40 AAPI Women On The State Of The Hospitality Industry
In recognition of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Zagat Stories asked AAPI professionals in restaurants and hospitality about positive change they’ve observed or experienced in the past year—as well as where they think the industry still needs to do more work. In particular for these conversations, we focused on the perspectives of AAPI women in the industry. Here’s what they have to say.
When it comes to restaurant workers forming unions, the lessons of past movements can help explain the challenges, complications, and benefits for the modern industry. "One of the best-kept secrets is that service workers actually have an advantage in organizing because they know the people that they serve—their customers—and they can form alliances with those customers."
Judy Ni of Philly's Baology made big changes to the traditional restaurant model for staff pay and benefits even before the pandemic. Now she's hoping others follow suit. "We knew there were problems, and yet we were happy as an industry because it worked ... now that we’ve seen that it’s a brittle and broken system, what are we going to do to address that?"
With the opening of Laser Wolf in Williamsburg, NYC hospitality veteran Sarah Krathen is back in business, reinvigorated and refocused. "Sometimes I think about the things I used to think and say, and the things that my mentors have said to me, like, 'Everyone’s replaceable. Never be attached.' I want to be attached now. I don’t want to replace people—I want to grow people."
