SHA: Balancing the Rising Cost of Dining & Exploring Solutions for Employees, Employers, and Consumers

BU SHA presents this forum with Saru Jayaraman of One Fair Wage to discuss some of the most paramount issues impacting the hospitality industry today and into the future related to recruitment and retainment of the hospitality workforce. Specifically, the talk will focus on balancing workers’ demands for increased compensation and owners’/operators’ need to manage rising costs that impact the bottom line. This discussion will address various viewpoints on ending vs. maintaining the subminimum wage (with tips on top in both scenarios).

“As an academic institution, it is our role to bring complex issues to the table and facilitate an informed and constructive dialogue that considers the concerns of all stakeholders,” said Arun Upneja, Ph.D., Dean of Boston University’s School of Hospitality Administration. “This forum provides an opportunity to explore and better understand the diverse perspectives on these important issues. The aim is to find common ground and workable solutions.”

'Especially given the post-pandemic service sector staffing crisis and rising cost of living, it is both critical and timely to be considering wages and working conditions for the 14 million workers in the US restaurant industry,” commented Saru Jayaraman, President of One Fair Wage, and Director of the Food Labor Research Center at University of California, Berkeley. “These issues are critical to the future of the hospitality sector and Americans' willingness to work in this sector, and essential for future leaders of the industry to consider if they want to be able to recruit and retain employees in the sector."

All those passionate about restaurants (employees, employers, and consumers) are encouraged to attend the talk and to join in a Q&A and reception following the talk.

For more information about the Boston University School of Hospitality Administration Dean’s Distinguished Speakers Series, visit the BU SHA website.

About Saru Jayaraman Saru Jayaraman is the President of One Fair Wage and Director of the Food Labor Research Center at University of California, Berkeley. After 9/11, together with displaced World Trade Center workers, she co-founded the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC), which grew into a national movement of restaurant workers, employers, and consumers. She then launched One Fair Wage as a national campaign to end all subminimum wages in the United States.

Saru is a graduate of Yale Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She was listed in CNN’s “Top 10 Visionary Women” and recognized as a Champion of Change by the White House in 2014, a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award in 2015, and the SF Chronicle ‘Visionary of the Year’ in 2019. Saru is also the author of four books including One Fair Wage: Ending All Subminimum Pay in America (The New Press, November 2021). Additional publications include Behind the Kitchen Door (Cornell University Press, 2013), Forked: A New Standard for American Dining (Oxford University Press, 2016), and Bite Back: People Taking on Corporate Food and Winning, (UC Press, 2020). She has appeared on MSNBC, HBO, PBS, CBS, and CNN. She attended the Golden Globes in January 2018 with Amy Poehler as part of the Time’s Up action to address sexual harassment.

Advanced registration is required.

When 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm on Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Building CDS, 665 Commonwealth Avenue
Room 17th Floor - 1750
Contact Organization Boston University School of Hospitality Administration
Fees Free
Speakers Saru Jayaraman, President of One Fair Wage