Improving the lives of people in the restaurant industry will mean that customers have to pay more, according to local restauranteur Bessie King.
King co-owns Boston's Villa Mexico Cafe with her mom Julie, who started the business 20 years ago. Her family made a commitment last spring to protect and support their staff, many of whom are immigrants, throughout this pandemic.
King said it'll realistically take three to five years for the industry to fully rebuild. But as it does, it needs to change for the better for its employees.
"Now, we've realized, very, very bluntly, that our current systems don't work — that our wage systems don't work, that our profit margins don't work," King said. "We can't continue, as bad as it sounds, to offer great service, great food and great environments to customers for half of the costs that it costs us to operate. So we're really getting to a point where the customer is not always right. And if the customer wants a dining out experience, they're really going to have to be part of our community to make this a more responsible effort where everyone can survive within the restaurant industry."
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