Located in Bartow, Florida, Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant does the most business during hurricanes. Connie Wu recalls her parents' restaurant was still taking orders during Hurricane Irma in 2017, even as the lights went out and the army rolled up to their door. "They had to order food," Wu says. But Christmas was always a close second. "Other than the hurricanes, Christmas would be the busiest."
I've worked in just about every role you can have in a restaurant - chosting, serving, bartending. And if you've been in the industry, you know: You meet every kind of guest. The sweet one. The creepy one. The rude one. The cheeky one. And then...there are the ones who make you wonder, How has this person made it this far in life without setting something on fire?
And while the bill holds very limited benefits for tipped workers, it also lays out major cuts to both SNAP and Medicaid benefits, both social services that restaurant workers in particular must lean on, according to a recent report from One Fair Wage. SNAP faces $186 billion in funding cuts, while Medicaid will be cut by nearly $1 trillion.