitchens. Social scientists have terms for these benefits: <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199756384/obo-9780199756384-0076.xml?rskey=fvSHSB&result=1&q=social+capital#firstMatch">social capital</a> and <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199756384/obo-9780199756384-0209.xml?rskey=UwFmGz&result=1&q=cultural+capital#firstMatch">cultural capital</a>. </p>
<p>Interviewees described being able to meet mentors through school events, gain experience in award-winning kitchens through internships, form relationships with classmates and always have a degree to point to as proof of know-how.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Bird's eye view of culinary students standing around a piece of pork as an instructor demonstrates how to cut the meat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582645/original/file-20240318-28-lgqhes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582645/original/file-20240318-28-lgqhes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582645/original/file-20240318-28-lgqhes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582645/original/file-20240318-28-lgqhes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582645/original/file-20240318-28-lgqhes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582645/original/file-20240318-28-lgqhes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582645/original/file-20240318-28-lgqhes.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=588&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A Culinary Institute of America instructor demonstrates how to cut pork chops.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CadetsandCooks/635766166c68411b989beb7b1edb3e37/photo?Query=cadets%20and%20cooks&mediaType=photo&sortBy=creationdatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=15&currentItemNo=2">AP Photo/Mike Groll</a></span>
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<p>Culinary school was particularly helpful for individuals who felt socially disadvantaged in some way. They may have lacked connections and experience, or they were a minority in an industry where <a href="https://restaurant.org/getmedia/21a36a65-d5d4-41d0-af5c-737ab545d65a/nra-data-brief-restaurant-employee-demographics-march-2022.pdf">white men are more likely to serve as executive chefs</a>.</p>
<p>“Because I am a female it was harder for me to get a sous-chef job,” one chef explained to me. “I mean, I saw kids who were not nearly as skilled as I was who got sous-chef positions, and I’d always get passed up. But I really feel that that education [from the Culinary Institute of America] – especially as a woman – really helped me. A lot. I would’ve never got the jobs I got without it.” </p>
<p>In her 2015 book “<a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=23351">At The Chef’s Table</a>,” sociologist Vanina Leschziner found that elite chefs claim to not weigh academic degrees highly while hiring, <a href="https://www.eater.com/2014/7/28/6184011/chefs-weigh-in-does-culinary-school-get-cooks-hired">a sentiment also found by the food website Eater</a>. At the same time, Leschziner found that 85% of elite chefs in San Francisco and New York were culinary school graduates, with 67% holding degrees from the Culinary Institute of America.</p>
<p>At face value, it’s possible that degrees and certificates are dismissed or overlooked during the hiring process. But social connections are not. So perhaps the networks and friendships formed during schooling are a big reason why most high-status restaurants are staffed by culinary school graduates.</p>
<p>With these industry realities in mind, culinary school doesn’t seem to “sandbag” students; instead, it helps them overcome barriers that they ordinarily couldn’t.</p>
<h2>Not all culinary schools are alike</h2>
<p>Based on my interviewees’ enthusiasm, culinary school degrees seem like a no-brainer. But there are caveats.</p>
<p>First, these largely positive perceptions of culinary school came primarily from students who had gone to the Culinary Institute of America. Attendees of college or for-profit programs, such as the <a href="https://www.eater.com/2015/12/17/10401492/le-cordon-bleu-cooking-school-america-closing">now-shuttered U.S. Le Cordon Bleu campuses</a>, were less pleased about their experience, with just 66% feeling like their degree was worth it, compared with 90% of those I interviewed with degrees from the Culinary Institute of America. While some of this discontent was due to quality of instruction, a large part was related to schools’ prestige.</p>
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<img alt="Blue awning hanging over entrance to three story building reads 'Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582649/original/file-20240318-28-1itan2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/582649/original/file-20240318-28-1itan2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582649/original/file-20240318-28-1itan2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582649/original/file-20240318-28-1itan2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582649/original/file-20240318-28-1itan2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=615&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582649/original/file-20240318-28-1itan2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=615&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/582649/original/file-20240318-28-1itan2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=615&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Le Cordon Bleu closed all 16 of its U.S. campuses in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-famed-le-cordon-bleu-culinary-school-plans-to-close-all-news-photo/1245992397?adppopup=true">Walt Mancini/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>There are about <a href="https://datausa.io/profile/cip/culinary-arts-chef-training">260 culinary programs across the nation</a>. Schools at the top of the hierarchy, such as the Culinary Institute of America and the Institute of Culinary Education, are seen as places where high-status networks can be honed. This is, in part, a result of filtering out those who can’t afford to pay.</p>
<p>A degree from a top school is associated with the high-caliber restaurants and chefs that Leschziner wrote about; a degree from a lesser-known program likely yields far less social and cultural capital.</p>
<p>Second, I spoke only to individuals who still work in the industry, and that’s just a fraction of the culinary school population. Not all who attend remain in the industry. In fact, my interviewees estimated that only one-third of their classmates still cooked professionally. </p>
<p>Those who stick around likely present a more positive take: They had finished school and had found some measure of success <a href="https://jacobin.com/2020/12/restaurant-workers-covid-coronavirus-food-service">in a notoriously brutal industry</a>. Had I spoken to the two-thirds of graduates who had left the industry, this article might read differently.</p>
<p>Finally, because students devote a lot of time and money to an experience that yields little financial return on investment, adopting a rosy outlook on their schooling may smooth over <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/cognitive-dissonance">any inner turmoil that might arise</a> as they judge themselves and their past decisions.</p>
<h2>A foot in the door</h2>
<p>Determining the value of expensive culinary education is tough. </p>
<p>It can also detract from the very real problem of predatory and overpriced schooling, especially as the cost of higher education – in all forms – <a href="https://educationdata.org/college-tuition-inflation-rate#:%7E:text=The%20average%20annual%20cost%20of,9.24%25%20from%202010%20to%202022.">continues to rise</a>, to the point of excluding large swaths of the population. </p>
<p>What’s clear to me, though, is that finances are not the sole – nor most important – reason why people choose to attend pricey culinary programs. My interviewees viewed culinary school as a social experience, one that provides meaningful networking and cultural opportunities to students and alumni. </p>
<p>As one award-winning chef told me, “If I wouldn’t have gone (to the Culinary Institute of America), I wouldn’t have gotten (my first) job as a personal chef. … Anytime people see (Culinary Institute of America) on the resume – whether it should or shouldn’t – it does open doors. So, I’m really glad I went there.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222691/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ellen T. Meiser attended the Culinary Institute of America's Napa campus from 2008 to 2009, where she obtained a certificate in Baking and Pastry. While she had a positive experience, her own opinions and anecdotes are not included in this article. All findings are derived from 50 in-depth interviews with kitchen workers across the US, collected from 2018 to 2020. Additionally, she did not graduate culinary school with student loan debt.</span></em></p>Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay recently pilloried these institutions for saddling students with debt prior to sending them off into a low-wage industry. But many graduates have no regrets.Ellen T. Meiser, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Hawaii at HiloLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2248622024-03-07T22:57:33Z2024-03-07T22:57:33ZToo much heat in the kitchen: survey shows toxic work conditions mean many chefs are getting out<p>Chefs are in hot demand. “Chefs, chefs, chefs! Virtually impossible to find anyone,” <a href="https://www.mbie.govt.nz/business-and-employment/employment-and-skills/regional-skills-leadership-groups/tamaki-makaurau/regional-workforce-plans/regional-workforce-plan-2023/regional-highlights/our-economy-industry-and-business-highlights/">lamented one Auckland restaurant owner</a> recently. Australia is seeing a similar gap, with chefs ranked the <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/australia-jobs-the-20-most-in-demand-professions-national-skills-commission/818fc635-6828-40e0-944b-385a0caef7d4#12">eighth most in-demand occupation</a>. Given this culinary skills shortage, we might expect such sought-after employees to be highly valued. </p>
<p>Apparently not. Our <a href="https://openrepository.aut.ac.nz/items/90384000-13f2-40ed-9809-70e2324410d6">new report</a> on chef wellbeing and working conditions shows chefs in Australia and New Zealand experience significant financial hardship and mental health issues, with many wishing to leave their jobs. </p>
<p>This has major implications for tourism, too, as jobs such as cheffing are “<a href="https://ojs.aut.ac.nz/7experiencessummit/7ES/article/view/36/36">keystone</a> occupations” in major destinations. When jobs can’t be filled, these places lose money. </p>
<p>Tourism <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/03/06/nz-is-tourism-booming-but-what-do-visitors-want-more-of/">revenue is booming</a>, with visitors reportedly seeking more scenery, history and culture. The food chefs prepare in cafés and restaurants forms an integral part of the tourist experience. But despite the laws of supply and demand, the situation for chefs is unlikely to improve without radical changes to work practices.</p>
<p>Our study is the first quantitative survey to examine working conditions and mental health issues among chefs in both Australia and New Zealand. The survey was distributed through professional culinary associations, and final responses were captured as Australasia emerged from COVID restrictions. </p>
<p>The survey also followed up previous Australian studies, which indicated <a href="https://theconversation.com/all-these-celebrity-restaurant-wage-theft-scandals-point-to-an-industry-norm-131286">exploitation was an industry norm</a>, with chefs experiencing <a href="https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/hosp_00030_1">burnout and wage theft</a>.</p>
<h2>‘Banter, bollockings and beatings’</h2>
<p>The kitchen environment is well documented to be particularly harsh. As <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-01-2017-0030">one British study</a> titled “Banter, bollockings and beatings” made clear, an often macho culture can prevail, including <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/29/top-chef-leaves-french-hotel-du-palais-biarritz-after-alleged-naked-hazing-of-kitchen-staff">bizarre induction rituals</a>. </p>
<p>An <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00127-022-02229-7">Australian study</a> published in 2022 showed chefs were significantly more likely than the general population to commit suicide. And even before the pandemic, the industry’s <a href="https://www.restaurantnz.co.nz/2019/06/24/mental-health-in-the-workplace-the-last-frontier/">“toxic” workplace culture</a> was blamed for mental health issues and high suicide rates among employees.</p>
<p>Most of our chef respondents were men, with an average age of 37. They had been chefs for 16 years on average. Of these, 42% originally came from outside Australia and New Zealand, underlining the profession’s high mobility. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-bear-gets-the-suffering-and-self-sacrifice-of-a-top-flight-kitchen-just-right-210023">The Bear gets the suffering and self-sacrifice of a top-flight kitchen just right</a>
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<p>The results reveal disturbing insights into chefs’ working conditions. It was surprising to find nearly half (44%) of our sample were in precarious employment, given the skills shortage. </p>
<p>Two-thirds (67%) of respondents worked more than 38 hours weekly, but a fifth of the chefs worked 52-61 hours. Of these, 6.33% worked 62 hours or more – well above New Zealand’s <a href="https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/8-hour-workday-remains-commonplace-in-new-zealand/">still commonplace</a> 40-hour work week, and Australia’s <a href="https://www.fairwork.gov.au/tools-and-resources/fact-sheets/minimum-workplace-entitlements/introduction-to-the-national-employment-standards#:%7E:text=The%20minimum%20entitlements%20of%20the,to%20change%20their%20working%20arrangements.">legally prescribed</a> 38 hours. Despite the fast-paced environment, a quarter did not get their legally entitled breaks. </p>
<p>Economic insecurity was very evident. Financial hardship was reported by almost one in five chefs (15-20%), and a quarter of respondents went without meals due to financial pressure. That those who feed others struggle to feed themselves seems a dark irony.</p>
<p>Two-thirds also reported working when sick, an average of nine days each a year. Post-COVID, this should concern health professionals, policy makers and the broader community.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/toxic-work-cultures-start-with-incivility-and-mediocre-leadership-what-can-you-do-about-it-204198">Toxic work cultures start with incivility and mediocre leadership. What can you do about it?</a>
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<h2>Leaving the industry</h2>
<p>The 2023 <a href="https://umbrella.org.nz/umbrellawellbeingreport/">Umbrella Wellbeing</a> report, which recorded New Zealanders’ perceptions of their workplaces and wellbeing, warns that long working hours and poor workplace cultures have adverse health outcomes, with New Zealand faring worse than Australia. </p>
<p>Nearly one in ten of the chefs surveyed suffered mental distress. Results showed high levels of physical and mental fatigue (“exhausted at work”, “emotionally drained”, “becoming disconnected”). </p>
<p>Respondents reported disrupted sleep and unhealthy lifestyles. Almost 15% of the sample consumed alcohol five or more days weekly, with 11.4% saying they had consumed hard drugs (LSD, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine or ecstasy) in the past year.</p>
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<p>One in five hospitality professionals experiences depression according to charity <a href="https://www.theburntchefproject.com/">The Burnt Chef Project</a>. In a spoken-word performance for the project, poet and writer Joe Bellman describes “defeated faces and lifeless eyes” behind the kitchen door, where “breaking the human spirit is just company policy”. </p>
<p>The majority of respondents said they were likely (with 20% extremely likely) to look for a new employer during the next year. Many of these new jobs will be outside hospitality (which is classified within the overall tourism sector).</p>
<p>Another <a href="https://aut.ac/hetangata">report</a> commissioned last year by the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) found a third of hospitality and tourism workers had high intentions of completely quitting the industries. Reasons included low pay and conditions, stress and toxic work environments.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/all-these-celebrity-restaurant-wage-theft-scandals-point-to-an-industry-norm-131286">All these celebrity restaurant wage-theft scandals point to an industry norm</a>
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<h2>Mental health and healthy hospo</h2>
<p>Maybe not surprisingly, our survey showed intention to quit a job declines with better management support. Failure to improve working conditions for chefs, however, will have lasting consequences for the industry. </p>
<p>The Better Work Action Plan, the first phase of New Zealand’s <a href="https://www.mbie.govt.nz/immigration-and-tourism/tourism/tourism-projects/tourism-industry-transformation-plan/">Tourism Industry Transformation Plan</a>, was launched by MBIE in 2023 under the previous government. It followed extensive consultation with representatives from hospitality and tourism, Māori, unions, workers and government. </p>
<p>Its aim was to develop a sustainable tourism workforce by addressing longstanding issues of low pay and poor conditions across the sector.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-did-abuse-get-baked-into-the-restaurant-industry-204993">How did abuse get baked into the restaurant industry?</a>
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<p>The first step involved hospitality and tourism workers receiving government approval to negotiate an <a href="https://thespinoff.co.nz/kai/31-05-2023/explained-hospitality-gets-the-fair-pay-agreement-green-light">industry-wide fair pay agreement</a>. However, the current coalition government immediately <a href="https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/22-12-2023/the-hard-won-and-swiftly-lost-dream-of-fair-pay-agreements">scrapped fair pay legislation</a>. </p>
<p>The Australian government’s post-COVID tourism recovery strategy, <a href="https://www.austrade.gov.au/en/how-we-can-help-you/programs-and-services/thrive-2030-strategy">THRIVE 2030</a>, has committed to “promote employment standards” regarding compliance obligations and fair work. If effective, these would address the breaches evident in our study.</p>
<p>The hospitality industry relies on young people actively choosing a culinary career. But <a href="https://www.mbie.govt.nz/business-and-employment/employment-and-skills/regional-skills-leadership-groups/tamaki-makaurau/regional-workforce-plans/regional-workforce-plan/our-economy-industry-and-business/services/">MBIE forecasts</a> show students are less likely to seek hospitality jobs given these problems in the sector. </p>
<p>By chance, however, New Zealand’s new <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/minister/biography/matt-doocey#:%7E:text=Matt%20Doocey%20is%20the%20Minister,Waimakariri%20since%20the%202014%20election.">minister for mental health</a>, Matt Doocey, is also tourism and hospitality minister. It is now up to him to make the connection between his portfolios, and work to reduce the heat in the nation’s commercial kitchens.</p>
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<p><em>The authors acknowledge the assistance of the AUT Hospitable Futures Research Fund.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224862/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Stress, poor pay and job insecurity are driving professional chefs away from the hospitality industry in Australia and New Zealand. Tourism is also feeling the impact of the looming skill shortage.Shelagh K. Mooney, Associate Professor, School of Hospitality & Tourism, Faculty of Culture and Society, Auckland University of TechnologyMatthew Brenner, Lecturer, The Hotel School Australia, Southern Cross UniversityRichard Robinson, Associate Professor, School of Business, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2106712023-08-18T12:39:44Z2023-08-18T12:39:44ZTipping etiquette and norms are in flux − here’s how you can avoid feeling flustered or ripped off<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542867/original/file-20230815-23-mw6txd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=298%2C54%2C5743%2C3841&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Digital payment methods may automatically prompt you to leave a gratuity.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/TippingFatigue/11bc6c8b9388484fa0dbf543db35dc47/photo?Query=tip%20fatigue&mediaType=photo,video,graphic,audio&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=5&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tipping has gotten more complicated – and awkward – in North America.</p>
<p>The ever-growing list of situations in which you might be invited to tip includes <a href="https://haveyourselfatime.com/smoothie-king-tipping-etiquette/">buying a smoothie</a>, <a href="https://bestlifeonline.com/places-you-should-never-tip/">paying an electrician</a>, <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/should-you-tip-your-flight-attendant-it-all-depends-on-the-airline-2019-01-08">getting a beer from a flight attendant</a> and <a href="https://support.actblue.com/donors/about-actblue/what-are-actblue-tips-for/">making a political donation</a>. </p>
<p>Should you always tip when someone suggests it? If yes, how do you calculate the right amount? And if you don’t, are you being stingy?</p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=iU_D4EwAAAAJ&hl=en">marketing professors</a> who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=s5S9eAoAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">specialize in customer interactions</a>, we’re researching how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/10946705231166742">digital payment technologies have changed how and when customers tip</a>. Our research suggests that asking for <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1094670519900553">tips before service</a> and <a href="https://www.msi.org/working-papers/whos-in-control-how-default-tip-levels-influence-customer-response/">suggesting tip amounts that are too high</a> can frustrate customers and be bad for business.</p>
<h2>What’s new</h2>
<p>U.S. customers historically tipped people they assumed were earning most of their <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=465942">income via tips</a>, such as restaurant servers earning less than the minimum wage. In the early 2010s, a wide range of businesses started processing purchases with iPads and other digital payment systems. These systems often prompted customers to tip for <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/3022182/how-square-registers-ui-guilts-you-into-leaving-tips">services that were not previously tipped</a>.</p>
<p>Today’s tip requests are often not connected to the salary and service norms that used to determine <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/01/technology-pandemic-economy-gratuity-tipping-etiquette-square/672658/">when and how people tip</a>.</p>
<p>Customers in the past nearly always paid tips after receiving a service, such as at the conclusion of a restaurant meal, after getting a haircut or once a pizza was delivered. That timing could reward high-quality service and give workers an incentive to provide it. </p>
<p>It’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/customers-hate-tipping-before-theyre-served-and-asking-makes-them-less-likely-to-return-132078">becoming more common</a> for tips to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/payment-apps-asking-for-specific-tips-before-service-annoy-the-heck-out-of-users-but-still-generate-bigger-gratuities-180083">requested beforehand</a>. And new tipping technology may even <a href="https://abc7news.com/amazon-fresh-tipping-tip-delivery-driver-automatic/13325771/">automatically add tips</a>.</p>
<h2>Tip creep and tipflation</h2>
<p>The prevalence of digital payment devices has made it easier to ask customers for a tip. That helps explain why <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/01/business/dollar3-tip-on-a-dollar4-cup-of-coffee-gratuities-grow-automatically.html">tip requests are creeping</a> into new kinds of services.</p>
<p>Customers now routinely see menus of suggested default options – often well above 20% of what they owe. The amounts have risen from <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/29/1089587173/the-land-of-the-fee-2021">10% or less in the 1950s</a> to 15% around the year 2000 to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/14/is-25percent-the-new-20percent-how-much-to-tip-in-a-post-pandemic-world.html">20% or higher today</a>. This increase is sometimes called <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tipping-backlash-inflation-who-should-get-tipped/">tipflation</a> – the expectation of ever-higher tip amounts. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22446361/pandemic-gratuity-covid-service-work">COVID-19 pandemic</a>, which hastened the adoption of digital payments and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0886368721999135">increased sympathy for service workers</a>, amplified both tip creep and tipflation.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542872/original/file-20230815-17-m69ndx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Soda fountain attendant serving young woman in a black and white photo taken in the 1950s" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542872/original/file-20230815-17-m69ndx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542872/original/file-20230815-17-m69ndx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542872/original/file-20230815-17-m69ndx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542872/original/file-20230815-17-m69ndx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542872/original/file-20230815-17-m69ndx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542872/original/file-20230815-17-m69ndx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542872/original/file-20230815-17-m69ndx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tips used to be smaller.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/soda-fountain-attendant-serving-young-woman-royalty-free-image/53271877?phrase=tip+restaurant+service+black+and+white&adppopup=true">George Marks/Retrofile RF via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tipping has always been a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/07/17/1187275511/tipping-minimum-wage-tips-tip-screen">vital source of income</a> for workers in historically tipped services, like restaurants, where the tipped minimum wage can be as low as <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/minimum-wage/tipped">US$2.13 an hour</a>. Tip creep and tipflation are now further supplementing the income of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/13/business/economy/tipped-wage-subminimum.html">many low-wage service workers</a>.</p>
<p>Notably, tipping primarily benefits some of these workers, such as waiters, but not others, such as cooks and dishwashers. To ensure that all employees were paid fair wages, some restaurants banned tipping and increased prices, but this movement toward no-tipping services has <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/the-limitations-of-american-restaurants-no-tipping-experiment">largely fizzled out</a>.</p>
<p>So, to increase employee wages without raising prices, more employers are succumbing to the temptations of tip creep and tipflation. However, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/american-tipping-system-makes-no-sense/600865/">many customers are frustrated</a> because they feel they are being asked for too high of a tip, too often. And, as our research emphasizes, tipping now seems to be more coercive, less generous and often completely dissociated from service quality. </p>
<p>While digital tipping can be an easy way for customers to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/19/dining/tipping-gratuity-restaurants.html">help workers or express their gratitude</a> for good service, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/09/briefing/tipping-confusion-food-delivery-apps.html?searchResultPosition=2">many Americans feel uncertain</a> about what to do when asked for a tip.</p>
<h2>3 questions to always ask</h2>
<p>Here are some questions you can ask yourself when faced with almost any tipping decision. </p>
<p><strong>1. Should I tip?</strong></p>
<p>It’s generally up to you to decide whether you will tip and how much.</p>
<p>To avoid being <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670519900553">pressured into tipping when you don’t want to</a>, establish your own norms for different services. That will make you less likely to be surprised by an unexpected or high-pressure tip request. Many customers do pay tips in those situations but get upset.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542871/original/file-20230815-26-1zfy69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Tip jar full of dollar bills with a 'thank you' written on a strip of tape adhered to it" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542871/original/file-20230815-26-1zfy69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542871/original/file-20230815-26-1zfy69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542871/original/file-20230815-26-1zfy69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542871/original/file-20230815-26-1zfy69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542871/original/file-20230815-26-1zfy69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542871/original/file-20230815-26-1zfy69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542871/original/file-20230815-26-1zfy69.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sometimes it’s best to chip in with a little cash.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/glass-tip-jar-at-checkout-counter-royalty-free-image/1324730309?adppopup=true">Catherine McQueen/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We advise you to always tip when there’s a clear tradition of doing so: dining at full-service restaurants or ordering a drink at a bar, traveling by taxi, having meals delivered to your door and getting a haircut.</p>
<p>We also recommend tipping employees you believe are being paid less than a fair wage. Though it can be difficult to determine whether employees are underpaid, learning whether your state or city <a href="https://www.epi.org/minimum-wage-tracker/?gclid=CjwKCAjw5_GmBhBIEiwA5QSMxAJ3gRSsi_Jz-Ny8ZacR8aM7pW0FmaCazBhvhq0vzZtzSpDM63s-wBoCOX4QAvD_BwE#/min_wage/New%20Jersey">guarantees a minimum wage</a> that’s well above the federal requirement can help.</p>
<p>For many tipped services, quality varies widely. In these situations, you can use tips to reward better service, if you pay after receiving it; or you can give workers a tip beforehand as an incentive to treat you well.</p>
<p>Likewise, pay a tip if you’re likely to use the service again. You will earn a reputation as a good or bad tipper, and employees will treat you accordingly.</p>
<p>There’s a wide range of services that may or may not require a tip. These include quick-service cafes and takeout, where customers order at a counter rather than being waited on at a table. You will need to decide what to do in those situations on a case-by-case basis. <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.com/fn-dish/news/2014/05/should-you-tip-your-barista">Tipping a barista</a> who has skillfully prepared your fancy latte makes more sense to us than tipping a worker who rings up a can of soda.</p>
<p>In many instances, paying and tipping in cash makes the most sense because you can avoid coercive technology and ensure that the employee who helped you directly receives the tip. That way, the employee will know you appreciate their service, and you can be fairly certain that their employer is not somehow <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/employers-would-pocket-workers-tips-under-trump-administrations-proposed-tip-stealing-rule/">swiping their tip money</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542868/original/file-20230815-25-uwuvhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A card reader tablet with tip options that are for $1, $2 and $3, custom or no tip" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542868/original/file-20230815-25-uwuvhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542868/original/file-20230815-25-uwuvhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542868/original/file-20230815-25-uwuvhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542868/original/file-20230815-25-uwuvhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542868/original/file-20230815-25-uwuvhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542868/original/file-20230815-25-uwuvhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542868/original/file-20230815-25-uwuvhj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When is it OK to just say no?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/TippingFatigue/e26fc772b27c4a76a60d20c4f041c58d/photo?Query=tip%20fatigue&mediaType=photo,video,graphic,audio&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=5&currentItemNo=3">AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>2. How much?</strong></p>
<p>This question is especially important when preservice tips are requested. If service quality may vary based on your response, for example with food delivery, food trucks, bars and restaurants, we suggest tipping the middle or high default tip amount, which will often be around 20%, or a flat dollar amount that is the rough equivalent. That approach will avoid the possibility of getting poor service. Of course, this can result in frustration if service doesn’t meet your expectations.</p>
<p>An alternative strategy is to tip the lowest recommended option, which is often close to 10%, then add an additional cash tip if the service is good. While using this strategy risks bad service, it’s a wise way to go if you plan to be a repeat customer.</p>
<p><strong>3. Can I skip it this time?</strong></p>
<p>If a tip request comes as a surprise, that usually means there is no norm you’re familiar with for that service. We recommend that you don’t tip in that situation, despite the social pressure. If you wind up tipping anyway, we recommend either not returning to the business or writing a polite but critical review online describing your uncomfortable experience.</p>
<p>We don’t believe there’s a reason to feel guilty leaving no tip or a low tip when you are using a service that is not traditionally tipped or where service quality is not affected by the tip amount, such as when making a donation or <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/09/27/woman-asked-to-tip-while-online-shopping/">ordering an office chair from an internet retailer</a>. </p>
<p>Ultimately, tipping is voluntary, which makes it a personal choice.</p>
<p>But whether you tip or not, you should always treat service workers well, especially tipped service workers. They are often exposed to the worst customer behaviors, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/11/business/tipping-sexual-harassment.html">including harassment</a>, which is never appropriate – no matter how much a customer tips.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210671/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Tipping seems to be more coercive and less tied to service quality these days.Nathan B. Warren, Assistant Professor of Marketing, BI Norwegian Business SchoolSara Hanson, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of RichmondLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2066572023-07-24T20:50:36Z2023-07-24T20:50:36ZCanada’s federal single-use plastics ban: What they got right and what they didn’t<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/canadas-federal-single-use-plastics-ban-what-they-got-right-and-what-they-didnt" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>There is little dispute these days over the need to regulate single-use plastics. But there is ample confusion around what plastics to address and how to do so.</p>
<p>In 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the intention to reach <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/managing-reducing-waste/reduce-plastic-waste/canada-action.html">zero plastic waste in Canada by 2030</a>, spurred on by a ban on some plastic items in 2022. </p>
<p>As the UN <a href="https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/nations-agree-end-plastic-pollution#:%7E:text=175%20nations%20agree%20to%20develop,plastic%20production%2C%20use%20and%20disposal">continues to develop its own global regulations</a>, Canadian businesses and consumers are starting to feel the impacts of our single-use plastics ban, and some industries are finding it more challenging than others to adapt. </p>
<h2>Designing a plastics ban</h2>
<p>In order to determine what items to include in the first phase of the ban, the federal government performed a <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/evaluating-existing-substances/science-assessment-plastic-pollution.html">scientific assessment of plastic consumption</a>. Based on this study, the ban targeted six items determined to be of highest concern: plastic ring carriers, plastic straws, plastic stir sticks, plastic bags, plastic cutlery and plastic food wares. </p>
<p>The government also laudably <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/managing-reducing-waste/reduce-plastic-waste/single-use-plastic-overview.html">categorized plastics as a toxic substance</a>.</p>
<p>However, the question remains: is Canada’s single-use plastics ban actually going to make a big difference? </p>
<p>Among the targeted plastics include common food service items such as takeout containers and plastic cutlery, items which <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrvetter/2021/06/18/these-four-plastic-items-make-up-almost-half-of-all-ocean-trash/?sh=45080bb5fea4">are among the most commonly found in the environment</a>. This waste alongside the <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/10214/26944">usefulness of plastics for restaurants</a> would seemingly make the food service industry an essential place to start when addressing plastics waste.</p>
<h2>Focus on circularity and reusable alternatives rather than single-use items</h2>
<p>When looking for alternatives to single-use plastics as a restaurant operator, there are a plethora of single-use paper, bamboo, compostable, biodegradable, wood pulp or bio-based plastic options. </p>
<p>However, despite the advantage that many of these alternatives can break down over time, not enough emphasis is put on the remaining essential <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/biodegradableplastics-may-end-up-doing-more-harm-than-good/2023/01/30/46e356b6-a0e3-11ed-8b47-9863fda8e494_story.html">single-use nature</a> of these items. </p>
<p>Indeed, the ability for compostable and biodegradable food wares to be accepted in a municipal composting facility is entirely dependent on the waste management cycle of that municipality, which can differ greatly between neighbouring cities. </p>
<p>Additionally, given the lack of standardization on what <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/blogs/sustainability-works/posts/is-biodegradable-and-compostable-plastic-good-for-the-environment-not-necessarily">is classified as biodegradable</a>, consumers can often be deceived by mislabelled products. </p>
<p>After all, microplastics are biodegraded plastics.</p>
<p>Offering alternative materials to food service operators is certainly a step in the right direction. However, as an effective long-term solution, the government needs to offer support for the integration and growth of <a href="https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview?gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw-IWkBhBTEiwA2exyO9g_vHbIgcOIC-zk9EkESNDSQWReS0OTFkn3nOFiOia0paS5GuKvIhoCCOkQAvD_BwE">circular systems</a>. </p>
<p>In doing so, we also need to acknowledge the challenges involved in implementing these systems for restaurant operators. </p>
<h2>Challenges and solutions for food service operators</h2>
<p>The greatest <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/10214/26944">challenges operators are facing</a> with this ban are the costs of quickly switching to reusable or compostable items, sourcing issues and the general lack of alternatives that tick all the same material boxes as conventional plastics. </p>
<p>Looking at the way restaurant operators are responding to this challenge, there are a few key solutions we need to be focusing on. </p>
<p>First and foremost is an emphasis on reusables over alternatives. To make a zero-plastic waste transition realistic, we need to focus on supporting the infrastructure and consumer education required to make reusables accessible. </p>
<p>Ample progress has been made in this area since takeout food has <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/new-normal-the-year-in-takeout-trends-as-restaurants-face-a-reckoning-1.5231981?cache=yes">become more common</a> and has resulted in the launch of multiple reusable takeout container startups such as Suppli, Friendlier, or ShareWares. </p>
<p>Additionally, as with any change that affects our daily lives, our own habits are simultaneously the easiest place to start and the hardest to change. As such, a large piece of this transition will be <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JHTI-01-2023-0052/full/html">consumer education</a> so that restaurant goers and grocery shoppers understand the ‘why’ behind this plastics transition. </p>
<p>All levels of government can better support restaurants through this transition by providing guidance, funding and advocacy for scaling reusable startups and for integrating them into food service with different communities likely requiring different levels of support.</p>
<p>Some companies have been experimenting with <a href="https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/tim-hortons-returnable-cups-experiment">their own reusable schemes</a>, however, relying on corporate drive alone will not be sufficient.</p>
<h2>Seeing the plastics ban as an opportunity</h2>
<p>In light of the development of this ban and the deliberations over the United Nations’ plastic regulation treaty, it’s clear that legislation surrounding single-use plastic reduction will likely increase over the next decade. </p>
<p>Restaurant operators, and other industries that regularly handle single-use plastics need to be more proactive about what they will need from their government to become less reliant on plastics in the future. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-a-barbie-world-after-the-movie-frenzy-fades-how-do-we-avoid-tonnes-of-barbie-dolls-going-to-landfill-209601">In a Barbie world ... after the movie frenzy fades, how do we avoid tonnes of Barbie dolls going to landfill?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>Moreover, the six items included on Canada’s list of banned plastics are by no means comprehensive and <a href="https://davidsuzuki.org/story/canadas-plastics-ban-should-include-beverage-containers/">activists continue to call</a> for additional items to be included. In particular, <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/what-is-and-is-not-included-in-canada-s-ban-on-single-use-plastics-1.5136387">nine additional</a> common single-use plastics were found in the environment but are not being practically addressed. </p>
<p>Canada has the opportunity to be a global leader with the implementation of this single-use plastics ban by supporting reuse and moving towards circular practices. </p>
<p>If we can get further support for reusable programs, expand the list of harmful plastics and provide targeted consumer education around the harms of plastic waste then we have a real shot at an exemplary start to a circular economy. </p>
<p>Are we up to the challenge?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206657/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Canada is seen as leading the way in banning single-use plastics. But how comprehensive are these actions, and how realistic is the dream of a zero-waste future?Bruce McAdams, Associate Professor in Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management, University of GuelphEmily Robinson, Post-Graduate Researcher and Food Education Manager, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2092012023-07-06T17:19:16Z2023-07-06T17:19:16ZHow fine dining in Europe and the US came to exclude immigrant cuisine and how social media is pushing back – podcast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535997/original/file-20230706-27-n7njvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=94%2C0%2C5656%2C3837&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Immigrant chefs feel more constrained in how their food is valued. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/chefs-finishing-dishes-at-kitchen-before-serving-royalty-free-image/495199645?phrase=upscale+food+chef&adppopup=true">Klaus Vedfelt/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The history of restaurants, food and, especially, fine dining, is deeply tied to the history of immigration to the U.S. and French cultural power in the early 20th century. Not surprisingly, the story that leads to Yelp and Anthony Bourdain is not without its share of racism that the modern food world and its tastemakers are still grappling with today.</p>
<p>In this episode of The Conversation Weekly, we speak to three experts who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=M9A2u_YAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">study food culture</a> and <a href="https://gilliangualtieri.com/">fine dining</a> about the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=QV8nVH4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">perceptions and definitions</a> of “good food.” We explore how food trends are deeply tied to immigration, how the history of Western culinary techniques limits the creativity and authenticity of modern restaurants and how social media compares with the Michelin Guide as a tool in the quest for good food. </p>
<iframe src="https://embed.acast.com/60087127b9687759d637bade/64a6d3078c8a970011c938a1" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="190px"></iframe>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-561" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/561/4fbbd099d631750693d02bac632430b71b37cd5f/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>The definition of ‘good food’</h2>
<p>Between ever-increasing culinary skill and creativity, the boom in organic and seasonal ingredients, a growing interest in ethnic food and flavors, and a glut of food media – from the Michelin Guide and Zagat to Instagram and TikTok – there has arguably never been a better time to eat, drink and appreciate a truly good meal.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536012/original/file-20230706-29-kf0lcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A red book." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536012/original/file-20230706-29-kf0lcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536012/original/file-20230706-29-kf0lcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536012/original/file-20230706-29-kf0lcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536012/original/file-20230706-29-kf0lcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536012/original/file-20230706-29-kf0lcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536012/original/file-20230706-29-kf0lcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536012/original/file-20230706-29-kf0lcj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Michelin Guide was first published in 1900.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guidem_michelin_1900.jpg#/media/File:Guidem_michelin_1900.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What defines “good food”? This is a subjective question in many ways, but a chef’s career can single-handedly be made or broken by a review in the <a href="https://guide.michelin.com/en">esteemed pages of the Michelin Guide</a> or The New York Times food section. Even in the world of social media, some restaurants consistently rise to the top of Yelp and Instagram, so there is some consensus idea of what “good food” is.</p>
<p>To understand where the ideas that define good food come from, it’s helpful to understand how the modern restaurant came to be. “At the turn of the 20th century, you have Georges Auguste Escoffier, who, with his friend Ritz, opened the Ritz-Carlton,” explains Gillian Gualtieri, a sociologist at Barnard College in New York City. “The Ritz becomes this training ground for European cooks and chefs, and you then send them out to these glamorous hotels all over Europe to cook for the European and American elites.” </p>
<p>To this day, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-haute-cuisine-to-hot-dogs-how-dining-out-has-evolved-over-200-years-and-is-innovating-further-in-the-pandemic-155939">techniques and even the language developed by Escoffier</a> are taught in culinary schools across the world. </p>
<p>As the world urbanized, more and more people began to eat at restaurants, and the concept of the food critic emerged. These critics wield power. When Gualtieri asked 120 New York chefs whose opinions mattered most, they most valued the opinions of their peers – and the Michelin Guide.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536014/original/file-20230706-18-6t0yr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A taco truck in New York City." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536014/original/file-20230706-18-6t0yr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536014/original/file-20230706-18-6t0yr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536014/original/file-20230706-18-6t0yr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536014/original/file-20230706-18-6t0yr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536014/original/file-20230706-18-6t0yr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536014/original/file-20230706-18-6t0yr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536014/original/file-20230706-18-6t0yr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Immigrant food often gains popularity before becoming prestigious as an immigrant community becomes enmeshed in a country’s culture.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-wearing-face-masks-stand-in-line-outside-timo-tacos-news-photo/1260768765?adppopup=true">Noam Galai/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Immigration and ethnic food</h2>
<p>The Michelin Guide and many of its peers in the legacy food media have historically been gatekeepers of fine dining, focusing on white, Eurocentric restaurants and in many ways controlling what kinds of cuisine are worth paying a premium for. But ethnic food – whether it is Mexican, Japanese or, in the past, Italian food – is a massive part of the U.S. food scene. </p>
<p>As Krishnendu Ray, a professor of food studies at New York University in the U.S., explains, the perceptions of immigrant food are closely <a href="https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2017.17.4.141">tied to perceptions of the immigrants themselves</a>. </p>
<p>“What you see is there’s a kind of a early popularity of immigrant foods, first inside the community, and then slowly it spreads outward. Other people start eating, journalists are eating and writing about it, but it does not acquire prestige,” Ray explains. “That changes over time, depending on which immigrant group is coming into the U.S. in the largest numbers and which cohort is slowly moving up in terms of upward mobility.” </p>
<p>After looking at prices of various types of cuisine over the decades and comparing it with immigration trends, Ray found a consistent pattern. Immigrant foods are first considered cheap and not prestigious when lots of immigrants move to the U.S. but slowly gain clout as the people themselves become more culturally established. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536009/original/file-20230706-27-rkjej2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A top-down photo of a plate of food." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536009/original/file-20230706-27-rkjej2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536009/original/file-20230706-27-rkjej2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536009/original/file-20230706-27-rkjej2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536009/original/file-20230706-27-rkjej2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536009/original/file-20230706-27-rkjej2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536009/original/file-20230706-27-rkjej2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536009/original/file-20230706-27-rkjej2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Instagram gaze is a normalized style of posting about food that many food influencers on Instagram use.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/fig-toast-with-edible-flowers-directly-above-view-royalty-free-image/1319831755?phrase=fine+dining&adppopup=true">Alexander Spatari/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Social media influencers as food critics</h2>
<p>In an era of social media, many people are now turning to Yelp, TikTok or Instagram to figure out where they want to get a meal. Zeena Feldman is a professor of digital culture at King’s College in London, in the U.K. She was interested in seeing whether Instagram viewed good food in the same Eurocentric ways as the Michelin Guide, or whether, as she explains it, “because anyone can have a voice on Instagram, underrepresented cuisines from different parts of the world and from less expensive price points might be getting more of the attention there.”</p>
<p>To answer this question, Feldman looked at the reviews of Instagram food influencers in London and New York and then compared them with the Michelin Guide. </p>
<p>“Culturally and economically, Instagram food criticism is a lot more inclusive than Michelin,” says Feldman. “So you have many more cuisines, and especially cuisines outside of the Global North, being represented.” </p>
<p>But Instagram wasn’t completely without flaws. “I started out thinking of Instagram food culture as being something created by amateurs, by just people as obsessed with food as I might be,” says Feldman. “What I found is actually these are professionals, either people making money from promoting content or people aspiring to make money from promoting content. And so what that means is that there’s a certain standardization to how food is being represented on Instagram.” </p>
<p>Most people have seen what Feldman has termed the “Instagram gaze.” These are the overhead shots of well-lit food that, Feldman notes, almost never feature any people. </p>
<p>Feldman thinks that, with so much food media out there, there is more opportunity to find good food, but the definition of that, as she puts it, is “food that you actually enjoy eating.”</p>
<hr>
<p>This episode was produced and written by Dan Merino and Katie Flood. Mend Mariwany is the executive producer of The Conversation Weekly. Eloise Stevens does our sound design, and our theme music is by Neeta Sarl.</p>
<p>You can find us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TC_Audio">@TC_Audio</a>, on Instagram at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/theconversationdotcom/">theconversationdotcom</a> or <a href="mailto:podcast@theconversation.com">via email</a>. You can also subscribe to The Conversation’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/newsletter">free daily email here</a>. </p>
<p>Listen to The Conversation Weekly via any of the apps listed above, download it directly via our <a href="https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/60087127b9687759d637bade">RSS feed</a> or find out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-listen-to-the-conversations-podcasts-154131">how else to listen here</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209201/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zeena Feldman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gillian Gualtieri does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Krishnendu Ray does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Immigrant chefs and cuisines are often constrained by Eurocentric definitions of what constitutes good food. As immigrant groups become more assimilated into US culture, so does their food.Daniel Merino, Associate Science Editor & Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationNehal El-Hadi, Science + Technology Editor & Co-Host of The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The ConversationLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2049932023-05-11T12:13:14Z2023-05-11T12:13:14ZHow did abuse get baked into the restaurant industry?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525468/original/file-20230510-27-ec428f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=229%2C7%2C4882%2C3395&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many restaurant workers see violence as a core aspect of a hardscrabble kitchen culture that has existed for generations.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/dirty-chefs-leaning-against-stove-royalty-free-image/84303248?phrase=busy+restaurant+kitchen&adppopup=true">Jetta Productions/David Atkinson via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/20/dining/barbara-lynch-boston-workplace-abuse.html">The New York Times</a> and <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/04/20/business/barbara-lynchs-restaurants-growing-concern-over-toxic-culture/">The Boston Globe</a> recently published exposés in which employees of award-winning chef Barbara Lynch described their abusive work environments, we weren’t surprised. </p>
<p>Anyone who has spent years working in restaurants probably wouldn’t be surprised, either.</p>
<p>As sociologists who study the culinary industry and its workers, we recently published research showing that many kitchen staffers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/09500170231159845">come to view mistreatment and abuse as a mundane</a> – and often inevitable – part of working in restaurants.</p>
<h2>‘Showers of slaps’ and ‘grab-ass’</h2>
<p>Much of the reporting provided damning accounts of Lynch’s own behavior – her alleged mistreatment of employees, tirades, threats, groping and sexual innuendos.</p>
<p>But while Lynch may be in the spotlight today, she and her alleged behaviors are, unfortunately, closer to business as usual in restaurant kitchens, where <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605211005138">a culture of violence has been normalized</a>.</p>
<p>Numerous articles and chef memoirs dating as far back as the late 1800s have detailed everyday forms of abuse in restaurants. For example, pioneering French restaurateur Auguste Escoffier wrote <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2004262">in his memoir</a> that his first chef “believed that it was impossible to govern a kitchen ‘sans une pluie de gifles’” – without a shower of slaps.</p>
<p>Some, such as Anthony Bourdain’s memoir “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/kitchen-confidential-updated-ed-anthony-bourdain?variant=32154105413666">Kitchen Confidential</a>,” even romanticize these behaviors. At one point, Bourdain fondly recalls a kitchen he worked in early in his career as having an “atmosphere [that] was not unlike a Pinero play, very jailhouse, with a lot of grab-ass, heated argument, hypermacho posturing and drunken ranting. Two burly men who’d just as soon kill you as look at you, when talking to each other, would often nestle a hand tenderly next to the testicles of the other, as if to say, ‘I am so not gay – I can even do this!’”</p>
<p>The allegations against Lynch are only the latest in a long string of high-profile chefs and restaurateurs who have been accused of cultivating similar physically, psychologically and sexually violent workspaces. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/dining/mario-batali-sexual-misconduct-lawsuits-settles.html">Mario Batali</a>, for instance, was accused in 2019 by an employee of groping and indecency, charges that he was acquitted of in 2022 and resolved with a civil settlement. </p>
<p>Oakland chef <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/10/07/767901018/this-chef-says-hes-faced-his-metoo-offenses-now-he-wants-a-second-chance">Charlie Hallowell</a> and New York restaurateur <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/12/dining/ken-friedman-sexual-harassment.html">Ken Friedman</a> also came under fire during the #MeToo era, with each accused of sexual harassment and assault. Hallowell ended up selling two of his restaurants and penned a <a href="https://www.berkeleyside.org/2018/10/12/charlie-hallowell-publishes-open-apology-moves-forward-with-berkeley-restaurant-opening">public apology</a>, while Friedman <a href="https://la.eater.com/2022/8/25/23320499/horses-los-angeles-ken-friedman-stephen-light-ownership">shuttered a flagship restaurant and paid claims to 11 former employees</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Portrait of balding man wearing suit." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525464/original/file-20230510-18623-pd1pws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525464/original/file-20230510-18623-pd1pws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525464/original/file-20230510-18623-pd1pws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525464/original/file-20230510-18623-pd1pws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525464/original/file-20230510-18623-pd1pws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525464/original/file-20230510-18623-pd1pws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525464/original/file-20230510-18623-pd1pws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Celebrity chef Mario Batali leaves Boston Municipal Court following an arraignment on a charge of indecent assault and battery in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/celebrity-chef-mario-batali-leaves-boston-municipal-court-news-photo/1145823290?adppopup=true">Scott Eisen/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In our own research, we wanted to learn more about how workers deal with toxic kitchen culture. Do they ever push back? Do they flee? Or do they put their heads down and simply rationalize it as part of what they signed up for?</p>
<h2>If you can’t take the heat …</h2>
<p>There are obvious economic realities that prevent many from leaving violent workspaces. After all, most everyone has bills to pay. </p>
<p>Quitting is also hard in light of the other upsides to professional cooking, such as creativity and freedom, sensory stimulation and reciprocal joy from watching a satisfied customer eat. One sous chef we spoke with described the latter as “life-changing to me. It was addicting.”</p>
<p>These pressures aside, the workers we interviewed tended to see violence as a core aspect of a hardscrabble kitchen culture that has existed for generations. </p>
<p>Others admitted that they’ve come to expect as much after seeing the ways in which abusive chefs are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605211005138">glorified in the media</a> – think Gordon Ramsay’s entertaining tongue-lashings on the show “<a href="https://www.fox.com/hells-kitchen/">Hell’s Kitchen</a>,” or Ralph Fiennes’ recent portrayal of a homicidal chef in “<a href="https://www.searchlightpictures.com/the-menu/">The Menu</a>.” </p>
<p>Because those we talked to saw violence in kitchens as unexceptional, most of them responded to it by sticking it out rather than resisting it. Many of them viewed enduring violence on the job as just another task on their daily to-do list.</p>
<p>A key element of rationalizing the violence involved justifying the perpetrator’s behavior.</p>
<p>There’s evidence of this in both articles about Lynch’s restaurants: Workers and the public touted Lynch as an <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40537526/this-is-how-we-end-rampant-sexism-in-the-restaurant-industry">early fighter of industry sexism</a>, a portrayal that presented her as an ally and may have softened her blows. Her <a href="https://www.pressherald.com/2017/05/31/boston-chef-barbara-lynch-tells-us-about-writing-a-memoir-the-latest-accomplishment-in-a-life-full-of-them/">public acknowledgments</a> of her own battles with substance abuse and childhood trauma painted her in a sympathetic light and allowed some staffers to excuse her alleged behavior.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman speaking at a podium." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525463/original/file-20230510-9330-wbwvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525463/original/file-20230510-9330-wbwvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525463/original/file-20230510-9330-wbwvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525463/original/file-20230510-9330-wbwvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525463/original/file-20230510-9330-wbwvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525463/original/file-20230510-9330-wbwvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525463/original/file-20230510-9330-wbwvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Barbara Lynch’s employees regularly excused her behavior.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/chef-barbara-lynch-speaks-the-opening-night-of-the-news-photo/887272970?adppopup=true">Marla Aufmuth/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Similar rationalizations were found in our study: A chef named Jesus, for example, recounted to us a time when his boss became so upset that, after berating his crew, he “flipped everyone off and told them to ‘go f— themselves.’” But rather than note his boss’s inappropriateness, Jesus praised him for being “straightforward” and “honest.” In doing so, Jesus excused the outburst as simply a product of honesty and emotion, rather than of a work environment that bred such behavior.</p>
<p>We also noticed that Lynch’s own staff rationalized their decisions to stay – despite saying they’d been subjected to abuse – because they felt that working in Lynch’s restaurants would help them find better jobs in the future. This approach was echoed by several cooks in our study – a chef named Carsen, for example, explained away the abuse he endured once at a Michelin-starred restaurant: “I was there for the experience. I wasn’t there because I was invested in the restaurant.” </p>
<h2>Perpetuating a culture of violence</h2>
<p>As workers endure violence in kitchens, they deal with not only the harms of being targeted, but also the psychological and emotional discomfort of remaining at a job that causes them suffering. </p>
<p>Studies have also shown that learning to endure violence <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-09-2019-0362">can increase the chances of repeated abuse</a>, as well as the incorporation of unproductive behaviors into victimized workers’ own actions. The latter can look like adopting abusive behaviors themselves or engaging in small acts of damaging rebellion, like sneaking a swig of cooking wine here or slowing the pace of work there. Cruelly, enduring violence unintentionally aids the process of making violent behavior feel and seem normal in the workplace. </p>
<p>So a cycle of violence perpetuates and reverberates, embedding itself deeper into the fabric of restaurant kitchens, often being passed down from one generation of cooks to the next. </p>
<p>Workers begin to expect it. Grant, a cook we interviewed, explained: “The abuse is normalized. And sometimes romanticized as well. … Chefs being [jerks] is common in part because that’s the expectation for what it is to be a chef. … And while it [seems] like most places are getting better, it’s still a big part of kitchen culture.”</p>
<p>The accusations against Lynch are not exceptional. Sadly, we think it’s likely only a matter of time before another case of an abusive high-profile chef comes to light. Outrage will occur, and then it will settle. Rinse and repeat. </p>
<p>But culinary brilliance and artistry need not be pre-seasoned with violence. Not venerating violent kitchens and chefs would be a start. Perhaps reporting and resisting abuse, rather than enduring it, will then become the norm.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204993/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Barbara Lynch’s alleged bullying of her employees is only the latest in a string of high-profile chef scandals. Two scholars explore how this behavior became normalized in kitchens across the US.Ellen T. Meiser, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Hawaii at HiloEli R. Wilson, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of New MexicoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1982782023-03-15T16:56:38Z2023-03-15T16:56:38ZClimate crisis threatens truffle production but could put UK species back on the menu<p><a href="https://ww3.rics.org/uk/en/journals/land-journal/truffle-production-uk-investment.html">Truffles</a>, the prized fungi coveted worldwide by chefs and food connoisseurs, have long been held in high regard. </p>
<p>Often associated with Mediterranean Europe, especially France, Italy and Spain, these tasty fungi grow underground and are unearthed with the help of scent-detection dogs.</p>
<p>But unbeknown to many is the fact that the UK once had a thriving industry focused on a native truffle species (<em>Tuber aestivum</em>), with the English truffle first <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstl.1693.0047">recorded</a> in 1693. </p>
<p>From this point on there are many accounts of the UK’s thriving truffle industry, including <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Mrs._Beeton%27s_Book_of_Household_Management">writings</a> by celebrated chef <a href="https://www.englishtruffles.co.uk/truffles-about/history-of-english-truffles/">Mrs Beeton</a> in 1861. However, changing socioeconomic conditions and a loss of habitat eventually led to a collapse of the industry, and truffle harvesting in the UK went to ground. </p>
<p>Some hunters were still able to find truffles. This was mainly for personal use, but some were still sold to local restaurants or pubs by lucky hunters – though only on a very small scale. Official markets had disappeared.</p>
<p>This slump wasn’t unique to the UK. A similar story played out in France, although the French had enough crops to keep the industry alive. The decline was eventually stemmed in France in the 1970s thanks to a new technique, whereby truffles were cultivated by inoculating the roots of oak and hazel trees with truffle spores. </p>
<p>News of this success spread to the UK, where truffle-inoculated trees from the Mediterranean began to be imported. But applying methods that worked in the Mediterranean to the UK’s temperate climate failed to produce any truffles.</p>
<p>This changed when my colleagues and I pioneered a new approach that took into account the UK climate. Rather than replicating Mediterranean methods, we instead focused on seeds and spores adapted to local conditions. This led to the harvest of England’s first cultivated truffle, in Leicestershire in <a href="https://plantationsystems.com/the-first-ever-cultivated-british-truffle-making-history/">2015</a>. </p>
<p>This was swiftly followed by Wales’ first cultivated truffle in <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2016-07-25/first-ever-cultivated-truffle-harvested-in-wales">2016</a> and Scotland in <a href="https://www.stir.ac.uk/news/2017/12/summer-black-truffles-cultivated-in-scotland-for-first-time/">2017</a>. And just across the water, the Republic of Ireland joined the group of Celtic truffle producers when two orchards <a href="https://www.stir.ac.uk/news/2017/12/summer-black-truffles-cultivated-in-scotland-for-first-time/">began production</a> in 2022. </p>
<p>This revival of the British and Irish truffle industries is particularly encouraging given my <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.252">recent research</a> shows that global production is at risk due to the climate crisis. But my work also suggests that UK truffles may be set to prosper in these conditions.</p>
<h2>Truffles at risk?</h2>
<p>Myself and a colleague have used historical data to anticipate the impact of climate change on truffle production. Our data suggests there will likely be a huge decline in Mediterranean harvests by 2071. </p>
<p>We are now starting to see evidence of this, with poor harvests linked to drier conditions. But what we hadn’t anticipated was the impact closer to home – with 2022 the worst UK truffle season in memory.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y1oHSn-z-ic?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>Although we are not yet sure exactly why this is the case, <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/240391/droughts-northern-hemisphere-made-20-times/#:%7E:text=High%20temperatures%20that%20caused%20widespread,worst%20fire%20season%20ever%20recorded.">summer drought and heat</a> can be detrimental to truffle harvests. And we saw this in the south and east of England, with high temperatures, little rainfall and reduced truffle production. </p>
<p>But in the north and west of England, where rainfall is typically higher and temperatures are cooler, the impact on truffle production was very different – with truffles harvested in record quantities.</p>
<p>Not many wild truffles exist in the north and west of England, as the soil isn’t as suitable. Truffles like calcareous bedrock, such as chalk or limestone, which results in alkaline soil. So the truffle orchards in these areas have had to make the soil more alkaline by applying agricultural lime. </p>
<h2>Climate changing</h2>
<p>Perhaps then 2022 presents a good example of what we can expect, in terms of truffles in the UK as climate change advances. </p>
<p>Wild production will struggle but orchards in the south and east of England could use irrigation to sustain harvests. Meanwhile, orchards in the centre, north and west of England may be far more resilient. However, offsetting the expected decline in Mediterranean production will be almost impossible. </p>
<p>But while climate most certainly impacts the growth and development of truffles, it may also be important in terms of <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna40090841">reproduction</a>. Indeed, truffle fungi require two different truffle “mating types”, akin to males and females in humans, to come into contact to produce the actual fruiting bodies, much like pollination in fruit crops. </p>
<p>Although we are not totally sure how this happens, more and more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fooweb.2022.e00260">evidence</a> indicates that invertebrates – such as the humble woodlouse – may help by eating small amounts of truffle and then moving spores (and the different mating types) which are then deposited in their faecal matter. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Truffles being grated onto pasta in an expensive restaurant." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513974/original/file-20230307-16-4x3z0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513974/original/file-20230307-16-4x3z0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513974/original/file-20230307-16-4x3z0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513974/original/file-20230307-16-4x3z0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513974/original/file-20230307-16-4x3z0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513974/original/file-20230307-16-4x3z0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513974/original/file-20230307-16-4x3z0m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How it’s done.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/pasta-truffles-typical-autumn-dish-menu-1216733182"> David Tadevosian/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Crucially, in warmer and dryer conditions these invertebrates reduce feeding and movement, which results in fewer spores and mating types being moved around.
So this is yet another way truffle production is negatively impacted by hotter and dryer conditions. </p>
<p>But climate change has also led to some unexpected benefits, too. In 2017, <a href="https://www.finefoodspecialist.co.uk/perigord-black-truffle-tuber-melanosporum-fresh">Périgord truffles</a> (<em>Tuber melanosporum</em>) which are native to southern Europe and some of the most expensive truffles in the world, were grown for the first <a href="https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/perigord-black-truffle-cultivated-in-the-uk-for-the-first-time">time in Wales</a>. </p>
<p>This was possible due to the change in climate that has already occurred since the onset of the industrial revolution. Temperatures have increased just enough to allow this species to fruit. </p>
<p>Advancing climate change is a huge global problem, but in terms of truffles in the UK, it can be viewed as both a threat and an opportunity. Either way, Mrs Beeton would likely be happy to see the local truffle industry finally unearthed, once more.</p>
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<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul W Thomas works for Mycorrhizal Systems Ltd and is Honorary Professor at the University of Stirling. </span></em></p>Truffles are one of the world’s most expensive foods and climate crisis is changing the way they grow.Paul W Thomas, Honorary Professor Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1979572023-01-26T20:04:57Z2023-01-26T20:04:57ZHorror comedy ‘The Menu’ delves into foodie snobbery when you’re dying for a cheeseburger<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505719/original/file-20230122-7984-2j898a.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=341%2C166%2C2281%2C1221&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Margot, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, is important because viewers without much experience with fine dining culture, or who empathize with criticisms of it, can relate to her. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Eric Zachanowich/Searchlight Pictures)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This story contains spoilers about ‘The Menu.’</em></p>
<p><a href="https://whatsondisneyplus.com/when-is-the-menu-coming-to-disney/">The Disney+ release of</a> horror/comedy <em>The Menu</em> marks the beginning of what is <a href="https://london.eater.com/23546160/worlds-best-restaurant-noma-closing-rene-redzepi-copenhagen">already shaping up to be a reckoning year for the world of fine dining</a>. </p>
<p>The film, released this past fall, is directed by Mark Mylod, known for <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/11/succession-director-mark-mylod-has-something-to-prove-with-the-menu">producing and directing the acclaimed series <em>Succession</em></a>, and satirizes the culture of high-end dining. </p>
<p>From the perspective of our <a href="https://niche-canada.org/2022/06/29/queer-vegan-pleasure/">combined expertise</a> in <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315726571">food and literary studies</a> and sexuality studies, we’re interested in how the film asks us to consider what’s left when even the most fundamental bodily pleasures are turned into commodities: things that can be marketed, bought and sold.</p>
<h2>Gory confrontation</h2>
<p><em>The Menu</em> depicts a gory confrontation between overworked restaurant workers and elite diners at the exclusive and remote restaurant, Hawthorn. The restaurant is presided over by its celebrated executive chef, Julian Slowik (Ralph Fiennes).</p>
<p>Reviews of <em>The Menu</em> often focus on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/nov/16/the-menu-review-ralph-fiennes-celeb-chef-horror-comedy-cooks-nasty-surprises">Hawthorn’s wealthy customers swooning over food</a>, its highly <a href="https://www.vulture.com/article/the-menu-review-a-deliciously-mean-satire.html">trained and obedient staff</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-menu-ralph-fienness-new-film-shows-why-restaurants-are-a-ripe-setting-for-horror-195340">its meticulously and madly murderous chef</a>.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C_uTkUGcHv4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption"><em>The Menu</em> official trailer.</span></figcaption>
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<p>While these characters are compelling, <a href="https://mashable.com/article/the-menu-review">they are also parodies</a>. The most extreme example of this is foodie Tyler (Nicholas Hoult), who is so desperate to experience the esteemed chef’s cooking that he goes to Hawthorn knowing that <a href="https://screenrant.com/why-tyler-went-to-chef-restaurant-death-menu-movie/">he (and all the others) will die there.</a></p>
<p>While Tyler is absurdly entertaining, the film follows the perspective of protagonist Margot, who isn’t familiar with the world of haute cuisine.</p>
<p>Margot is not just important because viewers who don’t have much experience with fine dining culture, or who empathize with criticisms of it, can relate to her. Her perspective is also crucial to understanding the film’s interesting and complicated treatment of <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203361160">eating, labour and pleasure</a>. </p>
<h2>Pretentious techniques</h2>
<p>From the beginning, Margot balks at the restaurant’s pretentiousness and avant-garde techniques, <a href="https://www.gourmetfoodworld.com/molecular-gastronomy-techniques-15249#:%7E:text=One%20of%20the%20more%20intricate,more%20solid%20and%20unpredictable%20format">like gelification</a>. </p>
<p>Viewers might identify with her eye rolls and impolite snickers, and may even do the same when, for example, a routine welcome speech delivered by the chef brings Tyler to tears. </p>
<p>These expressive responses from Margot add humour to the film and show the ridiculousness of Chef Julian’s plans for what he calls “the greatest menu ever created.” </p>
<h2>Giving and taking</h2>
<p>Unlike Hawthorn’s staff and regular diners, Margot doesn’t easily fit into the distinction the chef makes between <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/22/dining/the-menu-fine-dining.html">“those who give” (service workers) and “those who take” (wealthy customers)</a>.</p>
<p>As we come to learn, Margot is also working while at Hawthorn: she is a sex worker hired by Tyler, even though he knows that it will mean her death.</p>
<p>Like the restaurant staff, Margot is subjected to the whims and desires of insufferable (and dangerous) clients like Tyler, who have no regard for the lives of the workers whose services they employ. At the same time, Margot <em>is</em> a customer of the restaurant. She is the sole character who is both serving and being served.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in a pale plum-coloured halter dress stands looking shocked." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506138/original/file-20230124-306-pxe4yr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506138/original/file-20230124-306-pxe4yr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506138/original/file-20230124-306-pxe4yr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506138/original/file-20230124-306-pxe4yr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506138/original/file-20230124-306-pxe4yr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506138/original/file-20230124-306-pxe4yr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506138/original/file-20230124-306-pxe4yr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Only Margot is both serving and being served in ‘The Menu.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Eric Zachanowich/Searchlight Pictures)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Eating and class status</h2>
<p>Margot is also distinct because she does not treat food as <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/the-menu-film-set-production-design-food-art-2244262">an art object or a subject to master</a>, nor does she eat to signal her <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/culinary-capital-9780857854155/">class status</a>. Her relationship to eating is a more carnal and tactile kind of intimacy. Margot is hungry, and she demands to be fed.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-menu-ralph-fienness-new-film-shows-why-restaurants-are-a-ripe-setting-for-horror-195340">The Menu: Ralph Fiennes's new film shows why restaurants are a ripe setting for horror</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://www.eater.com/23473717/the-menu-movie-ending-spoilers-explained">Others have pointed out</a> how <em>The Menu</em> comments on labour conditions in the restaurant industry. This is certainly an important topic the film explores, and is <a href="https://slate.com/human-interest/2023/01/noma-restaurant-copenhagen-closing-fine-dining.html">especially relevant</a> as restaurants reckon with long-standing concerns around industry sustainability <a href="https://www.eater.com/22839584/book-excerpt-corey-mintz-the-next-supper-chefs-workers-restaurants">that were sharply exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic</a>.</p>
<p>For example, given these labour issues, there are questions about whether the fine dining industry should even exist in the future — questions that have become especially public with the recently announced closure of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/24/noma-is-closing-are-we-seeing-the-death-of-fine-dining">Noma, Copanhagen, named the “World’s Best Restaurant” in 2021</a>.</p>
<h2>Invested workers</h2>
<p>However, Hawthorn’s staff is not only reducible to working-class warriors taking revenge on their oppressors. They, too, are invested in the culture of fine dining and insist on a similar kind of perfection as their diners.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A bowl seen being served." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506649/original/file-20230126-17211-abi9e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506649/original/file-20230126-17211-abi9e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506649/original/file-20230126-17211-abi9e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506649/original/file-20230126-17211-abi9e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506649/original/file-20230126-17211-abi9e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506649/original/file-20230126-17211-abi9e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506649/original/file-20230126-17211-abi9e9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Servers at Hawthorn are invested in deadly perfection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Eric Zachanowich/Searchlight Pictures)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In an absurdly hilarious and grim take on what fine dining has become, Hawthorn’s diners and staff perform their roles — serving and being served, cooking and eating — to their fiery (and gelatinous) deaths.</p>
<p>Margot understands the pleasures that have been stripped from both cooking and eating. </p>
<p>In a scene where Chef Julian asks Margot if she enjoys her work, she says she used to, but no longer does. Even so, unlike some of the others, she clearly still has a strong appetite for life and living. </p>
<h2>Hungering for pleasure</h2>
<p>By asking Chef Julian to make her a cheeseburger (because she’s “still fucking hungry”), Margot both leverages her position as a customer and reminds him of the pleasure of cooking a meal that someone genuinely wants to eat. </p>
<p>She’s the only character who actually fights for her life. It is because of these desires (to live and enjoy life) that she is the only person to leave Hawthorn alive, a delicious and fulfilling takeaway cheeseburger in tow.</p>
<p>Although the idea of being trapped on an island at the mercy of people skilled with butcher’s knives is a frightening thought, <em>The Menu</em>’s real horror comes from the ways food, eating, and cooking <a href="https://www.akpress.org/pleasure-activism.html">lose their carnal pleasures</a> under capitalism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197957/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Montanari receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) through a Doctoral Fellowship. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marika Avenel Brown has received funding from the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) program.</span></em></p>The Menu’s real horror comes from the ways food, eating, and cooking lose their carnal pleasures under capitalism.Melissa Montanari, PhD Candidate in English and Cultural Studies, McMaster UniversityMarika Avenel Brown, PhD Candidate & Teaching Fellow, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1972762023-01-18T18:12:19Z2023-01-18T18:12:19ZCanada is stuck with tipping — and we’re worse off for it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504114/original/file-20230111-32622-ntzy54.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C176%2C4912%2C3081&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tipping requires customers to increase the wages of a restaurant's servers — something that should be the employer's responsibility. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Kate Townsend/Unsplash)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/canada-is-stuck-with-tipping-—-and-we-re-worse-off-for-it" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Imagine a local business where employees are compensated by age, gender, attractiveness and with some extra dollars if they flirt with customers. It would end up before the human rights commission and lead the local newscasts.</p>
<p>Yet this is how tipping works. It’s a deeply embedded custom and an unquestioned part of everyday life. But as the average <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/here-s-what-the-average-restaurant-tip-percentage-is-across-canada-1.6040388">tip percentage goes up</a> in Canadian restaurants, tipping is coming under more scrutiny.</p>
<p>When the COVID-19 pandemic began, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/21/business/pandemic-restaurant-tipping.html">there was a belief that the crisis would be such a shock to the status quo of the hospitality industry</a> that tipping as a custom might collapse. As we’ve seen, the opposite has occurred.</p>
<p>There are two frequently given defences for tipping, neither of which hold up under close scrutiny.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-tip-too-far-why-tip-fatigue-may-be-setting-in-for-north-americans-189289">A tip too far? Why tip fatigue may be setting in for North Americans</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Rewarding good servers?</h2>
<p>Tipping rewards good service, right? This belief presumes that the server receives the tip. But <a href="https://members.restaurantscanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Current-Tipping-Rules-in-Canada_December-2017.pdf">in most provinces, management often requires servers to share tips with kitchen staff, and sometimes with management itself.</a> </p>
<p>Furthermore, Canadian provinces and territories permit tip-sharing among servers. Your individual hard-working server may not have any appreciable benefit from your generous tip.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rainforest-cafe-strike-puts-the-spotlight-on-tip-sharing-116556">Rainforest Cafe strike puts the spotlight on tip-sharing</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the United States, where research on tipping has been more extensive, it’s been found that there is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0010880401421001">no meaningful connection</a> between the amount of the tip and the quality of service. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A bearded waiter serves plates of food to a table of three women." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504113/original/file-20230111-4937-revg4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=307%2C147%2C3775%2C2079&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504113/original/file-20230111-4937-revg4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504113/original/file-20230111-4937-revg4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504113/original/file-20230111-4937-revg4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504113/original/file-20230111-4937-revg4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504113/original/file-20230111-4937-revg4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504113/original/file-20230111-4937-revg4b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A waiter tends to customers at a Montréal restaurant in June 2020, shortly after Québec allowed restaurants to reopen after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Lending a helping hand?</h2>
<p>The other common defence of tipping is that these poorly paid employees need some extra help. Yet we’re not selective about which poorly paid employees we tip. </p>
<p>We don’t tip retail workers or maintenance workers, who are also usually working for minimum wage. Each culture has different customs about which occupations get tipped, and it’s hard to find any consistent rationale.</p>
<p>In the United States, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Prohibition-United-States-history-1920-1933">Prohibition in the 1920s and early 1930s</a> was an existential shock to the restaurant industry. When alcohol sales became illegal, restaurateurs welcomed tipping because it eased some of the financial pressure for employers. As a result, Prohibition <a href="https://www.edwards.usask.ca/faculty/marc%20mentzer/tipping.pdf">caused tipping to become routine</a> in the U.S. and the custom eventually spread to Canada. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tip jar on a counter asking for tips." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504115/original/file-20230111-34767-2w4dwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504115/original/file-20230111-34767-2w4dwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504115/original/file-20230111-34767-2w4dwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504115/original/file-20230111-34767-2w4dwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504115/original/file-20230111-34767-2w4dwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504115/original/file-20230111-34767-2w4dwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504115/original/file-20230111-34767-2w4dwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prohibition helped normalize tipping in the United States, and the habit migrated north to Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Dan Smedley/Unsplash)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The pandemic’s impact on tipping</h2>
<p>The latest existential threat to the industry, the COVID-19 pandemic, likewise has made tipping even more deeply entrenched.</p>
<p>Some Canadian and American restaurants have experimented with <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/some-ontario-restaurants-are-starting-to-adopt-a-tip-free-dining-model-here-s-how-it-works-1.5938410">abolishing tipping</a>, and the record <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/nexstar_media_wire/3560040-what-happens-when-a-restaurant-goes-tip-free/">has been mixed</a>. Servers like tipping because they feel they can control their income, and customers like tipping because it gives the illusion of power over the servers.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1607418094586327040"}"></div></p>
<p>Some restaurants abolished tipping, but reinstated it due to <a href="https://www.eater.com/21398973/restaurant-no-tipping-movement-living-wage-future">pressure from servers and customers</a>. Those few establishments that have succeeded with a <a href="https://foodism.to/culture/toronto-restaurants-stopping-tipping/">no-tip model tend to be high-end, fine dining establishments</a> where the clientele is insensitive to price.</p>
<p>A variation of the no-tipping concept is service charges for customers instead of a tip. But where service charges are in place, the money <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/23426907/restaurant-service-fee-charge-tipping-inflation-confusion">doesn’t always go to the servers</a>. In many instances, the restaurant manager simply keeps some or all of the service charge, so it’s merely a sneaky way of increasing menu prices.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Four middle-aged people sit at a tall table in a diner-type restaurant." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504119/original/file-20230111-43582-1ytit7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504119/original/file-20230111-43582-1ytit7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504119/original/file-20230111-43582-1ytit7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504119/original/file-20230111-43582-1ytit7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504119/original/file-20230111-43582-1ytit7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504119/original/file-20230111-43582-1ytit7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504119/original/file-20230111-43582-1ytit7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Patrons enjoy a meal at the Last Chance Saloon in Wayne, Alta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Is paying fair wages up to the customer?</h2>
<p>In a rational world, servers’ compensation would not come via tips. In nearly all occupations, it’s the employer’s obligation to pay a reasonable wage, not the customer’s duty to bring compensation up to a fair level. </p>
<p>Yet abolishing tipping is hopelessly idealistic. A more modest and realistic tack is to revisit provincial laws on what actually happens to the tip money after the customer leaves.</p>
<p>The sharing of tips with non-tipped employees is known as “<a href="https://mmhlabourlaw.ca/tip-pooling-tipping-out-legal/#:%7E:text=THE%20LAW%20OF%20TIPS,large%20groups%20at%20a%20restaurant">tipping out</a>.” In most provinces, tipping out is such a long-running custom that it’s rarely questioned. After all, who can begrudge a few dollars going to the under-appreciated kitchen staff, who don’t get tipped? </p>
<p>The opposing perspective is that paying the kitchen staff is management’s responsibility. In short, it should not fall on the shoulders of the tipped employees to ensure that other employees are fairly paid. </p>
<p>As well, the “tipping out” percentage is increasing, as servers are required <a href="https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ts/business/2021/08/03/in-a-bid-to-be-more-fair-toronto-restaurants-are-now-funneling-more-tip-money-to-the-kitchen.html">to share an ever-growing proportion</a> of their tips with kitchen workers. This further dilutes the notion that a tip is the customer’s reward to a specific server.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman wearing a mask makes French fries in a restaurant kitchen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504117/original/file-20230111-24-hzep9l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/504117/original/file-20230111-24-hzep9l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504117/original/file-20230111-24-hzep9l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504117/original/file-20230111-24-hzep9l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504117/original/file-20230111-24-hzep9l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504117/original/file-20230111-24-hzep9l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/504117/original/file-20230111-24-hzep9l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman cooks a batch of French fries at a restaurant in Huntingdon, Que., in February 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Provinces handle tipping differently</h2>
<p>Québec, along with Newfoundland and Labrador, forbid tipping out. Other provinces might consider following suit. </p>
<p>Even more objectionable is the practice of “house tipping,” where management takes a share of the tips, often sugar-coated with language about everyone being part of the team. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-future-of-tipping-should-be-driven-by-canadians-not-businesses-181018">The future of tipping should be driven by Canadians, not businesses</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Legal protections for servers <a href="https://doi.org/10.18848/2470-9336/CGP/v06i02/1-10">vary by province</a>. Broadly speaking, Québec gives restaurant servers the highest level of protection where tips are concerned, while Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the three northern territories give restaurant owners almost unlimited leeway in how tips are handled. </p>
<p>Restaurateurs would, understandably, fight any reforms that restrict their handling of tips, because kitchen workers would expect employers to make up the lost income if “tipping out” was abolished. </p>
<p>Despite industry opposition, this would be a small step in softening the dysfunctional but deeply ingrained tradition of tipping. The notion of actually abolishing tipping is a dream for another day.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197276/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marc S. Mentzer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Tipping isn’t going to disappear anytime soon, but provinces can do more to protect servers.Marc S. Mentzer, Professor of Human Resources and Organizational Behaviour, University of SaskatchewanLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1892892023-01-09T20:49:48Z2023-01-09T20:49:48ZA tip too far? Why tip fatigue may be setting in for North Americans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503140/original/file-20230104-3468-csspoj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C251%2C5730%2C3862&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A server brings food to a table as people dine at a restaurant in Vancouver in September 2021. For many people, deciding exactly how much to tip in a given situation can be uncomfortable.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/a-tip-too-far-why-tip-fatigue-may-be-setting-in-for-north-americans" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Tipping has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2014.12.002">long been an established and widely accepted</a> <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/social-norms/">social norm</a> in North America. Although it is not required, many Canadians feel pressured to tip — <a href="https://www.cp24.com/lifestyle/now-15-per-cent-is-rude-tipping-fatigue-hits-customers-as-requests-rise-1.6070417">even in situations when we are dissatisfied</a> with food or service quality.</p>
<p>For many, deciding exactly how much to tip in a given situation can be uncomfortable. Two recent phenomena are exacerbating this and increasing tensions around the practice of tipping.</p>
<p>The first is an increase in tipping percentage, known as <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/tip-flation-what-s-behind-rising-tip-percentages-at-restaurants-1.6044152">tip inflation or “tipflation.”</a> The second is <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/josh-freed-weve-reached-a-tipping-point-with-tip-creep">tip creeping</a>, which refers to the increase in services that now expect a tip from customers. Both tipflation and tip creep are reigniting the conversation about tipping in Canada and drawing attention to how entrenched tipping is in North American culture.</p>
<h2>Tip inflation</h2>
<p>Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the standard tip percentage in Canada was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/tipping-in-canada/index.html">between 15 and 18 per cent</a>. Now, we are seeing tip prompts <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costofliving/tipflation-gratuities-1.6555135">of 30 per cent and higher</a>. </p>
<p>There is evidence that Canadians have started <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/covid-19-increased-tipping-generosity-of-canadians-data-finds-1.5863487">tipping more</a> since the pandemic, as well. What is less clear is whether consumers are being pushed to tip more, or whether they are choosing to do so on their own.</p>
<p>Given the size of most restaurant transactions, the majority of them occur using a debit or credit card. The concern over the transmission of COVID-19 or other infections has increased the <a href="https://www.tastingtable.com/782895/how-covid-changed-the-way-we-pay-for-dinner/">appeal of contactless</a> or minimum contact payment. This provides businesses with an opportunity to prompt customers with an “acceptable” tipping amount through payment terminals. </p>
<p>These <a href="https://www.imperial.ac.uk/nudgeomics/about/what-is-nudge-theory/">nudges</a> are a way for businesses to frame choices to get a desired outcome. The payment terminals provide suggestions as to the amount to tip and make it easy to choose that amount. Choosing a different amount requires more effort and is, therefore, less likely to happen. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A waiter processes a dinner tab with a credit card processing device" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503141/original/file-20230104-129938-88bdxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503141/original/file-20230104-129938-88bdxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503141/original/file-20230104-129938-88bdxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503141/original/file-20230104-129938-88bdxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503141/original/file-20230104-129938-88bdxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503141/original/file-20230104-129938-88bdxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503141/original/file-20230104-129938-88bdxw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Card payments provide businesses with chances to prompt customers with pre-set tipping amounts through payment terminals and credit card readers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nudging works, but it can backfire. A <a href="https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/37364598">Harvard study found that</a> higher default options led to higher average tips, but when the defaults were too high, a whiplash effect led to lower tips and negative feelings about the restaurant. Businesses need to be careful not to alienate their customers when doing this.</p>
<p>Nudges make tipping requests explicit, meaning customers are pressured into tipping, suggesting an expectation to tip, rather than a choice. This has the potential to induce feelings of guilt in customers.</p>
<p>Tipflation is also compounded by regular inflation. Restaurant prices <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1810000403">increased by 7.7 per cent in Canada</a> in 2022, meaning tips in the food industry are increasing substantially.</p>
<p>In the past, tipping percentages have been applied to the pre-tax amount. When you calculate a percentage yourself, you calculate the tip based on the pre-tax amount, but when using terminals, tips are calculated <em>after</em> tax. All of these factors are contributing to tip inflation.</p>
<h2>Tip creep</h2>
<p>At the same time as tip percentages are increasing, the types of businesses explicitly suggesting tips are expanding. Historically, <a href="https://arrivein.com/daily-life-in-canada/tipping-in-canada-things-to-know-as-a-newcomer/">tipping in North America</a> has been reserved for restaurant serving staff, taxi drivers and hairstylists. Before point of sale terminals, you would occasionally see a tip jar on the counter at coffee shops, as well. </p>
<p>But now, other industries like <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/tip-fast-food-liquor-mechanic-1.6546504">fast food, retail outlets and even mechanics</a> are offering tipping options on sales terminals to encourage — or pressure — customers into tipping. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A fast food worker at a drive through window handing a bag of food and a drink to a customer" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503151/original/file-20230104-12-d1kgtj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503151/original/file-20230104-12-d1kgtj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503151/original/file-20230104-12-d1kgtj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503151/original/file-20230104-12-d1kgtj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503151/original/file-20230104-12-d1kgtj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503151/original/file-20230104-12-d1kgtj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503151/original/file-20230104-12-d1kgtj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Should you tip fast food workers? Some fast food restaurants, like Subway and Domino’s, now have tipping options for customers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many <a href="https://www.repairsmith.com/blog/how-much-to-tip-mechanic/">auto industry insider blogs</a> are also promoting tipping in an effort to normalize the practice in industries that have not historically been part of the tipping norm. Tip creeping can create both confusion and resentment in consumers.</p>
<p>The nudge towards tipping is not just happening on payment terminals, either. The freelance service platform Fiverr suggests a tip after delivery — work is paid for when it is requested. This <a href="https://www.fiverr.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiAnZCdBhBmEiwA8nDQxY3XlyST1uktfIYYhoXBlvJ8wvh_W1uYAGG-lMQjrvDx-ZXUX89ccBoCYfEQAvD_BwE">creates uncertainty for customers</a>.</p>
<h2>Tip fatigue</h2>
<p>Many Canadians are feeling <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/now-15-per-cent-is-rude-tipping-fatigue-hits-customers-as-requests-rise-1.6071227">tip fatigue</a> from being bombarded with tipping requests more frequently. At the very least, tip fatigue means customers are leaving interactions that involve tipping with negative feelings. But at the worst, tip fatigue could cause customers to tip less or stop altogether. Those pushing to increase tipping risk alienating consumers who find the amounts and the range of services expecting tips too much.</p>
<p>As consumers, we should remember that we are in control. We choose when, where and how much to tip. While tipping is a social norm, no one should feel pressured to tip more than the standard percentage, if at all. If a business is prompting you with a tip percentage higher than you are comfortable with, you can always enter a custom amount that you feel is appropriate instead.</p>
<p>We can send a message that we won’t be pushed or guilted into tipping. We could even push for a model where customers only pay what the service is worth and businesses are required to pay their workers a reasonable wage, rather than <a href="https://www.restaurantscanada.org/industry-news/minimum-wage-by-province/">forcing them to rely on tips to make a decent living</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189289/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael von Massow receives funding from a variety of organizations including the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Genome Canada, and Protein Industries Canada.</span></em></p>As the cost of living continues to rise, the amount Canadians are being asked to tip is also increasing due to a phenomenon known as tip inflation.Michael von Massow, Associate Professor, Food Economics, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1856852022-06-29T12:11:35Z2022-06-29T12:11:35ZClimate change is putting food safety at risk more often, and not just at picnics and parties – blackouts are a growing problem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471485/original/file-20220628-14234-gop3kl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=491%2C0%2C4682%2C3086&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dairy, meats and eggs can get risky when left in warm conditions.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/portrait-of-smiling-boy-holding-sandwich-with-his-royalty-free-image/691049473">Westend61 via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Every year, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/foodborneburden/2011-foodborne-estimates.html">almost 1 in 6 Americans</a> gets a foodborne illness, and about 3,000 people die from it, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. Picnics and parties where food sits out for hours are a common source, but heat waves and power outages are another silently growing threat.</em></p>
<p><em>As global temperatures rise, the risk of foods going bad during blackouts in homes or stores or during transit in hot weather rises with them. <a href="https://nutrition.tufts.edu/profile/faculty/elena-n-naumova">Elena Naumova</a>, an epidemiologist and data scientist at Tufts University, explains the risk and what you need to know to stay safe.</em></p>
<h2>What does climate change have to do with foodborne illness?</h2>
<p>The link between foodborne illness and climate change is quite straightforward: The pathogens that cause many foodborne infections are sensitive to temperature. That’s because warm, wet weather conditions stimulate bacterial growth.</p>
<p>Three main factors govern the spread of foodborne illness: 1) the abundance, growth, range and survival of pathogens in crops, livestock and the environment; 2) the transfer of these pathogens to food; and 3) human exposure to the pathogens.</p>
<p>Safety measures like warning labels and product recalls can help slow the spread of harmful bacteria and parasites, but these measures don’t always evolve rapidly enough to keep pace with the changing risk.</p>
<p>One growing problem is that heat waves, wildfires and severe storms are increasingly triggering power outages, which in turn affect food storage and food handling practices in stores, production and distribution sites and homes. A review of federal data in 2022 found that major U.S. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-storms-science-business-health-7a0fb8c998c1d56759989dda62292379">power outages linked to severe weather had doubled</a> over the previous two decades. California often experiences <a href="https://www.bloomenergy.com/bloom-energy-outage-map/">smaller-scale outages</a> during heat waves and periods of high wildfire risk.</p>
<p>This can happen on the hottest and, in some areas, most humid days, creating ideal conditions for bacteria to grow.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471456/original/file-20220628-14253-8980uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471456/original/file-20220628-14253-8980uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471456/original/file-20220628-14253-8980uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471456/original/file-20220628-14253-8980uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471456/original/file-20220628-14253-8980uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=632&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471456/original/file-20220628-14253-8980uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=632&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471456/original/file-20220628-14253-8980uj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=632&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Salmonella bacteria, in pink, a common cause of foodborne disease, invade a human epithelial cell.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/niaid/5613656967">NIAID</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Which causes of foodborne illness are increasing with the heat?</h2>
<p>Nationwide, many types of foodborne infection <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-74435-9">peak in warm summer months</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/cyclosporiasis/gen_info/faqs.html"><em>Cyclospora</em></a>, a tiny parasite that causes intestinal infections and is transmitted through food or water contaminated with feces, often on imported vegetables and fruits, peaks in early June. </p>
<p>The bacteria <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/campylobacter/faq.html"><em>Campylobacter</em></a>, a common cause of diarrhea that’s often linked to undercooked meat; <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vibrio/faq.html"><em>Vibrio</em></a>, linked to eating raw or undercooked shellfish; <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/general/index.html"><em>Salmonella</em></a>, which causes diarrhea and is linked to animal feces; and STEC, a common type of <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/general/index.html"><em>E. coli</em></a>, peak in mid-July. And the parasite <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/crypto/index.html"><em>Cyptosporidium</em></a>, germ <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/listeria/faq.html"><em>Listeria</em></a> and bacteria <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/shigella/general-information.html"><em>Shigella</em></a> peak in mid-August.</p>
<p>Many of these infections cause upset stomach, but they can also lead to severe diarrhea, dehydration, vomiting and even longer-term illnesses, such as meningitis and multiple organ failures.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man stands in front of a dark freezer case packed with pizzas and other frozen meals." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471487/original/file-20220628-14234-33ofq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471487/original/file-20220628-14234-33ofq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471487/original/file-20220628-14234-33ofq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471487/original/file-20220628-14234-33ofq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471487/original/file-20220628-14234-33ofq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471487/original/file-20220628-14234-33ofq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471487/original/file-20220628-14234-33ofq8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When refrigerators lose power, they can keep foods cool for only so long. This store owner in New York during the 2006 blackout said, ‘I’ll have to throw all this out.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/grocery-store-owener-asim-calik-surveys-a-freezer-full-of-news-photo/71510428">Chris Hondros/Getty Images</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In our studies, my colleagues and I have also found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19094947">food recalls increase</a> during summer months. </p>
<p>Typically, the U.S. sees about 70 foodborne outbreaks per month, with about two of them resulting in a food recall. In summer, the number of outbreaks can exceed 100 per month, and the number of recall-related outbreaks goes up to six per month, increasing from 3% to 6% of all reported and investigated outbreaks nationwide. </p>
<p>The rate of individual infections can also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268806006698">easily double or triple</a> the annual average during summer months. </p>
<p><iframe id="JhwJ1" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/JhwJ1/7/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Precisely estimating infection numbers is very challenging because the vast majority of foodborne illness outbreaks – an estimated <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-74435-9">80% of illnesses and 56% of hospitalizations</a> – are not attributed to known pathogens due to insufficient testing, and many foodborne illnesses are not even reported to the health authorities.</p>
<h2>What types of food should people worry about?</h2>
<p>Watch out for perishable products, including meat, poultry, fish, dairy and eggs, along with anything labeled as requiring refrigeration. How warm a food item can get before becoming risky varies, so the simplest rule for keeping food safe is to follow food labels and instructions.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/index.html%5D(https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/index.html">CDC website</a> emphasizes four basic rules to prevent food poisoning at home: clean, separate, cook and chill.</p>
<p>It also offers some guidelines for when the power goes out, starting with keeping refrigerator and freezer doors closed. “A full freezer <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/food-safety-during-a-power-outage.html">will keep food safe for 48 hours</a> (24 hours if half-full) without power if you don’t open the door. Your refrigerator will keep food safe for up to four hours without power if you don’t open the door,” it says.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471484/original/file-20220628-14613-gop3kl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An infographic offers advice also discussed in the article." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471484/original/file-20220628-14613-gop3kl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471484/original/file-20220628-14613-gop3kl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471484/original/file-20220628-14613-gop3kl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471484/original/file-20220628-14613-gop3kl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471484/original/file-20220628-14613-gop3kl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471484/original/file-20220628-14613-gop3kl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471484/original/file-20220628-14613-gop3kl.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Food safety tips.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/food-safety-during-a-power-outage.html">CDC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After four hours without power or a cooling source, the CDC recommends that most meat, dairy, leftovers and cut fruits and vegetables in the refrigerator be thrown out.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, you cannot see, smell or taste many harmful pathogens that cause foodborne illness, so it’s better to be safe than sorry. Rule of thumb: When in doubt, throw it out.</p>
<h2>What’s the best response if a person gets sick from food?</h2>
<p>If you do get sick, it can be hard to pinpoint the culprit. Harmful bacteria can take anywhere from <a href="https://doh.wa.gov/you-and-your-family/food-safety/food-safety-myths">a few hours to several days</a> to make you sick. And people respond in different ways, so the same food might not make everyone ill.</p>
<p>Check with your doctor <a href="https://www.fda.gov/food/consumers/what-you-need-know-about-foodborne-illnesses">if you think you have food poisoning</a>. Get tested so your case will be reported. That helps public health authorities get a better sense of the extent of infections. The full extent of infections is typically vastly underreported.</p>
<p>I recommend checking health department websites, <a href="https://doh.wa.gov/you-and-your-family/food-safety/food-safety-myths">like Washington state’s</a>, for more advice, and <a href="https://www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls">check on food recalls</a> during the hot months.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185685/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elena N. Naumova receives funding from the National Science Foundation. She is affiliated with Tufts University. </span></em></p>Climate change has a clear link to rising foodborne illnesses. Blackouts during heat waves and wildfires are a growing part of the problem.Elena N. Naumova, Professor of Epidemiology and Data Science, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1822052022-05-16T17:57:40Z2022-05-16T17:57:40ZClimate change is now on the menu at seafood restaurants<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462902/original/file-20220512-22-fd3ssw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C90%2C6679%2C4124&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Warmer-water preferring fish species like sardines and squid may soon dominate seafood menus on the west coast of Canada. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/climate-change-is-now-on-the-menu-at-seafood-restaurants" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Restaurant menus across the West Coast of Canada will soon see an influx of squid and sardine dishes, while the popular sockeye salmon makes a slow exit. As it turns out, <a href="https://news.ubc.ca/2022/04/21/vancouver-restaurant-menu-squid-sockeye-salmon/">climate change may have something to do with this</a>.</p>
<p>Restaurants update their menus all the time and this often goes unnoticed by diners. These changes are driven by culinary trends, consumer preferences and many environmental and socio-economic factors that affect the availability of the ingredients. According to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-022-01244-6">a recent study</a> published by my research team, we can now add climate change to this list. </p>
<p>We found that as the ocean temperature rises, many marine fish and shellfish move from their traditional habitats towards the North and South Poles in search of cooler waters. This movement of fish stocks affects the availability of seafood catch, compelling chefs to rewrite the menus of seafood restaurants on the West Coast of Canada.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/species-on-the-move-4-ways-conservation-can-adapt-in-an-era-of-climate-change-179254">Species on the move: 4 ways conservation can adapt in an era of climate change</a>
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<h2>Climate change affects our ocean and fisheries</h2>
<p>The latest report from the UN’s <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a> confirmed that climate change is impacting the ocean, fish stocks and fisheries through ocean warming, loss of sea ice, <a href="https://www.noaa.gov/education/resource-collections/ocean-coasts/ocean-acidification">ocean acidification</a>, heatwaves, <a href="https://www.iucn.org/theme/marine-and-polar/our-work/climate-change-and-oceans/ocean-deoxygenation">ocean deoxygenation</a> and other <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/">extreme weather events</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Underwater bleached white corals surrounded by fish." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463076/original/file-20220513-24-cnheuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463076/original/file-20220513-24-cnheuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463076/original/file-20220513-24-cnheuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463076/original/file-20220513-24-cnheuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463076/original/file-20220513-24-cnheuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463076/original/file-20220513-24-cnheuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463076/original/file-20220513-24-cnheuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fish stocks are affected by ocean warming, acidification, loss of sea ice and many other effects of climate change.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The impacts of warming-induced ecological shifts are also seen in our fisheries. Fish catches around the world are increasingly dominated by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12156">species that prefer warmer water</a>.</p>
<p>We applied an index called “mean temperature of catch” to measure such changes in species of fish caught along the West Coast of Canada, and found that the catch of warmer-water species in this region has increased from 1961 to 2016. </p>
<h2>Relating seafood on menus to climate change</h2>
<p>But how exactly do these changes in fisheries catch dictate the food that appears in our plates? <a href="https://news.ubc.ca/tag/john-paul-ng/">My co-author John-Paul Ng</a> and I decided to tackle this question ourselves by focusing our efforts on the West Coast of Canada and the U.S. where many restaurants serve seafood.</p>
<p>We looked at present-day menus from restaurants in these areas, along with menus — some dating back to the 19th century — taken from historical archives in city halls and local museums. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A restaurant menu from 1888" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463081/original/file-20220514-21-ipvlc5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463081/original/file-20220514-21-ipvlc5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463081/original/file-20220514-21-ipvlc5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463081/original/file-20220514-21-ipvlc5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463081/original/file-20220514-21-ipvlc5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463081/original/file-20220514-21-ipvlc5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463081/original/file-20220514-21-ipvlc5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Caption Hotel Vancouver 1888 dinner menu. Restaurant menus show the seafood selection at different periods in time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(City of Vancouver Archives, AM1519-PAM 1888-17)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After looking at 362 menus, we used a similar approach to the one we developed to study fisheries catches and calculated a “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-022-01244-6">mean temperature of restaurant seafood</a>.” This index represents the average preferred temperature across all seafood species that appeared on the sampled menus from restaurants in a city for a specific time period. This index is a tool to help us gauge whether our restaurants are serving more or less warm and cold water seafood. </p>
<p>We found that the average preferred water temperature of fish and shellfish appeared in our menu increased to 14 C in recent times (2019-21) from 9 C in 1961-90 period. </p>
<p>This increase in the preferred water temperature of fish on restaurant menus is connected to changes in sea water temperature and the temperature-related changes in the composition of fish species caught during the same time period.</p>
<h2>More squid and sardine dishes</h2>
<p>Ocean warming is starting to change the variety of seafood available. </p>
<p>Driven by the higher ocean temperature in the northeast Pacific Ocean, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0702043104">the Humboldt squid — a large, predatory squid species</a> that inhabits the eastern Pacific Ocean — is now making more frequent appearances on present-day restaurant menus in Vancouver.</p>
<p>British Columbia once had a commercially important Pacific sardine fishery, which was a common restaurant seafood. After the fishery collapsed in the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1139/f94-048">mid-1940s</a>, the fish seldom appeared in our sampled restaurant menus.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A school of fish in the ocean water." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463080/original/file-20220514-26-1fd1kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463080/original/file-20220514-26-1fd1kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463080/original/file-20220514-26-1fd1kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463080/original/file-20220514-26-1fd1kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463080/original/file-20220514-26-1fd1kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463080/original/file-20220514-26-1fd1kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463080/original/file-20220514-26-1fd1kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Research shows that sardines will soon become more abundant in B.C. waters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to research conducted by colleagues in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0196127">fisheries research</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0145285">by our team at the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries</a>, the sardines, which prefer warmer water, will soon make a big comeback on the West Coast of Canada. We expect that more sardine dishes will start appearing on the menus of restaurants here.</p>
<h2>Responding to changing seafood availability</h2>
<p>Globalization and the diversification of cuisines have brought a wider array of seafood options to coastal cities such as Vancouver and Los Angeles. Imported and farmed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomm.2017.12.004">seafood are increasingly common ingredients in menus</a>.</p>
<p>As climate change continues to shuffle species’ distribution in ocean waters, we expect that climate-induced changes to seafood menus at restaurants will become even more pronounced. </p>
<p>Our study on restaurant menus underscores the <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/climate-change/climate-crisis-may-destroy-aquatic-food-systems-and-livelihoods-economies-79066">wide-ranging impacts of climate change on our food system</a>. In cases where alternative seafood ingredients are available and consumer preferences are flexible, the impacts on our social, economic and cultural well-being may be limited. However, substantial <a href="https://www.vancity.com/viewport/mobile/SharedContent/documents/pdfs/News/Vancity-Report-Impact-of-Climate-Change-on-Seafood-in-BC-2015.pdf">negative consequences</a> are likely to be felt by many vulnerable communities that do not have the capacity to adapt to such changes. </p>
<p>Global and local actions to support both climate change adaptation and mitigation are essential if we want the ocean to continue to provide food for the people around the world who rely on it for nutritional security.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182205/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William W. L. Cheung receives funding from NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.</span></em></p>As the ocean temperature rises, many marine species are moving toward the north and south poles in search of cooler waters, thus rewriting the menus of seafood restaurants on the West Coast of Canada.William W. L. Cheung, Professor and Director, Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1810182022-05-08T12:22:58Z2022-05-08T12:22:58ZThe future of tipping should be driven by Canadians, not businesses<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461368/original/file-20220504-23-ww3zeq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=201%2C613%2C6367%2C3822&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tipping reshapes the relationship between workers and their managers, and workers and consumers. In doing so, it has wide-ranging effects on workers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tipping has long been a source of <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=PJfTYcB48uIC&printsec=frontcover&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">significant controversy</a>, spilling over from time to time into the <a href="https://www.tvo.org/article/its-time-to-abolish-tipping-once-and-for-all">pages of Canadian media</a>. Canadians’ views on tipping remain divided, as <a href="https://theconversation.com/at-the-tipping-point-its-time-to-include-tips-in-menu-prices-as-restaurants-reopen-from-covid-lockdowns-164017">a recent survey</a> by researchers from Dalhousie University has found.</p>
<p>One reason why tipping garners so much interest is that it <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=368727">reshapes the relationship</a> between workers and their managers, and workers and consumers. In doing so, it has wide-ranging effects on workers. </p>
<p>On the one hand, tipping can boost workers’ income and give workers a <a href="https://tupress.temple.edu/book/3138">greater sense of control over some facets of their work</a>. On the other, more problematic, hand it often comes with a range of negative outcomes that are not always apparent to consumers. </p>
<p>These include <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/EDI-04-2019-0127/full/html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest">sexual harassment</a>, pressure to engage in <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=368727">degrading and demeaning behaviours</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15378020.2016.1215760">inequality</a> among different groups of workers, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2008.00338.x">racial discrimination</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.413">unpredictable incomes</a>. </p>
<p>Tipping <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F10564926221088729">might also have a range of societal impacts</a>, including exacerbating class distinctions and legitimizing other employment practices like <a href="https://points.datasociety.net/racing-for-tips-4816da5b5096">classifying workers as independent contractors</a> that can be harmful to workers. Clearly, tipping is neither a neutral or trivial activity.</p>
<h2>A shifting landscape</h2>
<p>Tipping <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/gig-economy-workforce-rockets-to-more-than-one-in-ten-of-canadians-a-further-third-are-open-to-joining-reveals-new-study-812441559.html">underpins much of the rapidly growing contemporary gig economy</a>, in which 13 per cent of Canadians are reported to have worked in 2021. </p>
<p>Tipping is spreading to more and more parts of the hospitality industry, including <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJCHM-12-2019-0981/full/html">cafes and limited-service restaurants</a>. Soon, it might even spread to <a href="https://time.com/5499027/flight-attendants-to-keep-tips-frontier/">airlines</a>, <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/the-100000-a-year-waitress-isnt-a-myth-some-hard-truths-about-tipping-in-canada">liquor stores</a> and <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3539922/customers-fear-tip-shaming-as-gratuity-expectations-grow/">pet grooming businesses</a>.</p>
<p>These changes are taking place before our eyes without any serious policy debate or direction. When tipping does receive policy attention, it is often limited to <a href="https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021LBR0022-001048">tweaking or eliminating different minimum wages for tipped workers</a>, and adapting laws around <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/employees-tips-other-gratuities">tip pooling</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman sitting at an outdoor restaurant table using a cell phone" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461361/original/file-20220504-19-ra6avh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461361/original/file-20220504-19-ra6avh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461361/original/file-20220504-19-ra6avh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461361/original/file-20220504-19-ra6avh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461361/original/file-20220504-19-ra6avh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461361/original/file-20220504-19-ra6avh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461361/original/file-20220504-19-ra6avh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More and more businesses have chosen to amplify tipping by prompting customers to tip via payment portals or apps.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While these are important topics, these efforts fail to tackle the complex issues and trade-offs associated with tipping in a comprehensive manner. They represent a missed opportunity to start a conversation we need to have as a society. Instead, it is businesses that are often in the driver’s seat.</p>
<p>While some businesses, including <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/business/local-business/no-more-tipping-at-montreal-cafe-larrys-heres-how-and-why">Larry’s in Montréal</a> and <a href="https://theprovince.com/news/b.c./servers-now-accepting-tips-again-at-canadas-first-no-tipping-restaurant-smoke-n-water">Smoke ‘N Water in Parksville, B.C.</a>, have tried to eliminate tipping, more commonly they have amplified it by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1094670519900553">prompting customers to tip via payment portals or apps</a>. Businesses have many reasons to do this, notably the opportunity to cut costs by shifting some of the <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=368727">responsibility for workers’ compensations onto consumers</a>. </p>
<p>Once tipping starts to become more common in a particular industry,
strong <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167487014001056">norms tend to form around it</a> that are hard to break. If this pattern holds in industries where tipping is spreading in Canada, millions more Canadian workers could see their working lives significantly altered. </p>
<h2>It’s time for a serious conversation</h2>
<p>In light of these trends and our current knowledge of the impacts of tipping, we should pause and ask ourselves: is this really what we want the future of work to look like in Canada? </p>
<p>As a business and sustainability professor, I argue that it is time for Canadians, their representatives and policymakers to have a serious conversation about the future of compensation in Canada and what role, if any, tipping ought to play in it.</p>
<p>This conversation should include a thorough consideration of pros and cons of tipping and its alternatives, like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/08876040810881722">service charges and service-inclusive pricing</a>, and the supporting practices needed to successfully transition from one approach to another. </p>
<p>It should also provide opportunities for Canadian workers to learn and deliberate together by accessing expert insights, research and stakeholder perspectives, like those of <a href="https://not9to5.org/about-us/">Not 9 To 5</a> and the <a href="https://workersolidarity.ca/">Worker Solidarity Network</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A barista standing behind a counter with a tip jar on it. A customer is putting money in the jar." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461365/original/file-20220504-25-zf0pih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461365/original/file-20220504-25-zf0pih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461365/original/file-20220504-25-zf0pih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461365/original/file-20220504-25-zf0pih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461365/original/file-20220504-25-zf0pih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461365/original/file-20220504-25-zf0pih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461365/original/file-20220504-25-zf0pih.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Canadians, their representatives and policymakers need to have a serious conversation the future of compensation in Canada and whether tipping should play a role in it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We could take inspiration from the recent work of the <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/document/future-work-ontario">Ontario Workforce Recovery Advisory Committee</a>, which leveraged extensive stakeholder consultations and research when drafting its report on the future of work in Ontario. We could also draw on the growing number of <a href="https://participedia.net/method/4258">citizens’ assemblies</a> that are tackling issues like <a href="https://www.fsrao.ca/newsroom/fsra-receives-residents-reference-panels-final-report-automotive-insurance-ontario">auto insurance</a> and <a href="https://www.commissioncanada.ca/">democratic expression</a>.</p>
<h2>The future of tipping</h2>
<p>Canadians may ultimately express a desire for the elimination of tipping, at least in some sectors, as was the case <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053535704001027">in some U.S. states in the past</a>. This could be coupled with policies to give workers some of the benefits tipping can have, namely higher wages and a greater sense of control by giving workers more <a href="https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newtmm_81.htm">autonomy over how they do their jobs</a>. </p>
<p>Alternatively, Canadians may want to keep the practice of tipping, but implement clear rules about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2019.3541">techniques used to solicit tips through apps and platforms</a>, higher wages for workers and transparency about how tips are distributed and whether any tipped minimum wages apply to workers.</p>
<p>Rather than tipping being largely determined by businesses as they tinker with payment portals, it should be defined by Canadians who, though they may experience tipping on a regular basis, have not been given the chance to properly reflect on it. </p>
<p>This will become all the more important as the pandemic draws our attention to the importance of creating an economy that offers <a href="https://ppforum.ca/publications/the-future-is-now-creating-decent-work-post-pandemic/">decent and quality work for all of us</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181018/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Pek receives funding from the University of Victoria's President's Chair award. </span></em></p>The future of tipping should be defined by Canadians, not businesses seeking to shift responsibility for worker compensation onto consumers.Simon Pek, Assistant Professor, Gustavson School of Business, University of VictoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1800832022-04-19T12:20:15Z2022-04-19T12:20:15ZPayment apps asking for specific tips before service annoy the heck out of users – but still generate bigger gratuities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456708/original/file-20220406-14-hl6tfb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=34%2C8%2C5509%2C3819&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Customers may prefer the old-fashioned tip jar. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/unrecognizable-coffee-shop-customer-using-tip-jar-royalty-free-image/938547524">SDI Productions/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em> </p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>Asking customers to leave specific tip amounts before food is delivered or provided prompts larger gratuities but also leads to lower satisfaction – especially if the payment page design is crowded, <a href="http://www.doi.org/10.1177/10963480221076467">I found in new research I co-authored</a>. </p>
<p>My colleagues and I conducted three studies and a survey to explore how consumers are responding to the <a href="https://www.today.com/money/guilt-tipping-are-square-mobile-payments-making-us-tip-everyone-t126151">use of tip suggestions</a> on digital payment devices. All participants for the study were recruited via the crowdsourcing website Mechanical Turk and were required to have eaten out or experienced a similar service in the past 12 months and left a tip. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Two payments interfaces sit side by side with prices for a 'pizza set.' The one on the left has suggested tipping options 15% 20% 25% and the other has an empty box with optional tip" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456922/original/file-20220407-12-168o8a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456922/original/file-20220407-12-168o8a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456922/original/file-20220407-12-168o8a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456922/original/file-20220407-12-168o8a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456922/original/file-20220407-12-168o8a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=650&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456922/original/file-20220407-12-168o8a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=650&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456922/original/file-20220407-12-168o8a.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=650&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Study participants were shown either a payment interface with suggested tip amounts or simply an optional box.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fan, Wu, Liu (2022)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In our first study, we asked 134 people to imagine themselves ordering a large pizza that cost about US$28.97, including taxes and fees, from a local restaurant via a mobile app on their phones. They were shown a payment page similar in design to what you would find on apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats. Half of the participants viewed a payment page that noted “tipping optional” next to an empty box into which users could enter a gratuity if they so chose. The other half saw specific tip suggestions, 15%, 20% and 25%, as well as a “custom” option. We highlighted 20% as the default. </p>
<p>We then asked them to rate how they felt about the paying experience, whether they felt manipulated and how much they would tip. We found that participants who saw specific suggestions gave significantly higher tips but also reported feeling manipulated and more dissatisfied with the experience. </p>
<p>In a second study, we wanted to test whether the design of the payment page made much of a difference. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670520904408">Past research on spatial crowding</a> has found that less-crowded screens are less stressful to consumers and make them less likely to react emotionally. So we replicated the first study with 280 more participants with the two tipping options; half of them viewed a relatively cluttered design, while the rest saw more white space between words and graphics. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Two payments interfaces sit side by side with prices for a 'pizza set'. The one on the left is slightly smaller with less spacing between words and elements than the one on the right" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456923/original/file-20220407-14-m6nm9q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456923/original/file-20220407-14-m6nm9q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456923/original/file-20220407-14-m6nm9q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456923/original/file-20220407-14-m6nm9q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456923/original/file-20220407-14-m6nm9q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=634&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456923/original/file-20220407-14-m6nm9q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=634&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456923/original/file-20220407-14-m6nm9q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=634&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Study participants found the more roomy layout less dissatisfying.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fan, Wu, Liu (2022)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found that people still tipped more when given suggested amounts. But the less-cluttered design resulted in less dissatisfaction in the payment experience. </p>
<p>Our final study repeated the same basic structure of the second except we had our 201 participants view the payment pages – cluttered or spaced out – on a computer. We found similar results, with tip suggestions yielding higher gratuities and a crowded design resulting in more dissatisfaction than a spacious one. </p>
<p>Finally, we conducted a survey and found that people said they’re more likely to patronize a restaurant and say positive things about it if the digital payment experience is a good one. </p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=weekly&source=inline-weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Whether ordering a cappuccino at a cafe or a pizza from a delivery app, it seems like we’re all being increasingly asked to tip before tasting our food or experiencing delivery or other service. A point-of-sale provider <a href="https://www.today.com/money/guilt-tipping-are-square-mobile-payments-making-us-tip-everyone-t126151">recently reported</a> that about half of its “quick serve” clients, like cafes and bakeries, and almost a quarter of all its merchants used the suggested tip feature on their payment screens. </p>
<p>And of course tips are important for the workers who <a href="https://flowingdata.com/2017/08/03/working-on-tips/">depend on them</a>. Gratuities make up a significant amount of service workers’ take-home pay. Servers, for example, <a href="https://www.nelp.org/publication/wait-staff-and-bartenders-depend-on-tips-for-more-than-half-of-their-earnings">earn over half of their incomes</a> on tips alone. </p>
<p>Our research shows suggesting tip amounts is indeed effective at increasing tip amounts. But this comes at a cost when consumers feel manipulated into forking over more money before their pizza or coffee has even arrived. Our survey showed that this may lead people to avoid ordering from a given restaurant in the future. </p>
<p>Companies can use a less-cluttered payment interface to hold on to more customers.</p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>We hope to do further research on how different social cues, such as explaining to customers the importance of tips to delivery and other service workers, might affect customer satisfaction when using the tipping feature of digital payment apps.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180083/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alei Fan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Delivery services and cafes commonly prompt customers to leave a specific tip – for example, 15%, 20%, 25% – at the point of sale rather than after completing the service.Alei Fan, Assistant Professor of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Purdue UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1792622022-04-01T12:46:28Z2022-04-01T12:46:28ZTomorrow’s COVID safety guidelines will be different from today’s – but that doesn’t mean yesterday’s were wrong<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455646/original/file-20220331-25-8ir350.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=98%2C69%2C3755%2C2224&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">COVID guidelines have changed a lot over the past few years as the pandemic has ebbed and flowed.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/VirusOutbreakRestaurantsEconomicImpact/97f93c4de7c34ad088b649160b8fc964/photo?Query=mask%20restaurant%20sign&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=120&currentItemNo=15">AP Photo/Jeff Chiu</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>No one gave a second thought to the safety of dining out before the pandemic. Fast-forward to today, and it’s normal to wonder whether there is a city, state or <a href="https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/OSHA4099.pdf">federal policy around whether you need a mask or proof of vaccination to eat in a restaurant</a>. The public policies around dining and many other activities have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/10/nyregion/mask-or-vax-rule-covid.html">changed multiple times over the course of the pandemic</a>. These rules are also often <a href="https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/operations/california-nyc-roll-back-covid-mandates-restaurants">different from place to place</a>. For millions of parents like my wife and me, the guidelines regarding children can be especially frustrating, as <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/k-12-guidance.html">they seem to change constantly</a>.</p>
<p>I am the former director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Health Policy and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=s7A-LdEAAAAJ">a practicing surgeon</a>. I have followed both the development and rapid implementation of public policy in response to COVID-19, and I, like many people, have struggled to stay up to date. </p>
<p>Typically, meaningful changes to federal health policy happen at a glacial pace. But the modern world has never faced a public health crisis that <a href="https://asm.org/Resource-Pages/COVID-19-Resources">has changed as quickly as the pandemic</a>. The constant back and forth of rules can be frustrating, but policy changes aren’t usually a sign of mistakes. Rather, they show that for the most part, policymakers are getting things right over and over again.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455296/original/file-20220330-5911-1mygbe9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Five different colored spherical coronaviruses representing some of the existing variants." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455296/original/file-20220330-5911-1mygbe9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455296/original/file-20220330-5911-1mygbe9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455296/original/file-20220330-5911-1mygbe9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455296/original/file-20220330-5911-1mygbe9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455296/original/file-20220330-5911-1mygbe9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455296/original/file-20220330-5911-1mygbe9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455296/original/file-20220330-5911-1mygbe9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Each new variant came with its own set of unique challenges, and policymakers had to respond accordingly.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/covid-19-omicron-sign-royalty-free-image/1356934479">Andriy Onufriyenko/Moment via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Rapid changes require rapid responses</h2>
<p>The continued evolution of the coronavirus and resultant public policy changes <a href="https://www.news-medical.net/news/20220318/Characteristics-of-super-spreaders-of-novel-coronaviruses.aspx">don’t look like a normal public health crisis</a>. It’s happening like a hurricane.</p>
<p>The danger of a hurricane depends heavily on the strength and path of the storm, and these things <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-i-stay-or-should-i-go-timing-affects-hurricane-evacuation-decisions-40141">can and do change unexpectedly</a>. Government officials use the best evidence available to give general information or orders to take certain precautions, shelter in place or evacuate an area, all within a very narrow window of time. Sometimes evacuation orders for a town or region will be issued, only to have a hurricane strike elsewhere. </p>
<p>This virus has similarly changed – and continues to change – very quickly. In a little over two years, researchers have <a href="https://www.who.int/en/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants/">found dozens of COVID-19 variants</a>. Many of these have clinically important <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-new-covid-19-variant-ba-2-and-will-it-cause-another-wave-of-infections-in-the-us-179619">differences in their transmissibility</a>, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/alpha-then-delta-and-now-omicron-6-questions-answered-as-covid-19-cases-once-again-surge-across-the-globe-174703">severity of the illness they cause</a> and the degree to which they are preventable and treatable with existing therapies. </p>
<p>When the coronavirus first emerged, health officials knew very little about it and did not have systems in place to track or predict its behavior; there was a hurricane approaching and the world had neither satellites nor weather models. But as epidemiologists and public health officials gained greater understanding of the virus, they quickly gained the ability to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03626-1">deploy effective countermeasures</a> and <a href="https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2021-07-27/timeline-cdc-mask-guidance-during-covid-19-pandemic">adapt as the virus also changed</a>.</p>
<p>University researchers and the pharmaceutical industry <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24552-4">rapidly developed COVID-19 tests</a>. <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-best-mask-for-covid-19-a-mechanical-engineer-explains-the-science-after-2-years-of-testing-masks-in-his-lab-175481">Mask testing</a> began at once. And as soon as scientists mapped the coronavirus’s genome, work began to quickly use existing mRNA vaccine technologies to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02483-w">develop a vaccine in record time</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455301/original/file-20220330-5642-1q8euqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="President Biden signing a document in the oval office." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455301/original/file-20220330-5642-1q8euqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455301/original/file-20220330-5642-1q8euqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455301/original/file-20220330-5642-1q8euqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455301/original/file-20220330-5642-1q8euqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455301/original/file-20220330-5642-1q8euqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455301/original/file-20220330-5642-1q8euqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455301/original/file-20220330-5642-1q8euqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Presidents Biden and Trump employed executive orders to quickly react to changing conditions of the pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/Biden50DaysPromises/57d59e31729a438799838fd93c30c9ba/photo?Query=biden%20executive%20order%20covid&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=5&currentItemNo=0">AP Photo/Evan Vucci</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Public health done fast</h2>
<p>With science and situations on the ground evolving rapidly, policymakers had no choice but to be equally as nimble. This has manifested in two unique ways.</p>
<p>First is the use of executive power. Both Presidents Trump and Biden – as well as a <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/category/executive-orders/">host of governors</a> from coast to coast – have leveraged executive orders to <a href="https://essentialhospitals.org/covid-19/emergency-declarations-executive-orders/">shorten the time between the development and implementation of policies</a>. Executive orders are also much easier to roll back or reinstate as coronavirus cases ebb and flow over time, and states in particular have relied on the ability to do this.</p>
<p>Second is the fast-tracking of drug and vaccine approvals. The normal <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/types-applications/investigational-new-drug-ind-application">process by which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves new drugs</a> is slow – usually <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.7472">around a 10-year process</a> or so, depending on the treatment. Drug companies can use the FDA’s emergency use authorization process to speed this up slightly, but not by very much. To shorten this process even more, the FDA created a fast-track program specifically intended to <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/coronavirus-covid-19-drugs/coronavirus-treatment-acceleration-program-ctap">accelerate the approval of treatments and vaccines for COVID-19</a>. As a result, it took <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-are-emergency-use-authorizations-and-do-they-guarantee-that-a-vaccine-or-drug-is-safe-151178">less than a year for vaccines to get emergency use authorization</a> from the discovery of the coronavirus.</p>
<p>Just as a hurricane response needs to adapt to conditions on the ground and implement the best available information at a moment’s notice, so too has the pandemic response.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455305/original/file-20220330-5868-1hi72ps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of the New York City skyline." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455305/original/file-20220330-5868-1hi72ps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455305/original/file-20220330-5868-1hi72ps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=241&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455305/original/file-20220330-5868-1hi72ps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=241&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455305/original/file-20220330-5868-1hi72ps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=241&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455305/original/file-20220330-5868-1hi72ps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455305/original/file-20220330-5868-1hi72ps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455305/original/file-20220330-5868-1hi72ps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Densely populated places like New York City will implement vastly different guidelines on vastly different timelines than rural areas, where the virus spreads very differently.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NYC_Downtown_Manhattan_Skyline_seen_from_Paulus_Hook_2019-12-20_IMG_7347_FRD_(cropped).jpg#/media/File:NYC_Downtown_Manhattan_Skyline_seen_from_Paulus_Hook_2019-12-20_IMG_7347_FRD_(cropped).jpg">Fred Hsu via WikimediaCommons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Different places, different policies</h2>
<p>Hurricanes are intensely local and relatively short-lived. The pandemic is like dozens of different hurricanes repeatedly hitting all over the U.S. simultaneously. This has created a complicated web of policy that can and should be different depending on where you are and what bodies govern there.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/coronavirus">U.S. Congress</a>, <a href="https://www.virginia.gov/coronavirus/">state governors</a>, <a href="https://coronavirus.dc.gov/healthguidance">city mayors</a>, <a href="https://covid19.ca.gov/">departments of health</a> and even <a href="https://www.atlantapublicschools.us/Page/66330">local school boards</a> have each needed to develop and implement policies for their own hurricanes at their own levels of control. </p>
<p>Despite its complexity, this approach to public policy is another example of getting it right over and over. New York City public health officials must respond to the unique situation in New York at any given time. These actions may be very different from the issues confronted by the mayor of Barstow, California – a far smaller, far more rural city. Local conditions require local solutions, all of which can evolve over time. This is very different from most other public health problems in the U.S. During flu season, for example, the correct response tends to be relatively similar from place to place.</p>
<h2>Getting it right over and over again</h2>
<p>I and many others have been guilty on occasion of thinking of policymakers as <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/cdc-expected-to-backpedal-on-some-masking-guidelines/">backpedaling when guidance changes back and forth</a> or being inconsistent when <a href="https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/operations/california-nyc-roll-back-covid-mandates-restaurants">one state makes a certain decision while another does something else</a>. But I’ve come to appreciate that that isn’t the correct framing. </p>
<p>As variants emerge, targeted policies to counteract the new reality follow in quick order. Reinstating mask requirements after they have been dropped or recommending additional vaccine doses between waves may seem like 180-degree course corrections. But in reality, these policy changes are the right reactions to the hurricane of COVID-19 that continues on its meandering path across the globe. </p>
<p>When the next change comes, I submit that you shouldn’t be frustrated or angry. Rather, we should all applaud the fact that researchers and public health experts are getting it right over and over again.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Williams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The constantly changing COVID-19 rules can be frustrating. But this pandemic is like no other public health crisis in history. It is better to think of the virus and US responses the way we think about hurricanes.Michael Williams, Associate Professor of Surgery and Public Policy, University of VirginiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1772972022-03-29T14:11:26Z2022-03-29T14:11:26ZOffering more plant-based choices on menus can speed up diet change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454987/original/file-20220329-13-dpwjgs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5472%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cheerful-couple-menu-restaurant-making-order-674037814">UfaBizPhoto/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Rearing meat contributes more <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652616303584">greenhouse gas emissions</a> than the production of any other foodstuff. And eating red and processed meat can increase your risk of developing <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(18)32225-6/fulltext">colorectal cancers</a>.</p>
<p>If eating less meat is good for you and the planet, then <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00228-X/fulltext">recent research</a> has some good news: meat consumption – particularly red meat – is <a href="https://theconversation.com/meat-eating-drops-by-17-over-a-decade-in-the-uk-new-research-168626">slowly falling</a> in the UK. But for diet changes to really pick up the pace, it needs to be easier for everyone to make more sustainable and healthy choices. </p>
<p>Surveys suggest that despite <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2017/04/06/over-half-happy-have-meat-free-meals">increasing support</a> for the idea of eating less meat, the UK public has <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/food/articles-reports/2019/01/18/one-four-britons-want-cut-back-red-meat-year">little appetite</a> for interventions by the government to achieve this, whether that might be taxes, labelling or a media campaign.</p>
<p>So what if shops and restaurants took the lead by providing more meat-free options to choose from? Would this make people more likely to eschew meat? It’s not guaranteed – there are strong social influences and cultural norms that reinforce the appeal and habit of eating meat. For example, when asked why they eat meat, people often tend to describe meat as being “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195666315001518">necessary, natural, normal and nice</a>”.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, in three studies, my research team and I tested the effect of <a href="https://ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12966-021-01239-z">increasing meat-free options</a> on the meals people choose.</p>
<p>First, we looked at sales in a university cafeteria that changed the menu to offer two plant-based and one meat option, instead of one plant-based and two meat options, for four months. When a third of the options were meat-free, around 40% of the meals diners bought were meat-free. This rose to around 60% when two-thirds were meat-free.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A gloved hand reaches for broccoli at a cafeteria serving hatch." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454979/original/file-20220329-25-1mnsjao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454979/original/file-20220329-25-1mnsjao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454979/original/file-20220329-25-1mnsjao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454979/original/file-20220329-25-1mnsjao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454979/original/file-20220329-25-1mnsjao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454979/original/file-20220329-25-1mnsjao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454979/original/file-20220329-25-1mnsjao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Making plant-based options more prominent on menus makes them seem less niche.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chef-standing-behind-full-lunch-service-1090719347">PJjaruwan/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>In the second study, a nationwide catering company put more plant-based options on their list of meals for cafeteria managers to create their menus with. We analysed sales in 18 worksite cafeterias supplied by this company for the eight weeks before and eight weeks after the new list of meal options was available. Where there was a small increase in the number of plant-based meal options, sales of plant-based meals overall increased by a small amount, but only around half of the chefs took up the new menu options.</p>
<p>In the third study, we recruited 2,205 UK adults to take part in an online questionnaire. We divided them into three groups, each having four main meals to choose from. Of these four options, either one, two or three were meat-free. Faced with three meat options, just 12% chose the meat-free meal, but when there were three meat-free options, 48% made that choice. Where options were equal, 28% opted for the meat-free choice.</p>
<h2>Less meat or meat-less</h2>
<p>To identify interventions that could help everyone eat less meat and not just those who already eat less than most, we looked at whether increasing meat-free options in our online study had a different effect on particular groups.</p>
<p>Regardless of their usual meat consumption, everyone ate less meat when there were more meat-free options. This is encouraging, as it’s possible to reduce meat consumption the most when everyone can cut back a bit, instead of a few people cutting back a lot or becoming vegetarian (though one person being vegan could potentially offset others taking no action).</p>
<p>Having more meat-free meals on menus or in stores may have other benefits too. Without a wide enough range of meat-free options in shops and restaurants, other measures such as ecolabels – labelling food with its environmental impact to help people buy more sustainable products – may lose their bite. After all, how much can we expect labelling to change food choices if all the options have low ratings? We have research on this topic in the pipeline.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/food-and-drink-products-with-pro-environment-ecolabels-are-more-appealing-to-shoppers-new-research-157260">Food and drink products with pro-environment 'ecolabels' are more appealing to shoppers – new research</a>
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<p>Making plant-based options more prominent may also begin to reverse public perceptions of meat-eating as the norm. Increasing the number of vegetarian options may signal that choosing a vegetarian meal is more commonly done by others and subconsciously nudge people to follow the trend. If just one of four options is meat-free, this could be seen as an option just for vegetarians. If half are meat-free, people have a choice of dishes which suggests plant-based food is in demand more generally, rather than being a niche choice. Of course, there is also a greater chance of there being one they would like.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A refrigerator section in a supermarket with meat and plant-based meat alternatives." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454982/original/file-20220329-27-1u41hny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454982/original/file-20220329-27-1u41hny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454982/original/file-20220329-27-1u41hny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454982/original/file-20220329-27-1u41hny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454982/original/file-20220329-27-1u41hny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454982/original/file-20220329-27-1u41hny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454982/original/file-20220329-27-1u41hny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Plant-based meat alternatives are increasingly popular.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/alameda-ca-july-28-2020-grocery-1786349348">Sheila Fitzgerald/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Meat the deadline</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nationalfoodstrategy.org/the-report/">National Food Strategy</a> recommended that people in the UK eat 30% less meat by the end of the decade to reach net zero by 2050. People have ingrained habits, so it’s important to find ways to help them make more sustainable food choices and to keep making them.</p>
<p>Nearly <a href="https://www.food.gov.uk/research/research-projects/healthy-and-sustainable-diets-consumer-poll">three in four people</a> believe it’s important to buy sustainable food. Simple changes, such as providing more plant-based options in shops and restaurants, could help people to meet this goal. </p>
<p>Adding appealing plant-based or vegetarian options to menus could get the ball rolling on the urgent changes needed, as well as enhance the impact of promising, but perhaps harder-to-implement measures, like ecolabels.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Pechey receives funding from Wellcome Trust. </span></em></p>In three different experiments, plant-based meal sales rose when there were more menu options.Rachel Pechey, Research Fellow in Behavioural Science, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1785932022-03-14T15:57:12Z2022-03-14T15:57:12ZIt’s not just that Canadian restaurant workers have left — many have yet to arrive<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451413/original/file-20220310-13-112dp51.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2990%2C1856&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Although the pandemic was an accelerant, labour shortages have plagued the hospitality industry for years.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recent media reporting about the hospitality industry has been dominated by stories about <a href="https://www.thestar.com/business/2021/10/13/restaurant-workers-fled-to-white-collar-jobs-during-the-pandemic-report-finds.html">mass resignations and workers leaving for white-collar jobs</a>. </p>
<p>Many sources cite a combination of <a href="https://monitormag.ca/articles/tipping-point-pandemic-forced-restaurant-and-bar-workers-into-better-paying-jobs-2">low wages</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/worker-shortage-or-poor-work-conditions-heres-whats-really-vexing-canadian-restaurants-167614">instability</a> and the <a href="https://nowtoronto.com/food-and-drink/food/toronto-restaurants-have-a-hiring-problem-and-it-goes-way-beyond-cerb">lack of a decent working environment</a> as factors pushing workers out of restaurants and into better paying, more secure jobs. </p>
<p>While repeated pandemic lockdowns and closures have pushed workers to find jobs in different sectors, this version of the story ignores that <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/campaigns/immigration-matters/growing-canada-future/food-services.html">one in four restaurant workers are immigrants</a> and that border closures over the past two years have meant that many potential immigrants <a href="https://www.cp24.com/news/covid-19-prompted-thousands-of-new-migrants-to-canada-to-return-home-1.5337132?cache=%3FclipId%3D2079986">have not been able to enter Canada</a>.</p>
<p>Contrary to the headlines, our <a href="https://www.ryerson.ca/cerc-migration/research/project-brief/pandemic-kitchen-stories/">ongoing research project</a> — based on interviews with immigrants working in Toronto’s restaurant industry — shows that the overwhelming majority of workers planned to return to the industry as soon as pandemic restrictions were lifted. </p>
<h2>The labour shortage is not new</h2>
<p>Although the pandemic was an accelerant, labour shortages have plagued the hospitality industry for some time. According to Restaurants Canada’s senior economist, Chris Elliott, <a href="https://www.menumag.ca/2022/01/28/on-the-foodservice-labour-shortage/">numbers from Statistics Canada were signaling the trend for years</a>. </p>
<p>Young people generally account for about 40 per cent of all food service workers. In the late 70s and early 80s, 15- to 24-year-olds accounted for about 20 per cent of the overall population in Canada. That number has declined to just 12 per cent. </p>
<p>Before the pandemic, immigration was an important source for filling job vacancies. In contrast, 2020 saw a decrease from 2019 of <a href="https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/documents/pdf/english/corporate/publications-manuals/annual-report-2021-en.pdf">145,687 international students</a> alone.</p>
<p>As of December 2021, employment in accommodation and food services remained <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220107/dq220107a-eng.htm">206,000 workers short (16.9 per cent) of its pre-COVID level</a>, even though there are more people working now than there were in February 2020. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/documents/pdf/english/corporate/publications-manuals/annual-report-2021-en.pdf">2021 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration</a>, 2020 saw a record low number of temporary resident visas and electronic travel authorizations delivered as a result of border closures and travel restrictions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Graph showing the amount of temporary residents in Canada." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450117/original/file-20220304-23-4maafv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450117/original/file-20220304-23-4maafv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450117/original/file-20220304-23-4maafv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450117/original/file-20220304-23-4maafv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450117/original/file-20220304-23-4maafv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450117/original/file-20220304-23-4maafv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/450117/original/file-20220304-23-4maafv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Temporary residents coming to Canada, which include visitors, students and temporary foreign workers, must receive either a temporary resident visa or an electronic travel authorization before departure to Canada, with few exceptions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/documents/pdf/english/corporate/publications-manuals/annual-report-2021-en.pdf">(2021 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A recent study published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives found that, rather than leaving the labour market, workers are finding jobs in professional services, leading them to conclude that the Canadian economy is seeing a “<a href="https://monitormag.ca/articles/tipping-point-pandemic-forced-restaurant-and-bar-workers-into-better-paying-jobs-2">major sectoral realignment</a>.”</p>
<h2>A highly stratified industry</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/scr/app/cis/summary-sommaire/72">Accommodation and food services</a> is a broad category, including everything from quick service chains to high-end full-service restaurants. Under this large umbrella, the types of jobs and corresponding pay vary widely. While quick service restaurant jobs tend to be minimum wage, wages in full-service restaurants are supplemented by tips. </p>
<p>Although the <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/the-100000-a-year-waitress-isnt-a-myth-some-hard-truths-about-tipping-in-canada">lion’s share of tips go to customer-facing servers</a> — as well as managers and chefs sometimes — bussers, food-runners and cooks all make tips on top of hourly wages.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man in an apron stands behind a counter covered in prepared food dishes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451411/original/file-20220310-13-w5bfmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451411/original/file-20220310-13-w5bfmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451411/original/file-20220310-13-w5bfmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451411/original/file-20220310-13-w5bfmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451411/original/file-20220310-13-w5bfmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451411/original/file-20220310-13-w5bfmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451411/original/file-20220310-13-w5bfmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Most sources cite a combination of low wages, instability and the lack of a decent working environment as factors pushing workers out of restaurants and into better paying, more secure jobs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The claim that workers are simply moving to white-collar sectors also obscures structural barriers to being able to freely move between jobs, including racism and discrimination. </p>
<p>Racialized migrants tend to be in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-013-9445-7">back-of-house jobs</a>, such as cooks and light duty cleaners, in comparison to front-of-house jobs like servers and front desk clerks. For example, in Toronto, Filipino workers, Jamaican-born women and Sri Lankan-born men are <a href="http://www.yorku.ca/tiedi/doc/AnalyticalReport29.pdf">more than twice as likely to work these jobs</a> as other immigrants. </p>
<p>For many international students and newcomers without <a href="https://cjsae.library.dal.ca/index.php/cjsae/article/view/1002">recognized foreign credentials</a>, restaurants jobs provide low barriers to entry and flexible hours, where language skills can be honed and the <a href="https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/94782/1/Canadian%20Experience%20employement%20challenges_Sakamoto.pdf">coveted Canadian experience</a> acquired. Many restaurants also sponsor professional cooks, chefs and managers who come to Canada to work in the sector.</p>
<h2>A place of opportunity</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-low-wages-and-instability-to-blame-for-restaurant-industry-labour/">Low wages</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2019.1604326">questionable employment practices and precarity</a> are all part of a reckoning that the restaurant industry as a whole must confront if it is to recover from its <a href="https://tourismhr.ca/labour-market-information/has-covid-affected-canadians-perceptions-of-tourism/">current image crisis</a> and attract workers in the future. </p>
<p>In the meantime, we need to dig deeper and ask more questions, not just about the leavers, but also about the stayers. We know that COVID-19 had a <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-631-x/2020004/s6-eng.htm">disproportionate impact on immigrants and racialized people</a> in Canada. It is vital that the hospitality industry that employs many of them is a place of opportunity rather than a source of oppression and exploitation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178593/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maggie Perzyna receives funding from the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration Program. </span></em></p>The claim that workers are simply moving to white-collar sectors obscures structural barriers to labour mobility, including racism and discrimination.Maggie Perzyna, Senior Research Technician, CERC Migration Program, Toronto Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1676142021-09-22T20:00:18Z2021-09-22T20:00:18ZWorker shortage? Or poor work conditions? Here’s what’s really vexing Canadian restaurants<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422252/original/file-20210921-17-tgwmo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=421%2C18%2C4894%2C3987&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A waitress wears a mask while carrying drinks for guests inside the Blu Martini restaurant in Kingston, Ont., in July 2021. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Restaurant operators across Canada are struggling to find enough staff to run their operations. This labour crisis has been <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costofliving/deflated-by-inflation-and-paying-good-money-to-do-nothing-with-your-money-1.6180401/profit-sharing-signing-bonuses-and-health-benefits-food-service-bosses-try-it-all-to-lure-workers-back-1.6182637">highly publicized</a> by Canadian media as a “labour shortage.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.restaurantscanada.org/industry-news/restaurants-are-key-to-restoring-canadas-pre-pandemic-employment-levels/">A recent survey</a> by Restaurants Canada found that 80 per cent of food service operators were finding it difficult to hire kitchen staff and 67 per cent were having trouble filling serving, bar-tending and hosting positions.</p>
<p>Prior to the pandemic, Canada’s food service sector employed <a href="https://www.restaurantscanada.org/industry-news/a-third-of-canadas-foodservice-workforce-is-still-out-of-work/">1.2 million people</a>, and according to Statistics Canada it currently needs to fill <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210826/t003a-eng.htm">130,000 positions</a> to reach pre-pandemic levels. That said, the Canadian restaurant industry has been <a href="https://www.restaurantscanada.org/labour-shortages-second-greatest-concern-foodservice-operators/">struggling with hiring and retention problems</a> for many years. </p>
<p>Should the chronic hiring struggles of Canadian restaurants be referred to as a labour shortage, or can it be more accurately portrayed as a retention issue fuelled by a lack of decent work? Does the use of the term labour shortage take the onus off of restaurant operators for creating these shortages, and instead place it on Canadian job-seekers?</p>
<h2>First job for many Canadians</h2>
<p>A 2010 Canadian Restaurant and Foodservice Association <a href="https://m3.ithq.qc.ca/collection/00000240.pdf">report found</a> that 22 per cent of Canadians worked in a restaurant as their first job — the highest of any industry. The study also found that 32 per cent of Canadians have at one point worked in the restaurant industry.</p>
<p>These statistics show that millions of Canadians have been introduced to restaurant work and the industry has enjoyed a seemingly endless supply of labour for decades. So why is it that the restaurant industry is burning through so many people?</p>
<p>Our research on restaurant work conditions shows that working in a restaurant is difficult, requiring the sacrifice of work-life balance due to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15378020.2021.1950507">long hours and unpredictable schedules</a>. While restaurant work can be rewarding and fun, it can also be low-paying, stressful and physically demanding, all of which can have a negative impact on <a href="https://www.thestar.com/life/2021/07/02/for-those-in-the-restaurant-industry-theres-relief-at-coming-back-but-anxiety-about-whats-ahead.html">mental health</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A waiter wearing protective equipment collects the bill" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422681/original/file-20210922-25-1b2pl5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422681/original/file-20210922-25-1b2pl5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422681/original/file-20210922-25-1b2pl5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422681/original/file-20210922-25-1b2pl5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422681/original/file-20210922-25-1b2pl5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422681/original/file-20210922-25-1b2pl5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422681/original/file-20210922-25-1b2pl5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A waiter wearing protective equipment collects the bill at a restaurant in Saint-Sauveur, Que.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many restaurant workers spend at least eight hours a day on their feet with no time for breaks or meals. Workers are also required to forgo their social and family life by having to work late nights, weekends and holidays. </p>
<p>Many restaurant workers almost never know precisely when their shifts will end, and tend to be placed on unpredictable split shifts or “on call” shifts to save labour costs. </p>
<h2>Toxic work environment</h2>
<p>The restaurant industry has also been rampant with sexual harassment, abuse and <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-after-the-pandemic-is-over-lets-not-rebuild-chef-culture/">toxic work environments</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11f0019m/11f0019m2018412-eng.htm">A Statistics Canada study</a> found that hospitality workers have the worst job quality out of any industry. This was largely due to low earnings, the inability to take time off, no paid sick leave, a lack of training opportunities and no supplemental medical and dental care. </p>
<p>This same study found that 67 per cent of hospitality workers work in jobs with work conditions that fall below decent work levels.</p>
<p>So what exactly is “decent work?” It’s a concept established by the <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/decent-work/lang--en/index.htm">International Labour Organization</a> and is linked to the United Nation’s <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal8">Sustainable Development Goals</a>. Decent work establishes universal conditions of work that are central to the well-being of workers. </p>
<p>These conditions are considered to be minimum labour standards that include living wages, work hours that allow for free time and rest, safe working environments and access to health care. Decent work is considered a human right but based on the conditions of restaurant work, it appears the Canadian restaurant industry is struggling to provide it to all of its employees. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Bartenders and wait staff, all wearing masks, inside a restaurant." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422682/original/file-20210922-27-15dfjc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422682/original/file-20210922-27-15dfjc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422682/original/file-20210922-27-15dfjc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422682/original/file-20210922-27-15dfjc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422682/original/file-20210922-27-15dfjc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422682/original/file-20210922-27-15dfjc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422682/original/file-20210922-27-15dfjc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bartenders and wait staff wait for the lunch hour rush as patrons sit on the patio of a Toronto restaurant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Exodus of workers from the industry</h2>
<p>Through our research on restaurant work, and via conversations with many restaurant employees across the country, we’ve learned that many are <a href="https://ugsrp.com/2014/12/31/why-are-young-managers-leaving-the-restaurant-industry/why-are-young-managers-leaving-the-restaurant-industry-1/">fleeing the industry</a> because the work is a grind. What’s more, they don’t see any future in a job that will continue to hinder their well-being.</p>
<p>The pandemic allowed workers time to find <a href="https://nowtoronto.com/food-and-drink/food/toronto-restaurants-have-a-hiring-problem-and-it-goes-way-beyond-cerb">jobs in other industries</a> that provide more stability and feature regular work schedules, vacation time, higher pay and benefits.</p>
<p>These workers often felt neglected, and that their employers did not believe they were worth investing in. </p>
<p>While there are certainly good restaurant employers, the industry as a whole has failed to improve working conditions because historically, there were always new people to fill roles. </p>
<p>That raises the question: Could the continuous reference to a labour shortage in the restaurant industry actually be creating a lack of urgency in addressing longstanding issues of work quality?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A waitress wearing a mask serves patrons." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422680/original/file-20210922-27-148c4l7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422680/original/file-20210922-27-148c4l7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422680/original/file-20210922-27-148c4l7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422680/original/file-20210922-27-148c4l7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422680/original/file-20210922-27-148c4l7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422680/original/file-20210922-27-148c4l7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422680/original/file-20210922-27-148c4l7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A waitress serves patrons at a restaurant in Carstairs, Alta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If restaurants want to operate at full staff in the post-pandemic future, they need to invest in their employees because, after all, it’s impossible to run a restaurant without people working in it. </p>
<p>The restaurant industry has always spent money, time and resources to attract customers and increase revenues. It’s long past time for restaurant operators to consider their employees internal customers, and put as much effort into providing great experiences for them as they do for their external customers. </p>
<p>A good place for operators to start is by providing decent and dignified work for all that provides decent wages, benefits and healthy working conditions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167614/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Gordon is a volunteer with the Canadian Restaurant Workers Coalition. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce McAdams does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Should the chronic hiring struggles of Canadian restaurants be referred to as a labour shortage, or can it be more accurately portrayed as a retention issue fuelled by a lack of decent work?Bruce McAdams, Associate Professor in Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management, University of GuelphRebecca Gordon, Graduate Student, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1669492021-09-21T17:07:32Z2021-09-21T17:07:32Z3 ways restaurant staff and customers can communicate to prevent food allergy reactions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421692/original/file-20210916-25-1fwipbe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C80%2C4893%2C3066&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An effective approach to allergy communications is for servers to ask customers about food allergies.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Public health researchers have called food allergies “<a href="https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v5i3.326">a growing public health epidemic in Canada</a>” affecting around <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaip.2014.11.006">one in 13 Canadians</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10807039.2012.722857">one in five Canadian households</a>. Dining out <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2222.2010.03649.x">can be risky</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/00070701011088197">stressful</a> for people with allergies, in part because many restaurant employees <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2012.10.023">lack the training</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2016.05.004">skills</a> and <a href="https://meridian.allenpress.com/jfp/article/79/9/1588/174884/Food-Allergy-Knowledge-and-Attitudes-of-Restaurant">confidence to manage food allergies</a> safely and effectively. </p>
<p>These are challenges that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic and will surely persist after it. In recent years, news outlets across Canada <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/man-with-nut-allergy-w%20ins-cheesecake-lawsuit-1.1062258">have reported</a> <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/sherbrooke-waiter-arrested-salmon-allergic-customer-1.3707052">several cases</a> of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/near-fatal-allergic-reaction-caused-by-starbucks-dessert-1.863872">people suffering extreme</a>, sometimes <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/2231400/first-year-canadian-university-student-dies-of-severe-allergic-reaction/">fatal, allergic reactions</a> to restaurant food. Accidents like these are most often due to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1067/mai.2001.119157">miscommunication</a>.</p>
<p>As researchers in the field of industrial-organizational psychology, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.102959">we analyzed how and why information about food allergies gets communicated, and miscommunicated, at restaurants</a>. We approached allergy communication the way we might approach communication among a flight crew or a surgical team: by isolating the make-or-break behaviours in the communication process.</p>
<p>Based on this research, we offer some guidelines to reduce the risk of allergic reactions at restaurants and improve the customer experience.</p>
<h2>Allergy communication</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A chef handing a food order to a server in a restaurant kitchen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421702/original/file-20210916-21-lvi0k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421702/original/file-20210916-21-lvi0k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421702/original/file-20210916-21-lvi0k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421702/original/file-20210916-21-lvi0k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421702/original/file-20210916-21-lvi0k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421702/original/file-20210916-21-lvi0k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/421702/original/file-20210916-21-lvi0k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Poor communication between servers and kitchen staff can lead to allergen incidents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Allergy information can be communicated in written and verbal forms. Written communication happens on a restaurant’s website, posters in dining rooms, menus and ingredient lists. It also happens among staff, such as on order forms and point-of-sale (POS) machines. </p>
<p>Still, most food orders involve verbal conversations between customers and servers. In these conversations, customers and servers get a sense of one another and decide together how best to manage the customer’s food order.</p>
<p>We collected examples, or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/h0061470">critical incidents</a>, of restaurant staff handling a food order for an allergic customer. We received 107 successful incidents and 61 failed incidents from a variety of restaurants. Failed incidents involved things like an allergic reaction, staff having to remake a meal and/or an upset customer. </p>
<p>For each incident, staff reported who was involved, what went right, what went wrong and how. Based on these, we mapped the process of allergy communication, from customer to server to kitchen staff and back, and pinpointed where mistakes commonly happen, as illustrated in this diagram.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420860/original/file-20210913-21-4urxbu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Diagram plotting out communication pathways between restaurant staff" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420860/original/file-20210913-21-4urxbu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420860/original/file-20210913-21-4urxbu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420860/original/file-20210913-21-4urxbu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420860/original/file-20210913-21-4urxbu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420860/original/file-20210913-21-4urxbu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420860/original/file-20210913-21-4urxbu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420860/original/file-20210913-21-4urxbu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The process of allergy communication, from customer to server to kitchen staff and back, illustrating where mistakes commonly happen.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reprinted from International Journal of Hospitality Management, DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.102959, with permission from Elsevier.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Aside from these incidents, we also asked 138 people with moderate-to-severe food allergies to describe their own encounters dining at restaurants.</p>
<p>As you can see, communication at restaurants works like a game of telephone, where messages pass from customers to servers to kitchen staff. As in telephone, mistakes can happen at any stage, and given enough time, mistakes are bound to happen. Unlike telephone, though, mistakes can be anticipated, avoided or fixed.</p>
<h2>Recommendation #1: Ask about allergies</h2>
<p>Most miscommunications happen when customers forget or are too shy to disclose their allergy. We suggest that servers ask customers to disclose their allergies when introducing themselves: “Hello, my name is Sam and I’ll be your server. First off, does anyone at the table have food allergies?”</p>
<p>To be clear, we are not suggesting that allergy disclosure is the server’s responsibility. Quite the opposite: most people we asked (staff and customers alike) agreed that disclosing allergies is primarily the customer’s responsibility. </p>
<p>We suggest that servers ask customers about allergies simply because that’s the most effective approach. A typical server deals with far more food orders than a typical customer. So, staff may not only be more apt to develop the habit of starting conversations about food allergies, trained servers have the opportunity to lead the conversation.</p>
<p>In the same interaction, some customers mention their allergy but leave out important information, like how serious the allergy is. According to staff we surveyed, customers should not just state their allergy; they should also describe the severity of the allergy.</p>
<h2>Recommendation #2: Double-check</h2>
<p>Staff and customers can integrate double-checks to catch and reverse miscommunication before it leads to disaster. Double-checking involves repeating information back to the speaker and asking for confirmation. For example, when a customer discloses an allergy, the server can repeat the allergy and accommodations back to the customer, and ask the customer to confirm that this information is correct. In the diagram above, we highlighted four points where double-checking is most helpful.</p>
<p>Of course, it might not be realistic to include double-checks at all of these points. Still, each additional double-check could improve your chances of catching an error and saving a life. </p>
<h2>Recommendation #3: Involve fewer staff</h2>
<p>Again, the allergy communication process works kind of like a game of telephone, and telephone is easier with fewer people playing. In the same way, it can be helpful to reduce the number of people that have to pass along a message. Restaurants that do this well often designate a staff member, manager or chef to directly oversee orders for allergic customers.</p>
<h2>No one likes fakers</h2>
<p>Both allergic customers and staff raised the problem of allergy “fakers” — people who claim a food allergy that is really just a preference. These fakers aren’t just annoying. They muddy the waters of allergy communication, making it more difficult for customers and staff to trust one another. This is one more reason that customers need to be clear about the severity of their allergy, and for staff to treat all allergies seriously, even when in doubt.</p>
<p>Many restaurants already follow some or all of these recommendations, but many don’t. Every restaurant, every staff member and every customer is different, so these recommendations are meant as a suggested starting point. We kept our recommendations simple so that they’re easy to adopt or adapt.</p>
<p>Good habits can reduce allergic reactions, improve customer experience and strengthen staff confidence to manage allergies. What’s more, people with allergies can be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2222.2010.03649.x">loyal customers</a> to restaurants they consider safe.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166949/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Wingate has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Bourdage receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Jones receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Malika Khakhar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Dining out can be risky and stressful for people with allergies, in part because many restaurant employees lack the training, skills and confidence to manage food allergies safely and effectively.Timothy Wingate, PhD Candidate, Industrial-Organizational Psychology, University of CalgaryJoshua Bourdage, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of CalgaryMalika Khakhar, PhD Student, Organizational Leadership, University of GuelphSamantha Jones, PhD Candidate, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1655072021-08-25T19:17:46Z2021-08-25T19:17:46ZRevolutionary broth: the birth of the restaurant and the invention of French gastronomy<p>From the rise of click and collect to the advent of <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47978759">dark kitchens</a>, the very concept of the restaurant is undergoing major changes. Even before the pandemic hit, consumers were moving away from the physical location of the restaurant, a transformation which has only been accelerated by coronavirus. These new ways of eating question the very identity of the restaurant itself, and invite us to investigate its origins.</p>
<p>The history of the restaurant is entwined with the history of France, its birthplace.</p>
<p>The word <em>restaurant</em> as we understand it today was accepted by the Academie Française – the body that governs the official use of the French language – in 1835. Until then, the “restauran”, also called “bouillon restaurateur” (restorative broth), was a dish composed of meat, onions, herbs and vegetables. A broth with medicinal and digestive properties, its aim was to give restore people’s strength.</p>
<p>The term <em>restaurant</em> therefore initially had a medical connotation and the places that offered this healing broth for sale in 1760s were also called “health houses”.</p>
<h2>The first restaurant</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://com546termproject.wordpress.com/the-past-19th-20th-centuries/the-origins-of-the-restaurant/">first restaurant</a> as we know it today opened in Paris in 1765 on the Rue des Poulies, today the Rue du Louvre. On the front of the shop is engraved the Latin phrase from the Bible:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Venite ad me omnes qui stomacho laboratis, et ego vos restaurabo.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This translates as, “Come to me, those whose stomachs ache, and I will restore you.”</p>
<p>The owner’s name was Mathurin Roze de Chantoiseau. Other writings mentioned a certain Mr Boulanger. The establishment sold “restauran” dishes such as poultry, eggs, buttered pasta and semolina cakes, whose light colour was said to have health benefits. It first enjoyed culinary success thanks to its signature dish of poultry with chicken sauce, which was renowned throughout Paris.</p>
<p>The philosopher Denis Diderot mentions the restaurant as early as 1767 in a letter to his correspondent and lover, Sophie Volland:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“If I have acquired a taste for the restorer? Really yes; an infinite taste. The service is good, a little expensive, but at the time you want… It is wonderful, and it seems to me that everyone praises it.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The writer Édouard Fournier also describes it in his book <em>Paris démoli: Mosäique de Ruines</em> (Paris Demolished: Mosaic of Ruins), published in 1853:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Nearby, in the Rue des Poulies, the first Restaurant opened in 1765, which was later transferred to the Hôtel d’Aligre. It was a broth establishment, where it was not allowed to serve stew, as in the catering trade, but where poultry with coarse salt and fresh eggs were served without tablecloths, on small marble tables.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Roze de Chantoiseau is said to be the first to propose the innovative concept of serving food without a fixed schedule, at an individual table and offering a choice of dishes, the price of which was indicated in advance, on the outside of the building.</p>
<p>At that time, in pre-Revolutionary France, the only place to eat outside the home was in a tavern or inn. But these places only offered <em>tables d’hôtes</em> (guest tables) with a single dish, at a price that was not fixed in advance, where people only came at a fixed time. The quality was not always good – people who went to these places did so to eat and not to enjoy the taste of a dish. Roasters and caterers who were also present at the time could only sell whole pieces and not individual portions.</p>
<p>This new way of eating was a great success, and <a href="https://www.frenchrights.com/the-birth-of-french-gastronomy">this style of restaurant spread and evolved</a>. The notion of the pleasure of eating became predominant, gastronomy developed and, to a certain extent, became more democratic. Before then, the only people who ate very well in France were the members of the court at Versailles and other nobles who had own personal cooks.</p>
<h2>The birth of the menu</h2>
<p>On the eve of the French Revolution, many of the hundred or so restaurants in the capital were very well known. Customers came to these places to sample dishes that pleased their taste buds, not simply sate their hunger.</p>
<p>The restaurant of the time was a luxurious place that could be found mainly in the Palais Royal district of Paris. Here lived an affluent, elite clientele capable of affording meals, which, although no longer reserved for aristocrats, were no less expensive for it.</p>
<p>The great novelty of the time was the introduction of the menu. Restaurants often offered a huge selection of dishes, so as historian Rebecca Spang notes, diners were usually invited to choose a from a smaller selection of these, displayed on a menu (derived from the latin “minutus”).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414293/original/file-20210803-15-13orsul.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414293/original/file-20210803-15-13orsul.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414293/original/file-20210803-15-13orsul.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414293/original/file-20210803-15-13orsul.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414293/original/file-20210803-15-13orsul.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414293/original/file-20210803-15-13orsul.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414293/original/file-20210803-15-13orsul.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414293/original/file-20210803-15-13orsul.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Extract from the menu at Véry, 1790.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bibliotheque de la Ville de Paris</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Antoine de Beauvilliers, a former officer of the kitchen of the Count of Provence, brother of the King, was the first private cook to leave his master and set up his own restaurant business in Paris. In 1782, he opened Le Beauvilliers in the Palais-Royal district on Rue de Richelieu.</p>
<p>This very luxurious place quickly became a huge success because it offered its customers – mainly aristocrats – the chance to eat as if they were in Versailles. The setting was magnificent, the service impeccable, the wine cellar superb and the dishes exquisite and carefully presented on magnificent crockery. For many years, its cuisine was unrivalled in Parisian high society. Le Beauvilliers is thus considered the first French gastronomic restaurant.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414295/original/file-20210803-23-p62s8t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The art of cooking, by Antoine Beauvilliers" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414295/original/file-20210803-23-p62s8t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414295/original/file-20210803-23-p62s8t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1014&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414295/original/file-20210803-23-p62s8t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1014&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414295/original/file-20210803-23-p62s8t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1014&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414295/original/file-20210803-23-p62s8t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1274&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414295/original/file-20210803-23-p62s8t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1274&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414295/original/file-20210803-23-p62s8t.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1274&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The art of cooking, by Antoine Beauvilliers.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the years before and after the French Revolution, many cooks who had previously worked for members of the nobility followed de Beauvilliers’ example and opened their own restaurants. Quality cuisine based on recipes, rituals and new ways of eating moved from the private kitchens of the aristocracy to the public kitchens of high society.</p>
<p>French gastronomic restaurants emerged and famous and luxurious brands such as Véry, Les Trois-Frères Provençaux (which imported brandade de morue and bouillabaisse to Paris from the south) or the restaurant <a href="https://www.grand-vefour.com/en">Le Grand Véfour</a>, which is still in service, were created.</p>
<p>The medical aspect of the first “bouillons restaurans” was now long gone and had been replaced by gastronomy, a cultural reference recognised worldwide to this day.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165507/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nathalie Louisgrand ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>The first restaurants in Paris were based on the medicinal powers of soup, but these establishments soon transformed into the temples to gastronomy we know today.Nathalie Louisgrand, Enseignante-chercheuse, Grenoble École de Management (GEM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1625882021-07-14T12:21:51Z2021-07-14T12:21:51ZHappy 50th birthday to Chez Panisse, the Berkeley restaurant that launched farm-to-fork eating<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410804/original/file-20210712-15-cg8u6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C3%2C1016%2C763&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The entrance to Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chez_Panisse#/media/File:ChezPanisse.jpg">Calton/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When a small restaurant called Chez Panisse opened its doors 50 years ago in Berkeley, California, it wasn’t obvious that it would change how Americans thought about eating. The <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2006/10/kamp_excerpt200610">first menu</a> on Aug. 28, 1971, was pâté baked in pastry, duck with olives, a salad and an almond tart, served for a fixed price of US$3.95. There were too many waiters and not enough utensils.</p>
<p>But this seemingly quirky eatery’s food was more vivid and flavorful than that of French restaurants that were more elegant and expensive. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alice-Waters">Alice Waters</a>, who founded and still runs Chez Panisse, didn’t invent gourmet food; as I write in my book “<a href="http://books.wwnorton.com/books/Ten-Restaurants-That-Changed-America/">Ten Restaurants that Changed America</a>,” her great innovation was to orient fine dining toward primary ingredients.</p>
<p>Today, Americans value local, seasonal and artisanal products on restaurant menus and at the market. The importance of starting with good-quality ingredients seems so obvious that it’s hard to understand why this was an alien idea 50 years ago.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410813/original/file-20210712-15-yvg6f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Alice Waters looks over rows of vegetables." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410813/original/file-20210712-15-yvg6f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410813/original/file-20210712-15-yvg6f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410813/original/file-20210712-15-yvg6f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410813/original/file-20210712-15-yvg6f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410813/original/file-20210712-15-yvg6f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410813/original/file-20210712-15-yvg6f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410813/original/file-20210712-15-yvg6f5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Alice Waters, executive chef and owner of Chez Panisse, at a farmers market in 2009.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/FoodAliceWaters/cee0351d2db24f34907ad850247aa706/photo">AP Photo/Susan Walsh</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Beyond French cuisine</h2>
<p>Despite some grumbling about tasteless tomatoes, restaurant diners and shoppers in the 1970s cared primarily about low prices and the availability of a variety of products regardless of season. Where food came from and even what it tasted like were less important.</p>
<p>In 1970, the food writer Mimi Sheraton commented, “You can’t buy an unwaxed cucumber in this country … we buy over-tenderized meat and frozen chicken … food is marketed and <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/46738/wallflower-at-the-orgy-by-nora-ephron/">grown for the purpose of appearances</a>.” </p>
<p>At that time, high-end dining was still defined, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-was-french-cuisine-toppled-as-the-king-of-fine-dining-66667">as it had been for 300 years, by France</a>. There, basic products such as chickens from Bresse, oysters from Belon or saffron from Quercy were exemplary and sought-after. Elsewhere, imitators were more preoccupied with sauces, technique and fashion than with what actually went into their dishes. </p>
<p>Even if chefs wanted better raw materials, the <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/44197/13566_eib3_1_.pdf">industrialization of U.S. agriculture and livestock production</a> made them difficult or impossible to find. “<a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/30236672">Dining at the Pavillon</a>,” a 1962 book about New York’s Le Pavillon, quoted its notoriously arrogant owner, Henri Soulé, ruefully observing that he was unable to obtain things that the ordinary French shopper took for granted: young partridges, primeurs (early spring vegetables), Mediterranean fish like red mullet or rascasse and properly aged cheeses. In the United States, alas, “Everything is fresh all year round and is <a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL5856259M/Dining_at_the_Pavillon">never quite fresh, if you see what I mean</a>.” </p>
<p>Waters firmly believed that a restaurant could be no better than the ingredients it had to work with. But she struggled to find high-quality foods. Produce was the hardest, and attempts to create a farm run by the restaurant failed. Besides a few Chinese and Japanese markets, the restaurant had to depend on urban gardeners and foragers who knew where to find wild mushrooms and watercress. In 1989, Waters still found it <a href="https://www.loa.org/books/303-american-food-writing-an-anthology-with-classic-recipes-paperback">challenging to obtain good butter, olives or prosciutto</a>. </p>
<p>Chez Panisse’s menus were carefully faithful to French models in its early years. Then, between 1977 and 1983, the restaurant gradually shifted to what would become its focus: “California” or “New American” cuisine. Beef bourguignon and duck with olives were out; <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/186080/chez-panisse-pasta-pizza-and-calzone-by-alice-l-waters-patricia-curtan-and-martine-labro/">spicy crab pizza</a> and <a href="https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/baked-goat-cheese-salad">warm goat cheese salad</a> were in. As farmers and foragers realized there was a market for seasonal local products, they started producing for it – laying the foundation for <a href="https://www.california.com/farm-table-movement-california/">today’s farm-to-table movement</a>.</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Cathy Pavlos, chef-owner of the restaurant Provenance in Newport Beach, California, explains what California cuisine is and how it has evolved since Alice Waters helped launch the movement in the 1970s.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Driving a food movement</h2>
<p>Many other California restaurants and chefs helped catalyze this revolutionary turn to local ingredients and an eclectic aesthetic. Chez Panisse alumni <a href="https://www.sousvidemagazine.com/the-latest/chefs-personalities/mark-miller/">Mark Miller</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/04/dining/judy-rodgers-chef-of-refined-simplicity-dies-at-57.html">Judy Rodgers</a> went on to found new restaurants that explored beyond the modified Mediterranean aesthetic that inspired Waters. Another Chez Panisse veteran, <a href="https://www.finecooking.com/chef/jeremiah-tower">Jeremiah Tower</a>, created a more aggressively elegant cuisine at his San Francisco restaurant <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/restaurants/article/THE-RISE-FALL-OF-A-STAR-How-the-king-of-2906407.php">Stars</a>.</p>
<p>But food historians acknowledge Alice Waters’ innovation, persistence and dedication. Joyce Goldstein commented in her 2013 book “Inside the California Food Revolution”: “I did not set out to write an encomium to Alice, but I’ve got to hand it to her, <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520268197/inside-the-california-food-revolution">she drove the train of the ingredients revolution</a>.” </p>
<p>Waters asserted from the start that food from a more local, small-scale agricultural system wouldn’t just taste better – it also would improve lives and human relations. She has been an activist for causes ranging from <a href="https://edibleschoolyard.org/sites/default/files/Principle%20of%20an%20Edible%20Education_A%20Vision%20for%20School%20Lunch.pdf">school food</a> to <a href="https://lithub.com/alice-waters-sustainability-sounds-good-but-we-need-regenerative-farming/">sustainability</a> to <a href="https://eat4thefuture.com/news/climate-underground-summit-with-al-gore-chef-alice-waters-and-more">climate change</a> – always drawing connections between better-tasting food and social and environmental healing. </p>
<p>And she has pushed back against skeptics who say that eating locally and organically is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/05/17/magazine/alice-waters-interview.html">affordable only for a small elite</a>. Her response is that access to affordable, decent food from sustainable sources <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/Alice-Waters-push-for-local-organic-setting-3189190.php">should not depend on wealth or social privilege</a>, any more than decent medical care should be available only to the affluent.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ht6mG28h1qE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Edible Schoolyard, a project Alice Waters founded in 1995 at a Berkeley public middle school, uses organic school gardens, kitchens and cafeterias to teach students about food and nature.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Chez Panisse has been startlingly consistent over its 50-year span. It is at the same address, and the menu is still limited on any given day but changes constantly. The focus on using only the best ingredients is as intense as ever. The meals I’ve eaten there, most recently in 2016, have all been marvelous.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 106,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<h2>Staying on track in a changing industry</h2>
<p>As recent events have shown, restaurants aren’t utopias, however starry their aspirations. In 2017 and 2018 the industry was rocked by the #MeToo movement, which exposed <a href="https://www.grubstreet.com/2018/10/how-chefs-and-restaurateurs-are-faring-post-metoo.html">abusive chefs and substandard wages</a> at top-ranked organizations. Restaurants have also faced criticism for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/solving-food-waste-in-americas-restaurants-2016-5">wasting food</a> and <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479800612/front-of-the-house-back-of-the-house/">perpetuating racial and economic inequality</a>.</p>
<p>Restaurants are a historical cultural phenomenon rooted in <a href="https://www.thisiscapitalism.com/rise-celebrity-chefpreneur/">bourgeois ambition</a>. Expecting them to advance social justice may seem as naïve as expecting collective decision-making in a high-pressure food service environment where the ingrained response to whatever the boss says is “<a href="https://www.ice.edu/blog/kitchen-culture-end-yes-chef">Yes, Chef</a>.”</p>
<p>The nature of culinary celebrity is <a href="https://www.eater.com/22193151/momofuku-david-chang-memoir-eat-a-peach-review">clearly changing</a>. Against this background, the constancy of Alice Waters and Chez Panisse is all the more impressive. Few restaurants get to celebrate 50 years of service, let alone a half-century combining seriousness of social purpose, loose organizational hierarchy and, above all, simple and delightful food.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162588/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Freedman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>‘Local, organic, sustainable’ are common buzzwords on US restaurant menus now, but it wasn’t always that way. Alice Waters and her restaurant, Chez Panisse, helped put them there.Paul Freedman, Chester D. Tripp Professor of History, Yale UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1640172021-07-11T12:28:39Z2021-07-11T12:28:39ZAt the tipping point: It’s time to include tips in menu prices as restaurants reopen from COVID lockdowns<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410228/original/file-20210707-25-1sc4sr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5609%2C3742&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tipping, a popular cultural practice in Canada, can have hidden consequences for food service workers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tipping is a cultural practice strongly supported in Canada, with most patrons feeling good about their experiences. However, gratuities can have hidden consequences for those working in food service.</p>
<p>With staff recruitment a problem as the easing of pandemic guidelines are allowing restaurants to re-open, our research suggests it may be time for the industry to think seriously about how to manage tipping differently. And incorporating tips as part of the price of a meal should be an option. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://cdn.dal.ca/content/dam/dalhousie/pdf/sites/agri-food/Tipping%20Study%20(June%2019%202021)%20EN.pdf">report</a> released a few weeks ago on the future of tipping was a pulse check of patrons’ perceptions of food service tipping and their anticipated behavioural changes as we exit the pandemic. </p>
<p>While our survey plainly asks how people are feeling about tipping during the pandemic, prior research provides evidence of how tipping contributes to detrimental working conditions for restaurant staff.</p>
<p>Some are suggesting that the sector needs a <a href="https://troymedia.com/business/restaurants-face-a-great-reset-thanks-to-covid-19/">“great reset”</a>. The COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted Canada’s food service industry. With restrictions, limited hours, take-out or delivery-only options, revenues have dropped significantly. Many businesses have taken on substantial loans in order to stay afloat. </p>
<p>In a May report by <a href="https://www.restaurantscanada.org/industry-news/raising-our-voice-restaurants-canada-calls-for-sector-specific-survival-measures-at-federal-finance-committee-meeting/">Restaurants Canada</a>, 10,000 food service businesses have permanently closed. As vaccination counts increase and provinces begin to relax restrictions, resuming our previously normal behaviours may in fact become a problem. </p>
<h2>A pro-social behaviour</h2>
<p>Our report investigated tipping as a pro-social behaviour, in which giving money results in positive feelings.</p>
<p>Though 71 per cent surveyed did not anticipate changing their tipping habits, 20 per cent are planning on tipping more and are happy to do so. Additionally, 60 per cent of respondents contribute the same tip percentages in all restaurants, but 40 per cent tip more in their favourite restaurant. </p>
<p>In the short term, this is good news for servers in restaurants. Patrons may have the financial security to tip more as personal savings rates have increased dramatically over the pandemic, according to <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3610011201&pickMembers%5B0%5D=2.1&cubeTimeFrame.startMonth=01&cubeTimeFrame.startYear=2018&cubeTimeFrame.endMonth=01&cubeTimeFrame.endYear=2021&referencePeriods=20180101%2C20210101">Statistics Canada</a>. But this may not last. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Masked and gloved waitress stands before two seated restaurant patrons" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410224/original/file-20210707-15-1vkt79x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C116%2C3114%2C1959&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410224/original/file-20210707-15-1vkt79x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410224/original/file-20210707-15-1vkt79x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410224/original/file-20210707-15-1vkt79x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410224/original/file-20210707-15-1vkt79x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410224/original/file-20210707-15-1vkt79x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410224/original/file-20210707-15-1vkt79x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A new study from Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab examined attitudes and perceptions of tipping habits during the COVID-19 pandemic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Beyond the customers’ ability to tip, tipping also has a <a href="https://troymedia.com/business/the-dark-side-of-tipping-your-server/#.YNX6yBNKh24">darker side</a> to it.</p>
<h2>Cultural expectation</h2>
<p>There is evidence that tipping is a strong cultural expectation in Canada, to which patrons willingly conform — and some are even motivated to exceed expectations.</p>
<p>However, there are issues that are not evident when patrons are paying the bill. Tipping has been documented to <a href="https://youtu.be/kOk2C4n4eMQ">play a contributing factor</a> in income instability, high employee turnover rates, discrimination — and even sexual harassment. </p>
<p>Food service typically deals with a 70 per cent turnover rate, which has likely increased due to the pandemic. Tip-dependent incomes have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. About 80,000 workers are still technically employed, but have no hours according to <a href="https://www.restaurantscanada.org/industry-news/raising-our-voice-restaurants-canada-calls-for-sector-specific-survival-measures-at-federal-finance-committee-meeting/">Restaurants Canada</a>. </p>
<p>Studies from tipping behaviour researchers have shown that there are not only <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0010880403260105">racial</a> and gender prejudices about tipping amounts, but tipping creates a power dynamic in how patrons and servers treat each other and perceptions of service quality. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://hbr.org/2018/01/sexual-harassment-is-pervasive-in-the-restaurant-industry-heres-what-needs-to-change">Harvard Business Report</a> publication cites 90 per cent of women and 70 per cent of men report experiences of sexual harassment as food service workers, with most going unreported to managers due to the culture of “the customer is always right” or it’s just “part of the job.”</p>
<p>Additionally, the food service sector is behind all others in terms of recovery. As of May, Statistics Canada revealed there are still over <a href="http://www.restaurantscanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/infographic_RC_Final.pdf">300,000 jobs</a> to fill in the sector. This means a new, inexperienced population are likely to fill food service jobs, unaware of the challenges facing them.</p>
<p>As patrons, we are largely unaware of the negative consequences, and tipping remains a pleasurable experience.</p>
<h2>Feeling the ‘warm glow’</h2>
<p>Termed a “warm glow” by researchers <a href="https://dunn.psych.ubc.ca/">Elizabeth Dunn</a> of the University of British Columbia, <a href="https://www.sfu.ca/psychology/about/people/profiles/laknin.html">Lara Aknin</a> of Simon Fraser University and <a href="https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=326229">Michael Norton</a> of Harvard Business School, the effect we feel from tipping fulfils a basic human need of feeling in control, seeing the immediate effect of your decisions, and feeling a social connection through the exchange. </p>
<p>Respondents prefer to follow their own tipping formula, though some do not like included tips or service charges. Most surveyed feel like their tips make a difference and that tipping makes the job worthwhile or contributes to motivation. Tipping yields positive feelings that justify current and future behaviour for the patron. </p>
<p>Even so, more than one third of those surveyed indicate they do not support tipping in food service and would like to see it prohibited or regulated.</p>
<p>Restaurants Canada reports that nearly 50 per cent of Canadians know someone in food service and 22 per cent choose food service as their first job. With so many people experiencing tipping firsthand or through people they know, it is surprising that the support for tipping is still so high despite <a href="https://troymedia.com/business/the-dark-side-of-tipping-your-server/#.YNX6yBNKh24">previous research</a> indicating high support for tipping alternatives. </p>
<h2>What’s the true cost?</h2>
<p>The true cost of the bill currently includes other social burdens that are not evident at the time of the tipping experience. Increasing tips, while with good intentions, will only prolong dealing with the issues of income instability, employment security, discrimination in all its forms and sexual harassment. </p>
<p>If we want to address these issues, we need to acknowledge the less visible impacts of our actions. By encouraging our restaurants and delivery services to move away from tipping, we are doing more in the long run to make sure that our restaurants and their staff have a sustainable, long term future that will survive the next large scale disruption.</p>
<p>Because menu prices would go up by incorporating tips, such a change would require a policy shift coupled with support from industry. However, our data shows we still have a long way to go. </p>
<p>The pandemic has proven we can get through challenges together and we can still feel that “warm glow” by knowing that when we pay the bill, everyone benefits.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164017/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Tipping has often-overlooked consequences for food service workers. The industry should turn its attention to underlying issues if it wants to ensure a sustainable future.Sylvain Charlebois, Director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab, Professor in Food Distribution and Policy, Dalhousie UniversityPoppy Nicolette Riddle, Research associate, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1631512021-07-01T12:14:35Z2021-07-01T12:14:35ZWhat’s a ghost kitchen? A food industry expert explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408936/original/file-20210629-20-1s085la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C4%2C1017%2C653&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The co-founder of a takeout business called The Bussdown plates a dish at the ghost kitchen he cooks out of in Oakland.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/michael-woods-co-founder-of-pan-african-ghost-kitchen-the-news-photo/1313210547?adppopup=true">Stephen Lam/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>While the phrase “ghost kitchen” may conjure up images of haunted houses, the reality is a bit more mundane. </p>
<p><a href="https://roaminghunger.com/blog/15623/ghost-kitchens-everything-you-must-know">Ghost kitchens</a> are food prep operations with no waiters, no dining room and no parking lot – really, no public presence whatsoever.</p>
<p>But on food delivery apps, they’re alive and well.</p>
<p>In short, ghost kitchens are physical spaces for operators to create food for off-premises consumption. And on apps like Grubhub and DoorDash, listings for restaurants operating out of ghost kitchens usually don’t look any different than those for brick-and-mortar operations. For example, where I live in northern Colorado, there’s a restaurant called Rocco’s Ravioli that appears on the apps. But Rocco’s doesn’t have a storefront. It’s a food delivery service that makes food in a ghost kitchen.</p>
<p>One trend I’m seeing is the formation of central, commissary-style ghost kitchens with multiple restaurants or brands working out of the same physical space. These are often located in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities, since there’s no need to pay downtown rents when there’s no front-of-house operation.</p>
<h2>Why ghost kitchens matter</h2>
<p>While it’s hard to pinpoint exactly when the first ghost kitchen opened, <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/15/how-covid-accelerated-the-rise-of-ghost-kitchens.html">it was the COVID-19 pandemic that accelerated their growth</a>. </p>
<p>By March 2020, most U.S. jurisdictions had forced restaurants <a href="https://www.eater.com/2020/3/24/21184301/restaurant-industry-data-impact-covid-19-coronavirus">to close their dining rooms</a> to limit the spread of the coronavirus. While some restaurants <a href="https://abc7.com/restaurants-coronavirus-pandemic-covid/10663697/">closed never to reopen</a>, others pivoted to a delivery or carry-out model with varying levels of success. </p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Some small food operators used ghost kitchens to get a foothold in the market during a time when opening a standard restaurant with a dining room would have been unthinkable. As long as <a href="https://www.eater.com/2020/3/24/21184301/restaurant-industry-data-impact-covid-19-coronavirus">the high fees charged by the major delivery services</a> could be mitigated or built into the price, food delivery outfits working out ghost kitchens could find a way to make a living. Even national chains like Chili’s and Applebee’s <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/06/29/chilis-parent-brinker-creates-a-national-delivery.aspx">used ghost kitchens to keep cash flowing</a> and <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/22/us/grubhub-chuck-e-cheese-pasquallys-applebees-restaurants-trnd/index.html">test new menu items using different brand names</a> in case the ideas flopped. </p>
<p>With customers adapting to the trend quickly and easily, it’s likely that ghost kitchens are here to stay.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163151/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeffrey Miller does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated their spread.Jeffrey Miller, Associate Professor of Hospitality Management, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1546092021-04-09T13:01:36Z2021-04-09T13:01:36ZPubs are reopening but research shows contact tracing still isn’t working – here’s how to fix it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394253/original/file-20210409-17-1akn2pa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C21%2C4765%2C2919&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Every customer must sign in when pubs reopen.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-people-toasting-beer-wearing-open-1937176303">View Apart/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Contact tracing is vital to supporting public safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. But rather than providing truthful information, it seems many people lie when asked to provide their contact details. Police officers in Australia, for example, have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/11/privacy-concerns-over-australian-businesses-collecting-data-for-covid-contact-tracing">complained</a> that people have been writing the names “Donald Duck” and “Mickey Mouse” on contact tracing forms. </p>
<p>Governments need to be able to fully trace citizens who have been exposed to COVID-19, and without the correct contact information, it’s impossible to do this. And it could potentially pose a serious threat to public safety when more restrictions are lifted and when the third lockdown in the UK properly comes to an end.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2021.102867">Our new research</a> looks at people’s experiences of contract tracing and how to improve the system to ensure everyone’s health and safety. We conducted studies in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US. Initially, we surveyed 240 participants and found that most of them (74%) encountered contact tracing at hospitality venues. But that only 24% of them provided correct and complete information each time. About 68% chose their reluctance to cooperate was due to their concerns about privacy.</p>
<p>Next, we interviewed participants to address their privacy concerns. And also found what would help customers to better cooperate and have more trust when their personal information is collected and stored. Lastly, we conducted another survey with 365 participants to test our ideas. </p>
<h2>Reassurance about data needed</h2>
<p>We found that one of the reasons many people ended up giving false information is because they don’t feel fully comfortable giving their personal details but they still wanted to be polite and helpful. So in giving a false name, it allows them to fulfil the request without causing any problems or making a scene. </p>
<p>We also heard from our participants that if businesses showed how their contact details would actually be stored and gave a better sense of their capability to handle contact tracing professionally, they would feel more inclined to comply with the request. This makes a lot of sense because, of course, many people are scared about data breaches and privacy invasion. So they care about the business’s ability and professionalism to manage their information. </p>
<p>Our research shows that people are more likely to share their truthful information if they have confidence in a business’s competence to manage their data. One thing that people we spoke to mentioned was for businesses to make sure that contact tracing spreadsheets are not misused (many women <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/test-trace-used-harass-women-already/">have reported</a> being harassed after handing over their contact details) and can’t be seen by other <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-14/covid-confusion-as-cafes-warned-about-privacy-dangers/12351314">customers</a>. </p>
<h2>Government backing is key</h2>
<p>It’s also clear that contact tracing should not be <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-31/covid-19-check-in-data-using-qr-codes-raises-privacy-concerns/12823432">outsourced to companies</a> with unclear privacy rules. Instead, it should be supported by governments. We found that if governments support contact tracing through strong data protection regulation and technology, people feel safe to disclose truthful information. </p>
<p>In this way then, governments can play a big role in helping to encourage people to cooperate with contact tracing at hospitality venues. And they can do this by <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/venues-required-by-law-to-record-contact-details">requiring businesses</a> to follow strong data protection policies. Governments can also enforce penalties if companies do not follow the rules.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People queuing outside a pub." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394254/original/file-20210409-17-hanevb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394254/original/file-20210409-17-hanevb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394254/original/file-20210409-17-hanevb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394254/original/file-20210409-17-hanevb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394254/original/file-20210409-17-hanevb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394254/original/file-20210409-17-hanevb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/394254/original/file-20210409-17-hanevb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">With pubs about to reopen again, it’s feared case numbers could begin to rise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-england-may-31-2020-traditional-1745736242">Chaz Bharj/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The process needs to be standardised</h2>
<p>Another thing that came up time and time again from our participants was the fact that businesses have different contact tracing systems – making it hard to fully trust how each method works. This is then more likely to lead to people giving false information to avoid engaging with each system.</p>
<p>This is why contact tracing needs to be a standardised process no matter which hospitality venue people visit. For example, <a href="https://www.restaurantnz.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Level-2-Guidelines-for-operating-_PublicHealthOrder_v7_.pdf">the Restaurant Association of New Zealand</a> has taken the lead in providing support for restaurants and cafes to conduct standardised contact tracing. This has helped to gain more cooperation from people as they know what to expect at each venue.</p>
<h2>Word of mouth helps</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102815">Research</a> shows that people rely on others’ words as “social proof” to guide their own behaviours. This is known as the “bandwagon effect”. And in terms of contact tracing essentially means that people will feel less sceptical about sharing their information when they’ve been told by others that contact tracing is important and safe. </p>
<p>This is why governments and businesses should launch <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/contact-tracing-comms-graphics.html#slows-spread">social media campaigns</a> to encourage people to share their positive thoughts about contact tracing. With positive word of mouth, more and more people will accept contact tracing as a new social norm. And as a result others will be more likely to follow in their footsteps and disclose truthful information.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/154609/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What restaurants, bars and pubs can do to help people happily hand over their data.Donia Waseem, Lecturer in Marketing, University of BradfordJoseph Chen, Lecturer/assistant professor in Marketing, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1558492021-03-30T13:15:19Z2021-03-30T13:15:19ZGovernments must work with restaurants on a no-fee delivery app<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391229/original/file-20210323-20-rywpxe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=772%2C925%2C4643%2C2829&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A food delivery worker wearing a face mask to help curb the spread of COVID-19 is framed by a large public art installation while riding a bike in Vancouver in November 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>To say it’s been a rough year for the restaurant industry is an understatement. </p>
<p>Restaurants across Canada have suffered immensely from stay-at-home orders, strict in-person seating capacity restrictions and other lockdown measures induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten per cent of Canada’s independent restaurants have already permanently shut down in light of pandemic-related hardships, and <a href="https://www.restaurantscanada.org/industry-news/new-federal-assistance-will-help-restaurants-survive-covid-19/">recent estimates</a> project that another 40 per cent may not survive beyond March 2021.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Customers sit on a patio at a bar." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391187/original/file-20210323-15-2kl216.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391187/original/file-20210323-15-2kl216.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391187/original/file-20210323-15-2kl216.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391187/original/file-20210323-15-2kl216.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391187/original/file-20210323-15-2kl216.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391187/original/file-20210323-15-2kl216.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391187/original/file-20210323-15-2kl216.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Customers sit on a patio at a bar in Toronto on March 20, 2021 — the day restaurants in Toronto and Peel Region were allowed to offer customers outdoor dining.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To remain afloat during these trying times, many restaurants have relied — often reluctantly — on food delivery applications like Uber Eats, Door Dash and Skip the Dishes, despite recognizing the untenability of the high commission fees they command, some as high as <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/04/28/canadian-restaurants-feel-squeezed-by-delivery-apps-commission-fees-amid-covid-19-crisis.html">30 per cent</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/capping-food-delivery-app-fees-could-save-restaurants-this-covid-19-winter-151631">Capping food delivery app fees could save restaurants this COVID-19 winter</a>
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<p>In an effort to help restaurants, several provinces have proposed capping food delivery fees and, while laudable, these efforts do not suffice. If the intent is to save restaurants, many of which are deeply woven in the fabric of neighbourhoods and communities across Canada, a bolder solution is needed. The Canadian government must partner with restaurant associations to create its own no-fee food delivery platform.</p>
<h2>Monumental growth</h2>
<p>In this past year, third-party food delivery apps have experienced <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54834809">monumental growth</a> and have come to represent a significant share of restaurants’ overall business, making them all the more indispensable during these trying times. These apps work by connecting hungry customers to their favourite restaurants and enable seamless mobile transactions in exchange for a commission fee. </p>
<p>While it may be argued that such apps served as a lifeline for restaurants during the pandemic, many <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/technology/food-delivery-apps.html">restaurant owners</a> are quick to point out that the increase in delivery app sales did not necessarily translate to higher earnings. That’s because the revenue generated through these apps were largely negated by exorbitant commission fees. </p>
<p>Whatever modest short-term revenue gains restaurants did experience through delivery apps has also come at the expense of their long-term chances of success. At the best of times, restaurants operate on razor-thin margins and simply cannot afford to have delivery apps shave off an additional portion of their revenues. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A food delivery worker rides an electric bike" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391188/original/file-20210323-14-b97itk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6500%2C4388&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391188/original/file-20210323-14-b97itk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391188/original/file-20210323-14-b97itk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391188/original/file-20210323-14-b97itk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391188/original/file-20210323-14-b97itk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391188/original/file-20210323-14-b97itk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391188/original/file-20210323-14-b97itk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A food delivery worker rides an electric bike in downtown Vancouver in January 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
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<p>Restaurants’ reliance on delivery apps may have been necessary during the pandemic, when trying to avoid bankruptcy. But it cannot be sustained indefinitely, especially if online orders end up permanently replacing those that would otherwise have been made through restaurants directly.</p>
<p><a href="https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/don-t-be-greedy-ford-pleads-with-food-delivery-companies-to-drop-fees-on-struggling-businesses-1.5146925">Many have accused</a> food delivery companies of being greedy given how much restaurants have suffered during the pandemic, and have pressured governments to intervene. Heeding to mounting concerns from their constituents, mayors and premiers across Canada <a href="https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/59761/ontario-caps-food-delivery-fees-to-protect-small-businesses">passed legislation</a> to cap food delivery charges. </p>
<h2>Only minor concessions</h2>
<p>But unfortunately, these efforts have only led to minor concessions from food delivery apps and are largely regarded as insufficient by Canadian restaurant associations, many of which saw their members <a href="https://www.restaurantscanada.org/industry-news/restaurants-need-data-and-more-immediate-support-to-survive-indoor-dining-closures/">lose upwards of 80 per cent of their business</a> at a time when food delivery apps were registering soaring profits. </p>
<p>This sentiment was further echoed by <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/struggling-app-workers-fear-being-made-to-pay-for-delivery-fee-cap-864145120.html">many Canadians</a> who did not place much trust in these temporary measures — nor in bargaining with Silicon Valley-based companies — and did not wish to imagine their cities devoid of the life, vibrancy and diversity that restaurants contribute. To ensure the survival of restaurants, governments must go beyond capping food delivery charges, and must offer a no-fee food delivery platform.</p>
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<img alt="A food delivery person wears a protective face mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as he picks up food." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391197/original/file-20210323-19-1s972oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=63%2C886%2C3347%2C1714&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/391197/original/file-20210323-19-1s972oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391197/original/file-20210323-19-1s972oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391197/original/file-20210323-19-1s972oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391197/original/file-20210323-19-1s972oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391197/original/file-20210323-19-1s972oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/391197/original/file-20210323-19-1s972oj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A food delivery man wears a protective face mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19 as he picks up food in Vancouver in December 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward</span></span>
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<p>Admittedly, government agencies are not often top of mind when it comes to app development. But they could easily use a portion of the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/innovation-science-economic-development/news/2020/10/government-of-canada-expands-regional-relief-and-recovery-fund-to-provide-further-support-for-businesses.html">$1.5 billion promised</a> as part of the federal government’s Regional Relief and Recovery Fund to outsource this task. </p>
<p>Or they could use some of this fund to support existing efforts led by Canadian restaurant associations. The Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association, for instance, is in the midst of launching a <a href="https://www.iheartradio.ca/newstalk-1010/news/industry-group-to-launch-app-to-compete-with-uber-eats-and-door-dash-1.13757247">food delivery app</a> in Toronto that promises to charge less than 10 per cent commission fees and expects to expand its services to other jurisdictions in the near future.</p>
<p>Partnering on such initiatives and offering financial support to enable restaurant association-backed apps to reduce their commission fees even further during the pandemic would not only provide restaurants with much-needed relief. It would also prepare them for a future in which app-based deliveries account for a sizeable share of their overall sales. </p>
<h2>Apps are here to stay</h2>
<p>According to <a href="https://cdn.dal.ca/content/dam/dalhousie/pdf/sites/agri-food/COVID%20Online%20food%20activity%20(November%202020)%20EN%20R.pdf">a recent study</a> by researchers at Dalhousie University, 64 per cent of Canadians have ordered food online in the past six months. But even more striking is that almost 50 per cent say they intend to keep doing so at least once per week once the pandemic is over.</p>
<p>Food delivery apps are here to stay, but bargaining with large tech companies or passing temporary legislation to limit their fees will do very little to help the restaurant industry succeed in a post-pandemic world. </p>
<p>Instead, the federal government must support grassroots efforts led by restaurant associations to create a no-commission-fee delivery app option during the pandemic. The fees can later be increased to cover the app’s operating costs, at which point it will hopefully have garnered a large enough base of users to compete with the food delivery giants. </p>
<p>Only then will the Canadian restaurant industry have the tools necessary to ensure its survival both during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155849/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mischa Young does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Food delivery apps are here to stay. That means governments must support restaurant association efforts to create a no-commission-fee delivery app option — during the pandemic and beyond.Mischa Young, Course Instructor, Human Geography, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.