We Can Solve California’s Service Worker Crisis

Ending Tipping Culture, Implementing a Livable Wage, and Training Future Leaders Can Sustain an Essential Industry

Hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected to descend on Indio, California, this month for the 2023 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

The festival is a banner event for Riverside County, with people coming in droves to catch their favorite acts performing live in the desert.

But with all of this tourism money flowing into the local economy, service industry workers, who have helped Coachella become one of the biggest, most influential, and highest-grossing festivals in the world, are not making enough to get by.

At last night’s program, “What Is a …

by Jackie Mansky | April 19, 2023

Why Restaurant Workers Can’t Win

A Powerful Lobby Made Californians Pay for Food Safety Training—Then Spent the Money Fighting Against Raising the Minimum Wage

by Saru Jayaraman | April 17, 2023

The story of California’s minimum wage laws is often told as a story of progress. As of January 1, 2023, the state holds the third highest minimum wage in the …

The Female Cooks Who Shaped French Cuisine

A New Generation of Chefs Is Melding the Domestic and Professional—And Moving Toward Equality in the Restaurant Kitchen

by Rachel E. Black | October 13, 2021

As I perch on a stool in her kitchen in Lyon, I think about what makes Sonia Ezgulian’s cooking so compelling. Ezgulian, who is also a journalist, is well known …

Can Restaurants Become Drivers of Opportunity—Not Inequality?

To Prosper in a New Era, Eateries Will Have to Reckon With Issues Left to Simmer on the Back Burner

by Eli Revelle Yano Wilson | March 8, 2021

Thousands of restaurants have closed for good across America since WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic last March. Many others remain temporarily shuttered; the remainder limp by with sales a fraction …

Why Americans Love Diners

For 135 Years, the Iconic Eateries Have Been Our Home Away From Home

By Richard J. S. Gutman | November 27, 2017

Driving north on Route 95 through Connecticut, I noticed a billboard advertising a local diner. Its immense letters spelled out: “Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-Free and Diner Classics.” I knew a seismic …

The Long, Hard Road to Fast, Fun Vegetarian Fare

For the Co-Founder of Veggie Grill, Going Plant-Based Required a Major Lifestyle Conversion

By T.K. Pillan | July 20, 2016

Truth is one, paths are many. That was the motto of Swami Satchidananda, a popular spiritual guru from India. His philosophy, which I grew up hearing, was that God can …

Get More Zócalo