Serving Up the Surprising Truth About Waiters and Waitresses
Where’s My Food?! is a new documentary that
serves up the surprising truth about waiters and waitresses.
One-in-ten Americans currently work in food service. We spend half of our food dollars ($660 billion per year) in restaurants. Fifty years ago we spent only 20% of our food budget eating out. That kind of revenue empowered the National Restaurant Association (a.k.a. "the other NRA") to successfully lobby Congress in 1996 to keep the federal minimum wage for tipped workers at $2.13/hour. It's been that low ever since.
Viewers of Where’s My Food?! are introduced to
nine food servers who represent a diverse mix of ages,
backgrounds and incomes. The film highlights their
often-hidden struggles with the NRA, poverty-level wages,
discrimination, substance addictions, and serious health
issues that impact coworkers and customers.
Frequent restaurant customers candidly admit how they
sometimes “punish” servers by leaving very low tips. However
these same customers show little awareness of how waiters
and waitresses actually earn their living. Where’s My
Food?! takes viewers behind the scenes into the "back
of the house," where chefs and cooks rule.
Academic and industry experts explain how tipping works from psychological and socioeconomic perspectives, how one executive chef runs his restaurants with an iron fist and a soft heart, and how consumers can drive positive change through awareness and political action.
You can rent or own this new documentary several ways, including online (Apple iTunes, Amazon Instant Video and Google Play) and on DVD. Click here for full information. Watch the "Where's My Food?!" trailer now:
We
recently held the big-screen premiere of "Where's My Food?!"
at the LBPL Theater. It was an amazing evening! You can see
photos of the premiere here.
