Promoting the Next-Generation Workforce Strategies

Events

1 February 2013

A Special Preview of ‘Behind the Kitchen Door’

How do workers’ low wages, and the poor working conditions that so often go along with them, affect the meals that arrive on our restaurant tables?

In this important new book, Restaurant Opportunities Center United co-founder Saru Jayaraman looks at what can be done to improve conditions for the nation’s restaurant workforce, and explores the political, economic and moral issues involved in dining out. Blending personal narrative and investigative journalism, she shows that the quality of our meals depends not only on the sourcing of the ingredients, but also on the wellbeing of the workers who chop, grill, sauté and serve.

About the Event

To mark the release of “Behind the Kitchen Door,” food movement leaders, policy experts, journalists, artists, economists, philanthropists and social innovators will gather at foundation headquarters to begin what we hope will be a sustained and meaningful conversation about restaurant workers’ rights.

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Welcome and Introduction 1:40 pm
- Laine Romero-Alston Program Officer, Quality Employment, Ford Foundation
- Luis A. Ubiñas President, Ford Foundation
Reading from “Behind the Kitchen Door” 1:50 pm
- Saru Jayaraman Author, Co-Director and Co-Founder, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United
The State of the U.S. Restaurant Industry 2:15 pm
- Nikki Lewis Restaurant Worker and Lead Coordinator, ROC-DC
- Terry O'Neill President, National Organization for Women
- Paul Osterman Professor, School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Andy Shallal Founder, Busboys and Poets and Eatonville Restaurants
- Rinku Sen (Moderator) President and Executive Director, Applied Research Center
Redefining Sustainability: Engaging Ethical Eaters 3:25 pm
- Angelines Moncha Alba Lamb Associate Director of National Programs and New Media, Slow Food USA
- Claudia Muñoz Restaurant Worker and Lead Coordinator, ROC-Houston
- Eric Schlosser Author, “Fast Food Nation”
- Diep Tran Co-Chair, Slow Food Los Angeles and Owner, Good Girl Dinette
- Raj Patel (Moderator) Author, “Stuffed and Starved”
Changing the Culture 4:20 pm
- Danny Glover Actor, Producer and Humanitarian
- Saru Jayaraman Co-Director and Co-Founder, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United
- Baratunde Thurston Author, “How To Be Black” and Founder, Cultivated Wit
- Orlando Bagwell (Moderator) Director, JustFilms, Ford Foundation
Closing Remarks 4:50 pm
- Laine Romero-Alston Program Officer, Quality Employment, Ford Foundation