What’s MORE Important? A Thriving, Equitable Restaurant Industry

A new coalition of organizations such as the James Beard Foundation, Women in Hospitality United, and Regarding Her aims to address systemic issues in the restauant industry and advocate for change. MORE, or Movement to Organize for Restaurant Equity,, is led by industry veterans and seeks to address challenges from Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) under attack to economic instability, striving for a more equitable and sustainable future for the 12 million people employed in the nation’s second-largest private industry. 

To learn more about MORE, Modern Restaurant Management (MRM) magazine reached out to co-founder Liz Murray. She is also the Chief Operating Officer for The Marlow Collective and previously managed People Operations for Union Square Hospitality Group. She is a co-founder of Women in Hospitality United, and sits on the Board of Directors of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, the NYC Small Business Services Hospitality Council, the Emma's Torch Culinary Council, and the Urban Justice Center's Street Vendor Project Advisory Board. Murray is working with hospitalty veterans including: Elizabeth Meltz, Women in Hospitality United; Mary Sue Milliken, Regarding Her; Dina Samson, Regarding Her; Sylvie Gabriele, Regarding Her; Anne McBride, James Beard Foundation; and Sarah Ax.

What was the impetus for starting MORE and what was the process of organizing all the moving parts?

MORE was formed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the changing landscape industry advocacy organizations were navigating in the leadup to that moment. The founding organizations share a belief in the strategic approach of the coalition model – that by developing collaborative relationships between diverse groups of people we can leverage our combined resources to deliver impact that would be difficult or impossible to attain individually. So in the early months of the pandemic, when it was clear our industry was likely to face waves of disruption and transformation for years to come, we started gathering and the seeds for what has since grown into a movement, were planted. In the intervening years we’ve been very lucky to work with incredible organizations – Invisible Hand, Changing our World, and Oyster Sunday – that have supported us in clarifying our vision, scaffolding the coalition, and keeping all the moving parts (and people!) organized, on track, and moving forward.

What is MORE’s mission and why do you feel the nonprofit is necessary now?

MORE’s mission is to reduce silos, drive innovative solutions, and accelerate the collective impact of our member organizations with a focus on advancing economic mobility and workplace protections. As a coalition, we support the goals of our members and provide resources, programming, partnerships, and research, fostering a dynamic community of changemakers.

To build a thriving, equitable, and enduring restaurant industry, we need to work together.

There is enormous opportunity for change in the restaurant industry. We contribute $700B annually to the U.S. economy and employ 12 million people, making us the second largest private employing industry in the country. But razor thin margins pressure both operators and frontline workers. In fact, 85 percent of operators reported lower profitability year-over-year, and workers face insurmountable barriers to economic mobility. The work to solve these issues is happening—but in silos. To build a thriving, equitable, and enduring restaurant industry, we need to work together.

You are partnering with a number of leading industry organizations including James Beard Foundation and the Independent Restaurant Coalition. Why do you feel it is important to work together in this initiative?

Our members are led by innovators developing and implementing solutions and services aimed at industry transformation. For too long, these organizations have been isolated in silos, without the benefit of shared resources and best practices from peers. We are changing that by building a connected, collaborative network across organizations, unlocking new opportunities for shared learning, expanded programming, and creative partnerships.

We believe that by coming together to harness the work already underway we can drive enormous social and economic impact for all our stakeholders – workers, operators, employers, adjacent industries, policy makers, and the communities they serve.

What are key industry/challenges that are top of the list to address?

Our two pillars are advancing economic mobility and advancing frontline protections (you can see more details in the ‘Our Impact Areas’ section of our website.) These pillars are connected and work in tandem; our belief is that wraparound supports are a critical partner to economic advancement on the pathway to quality jobs and a sustainable industry.

What does equity look like to you in a restaurant environment and how does MORE hope to provide opportunity through community?

The barrier to entry in this industry is low, but the barriers to advancing are extremely high. And those “broken rungs” are most acute in two moments on the career path: first, in a worker’s first promotion into a management position, and second, when they want to make the leap to corporate. We know that more than 70 percent of frontline workers want to be promoted within their companies, but only four percent ever advance to corporate roles and the wage and experience capital gains that come with them. And the challenges attracting, retaining, and developing talent also have an enormous impact on employers’ ability to sustainably run, or grow, their businesses.

The barrier to entry in this industry is low, but the barriers to advancing are extremely high.

Now let's add another lens: the restaurant industry sits in the top quartile for racial diversity, and more than 50 percent of restaurant workers have a high school education or below, which is much higher than the overall average for the US workforce.

When you look at the industry through those two lenses, you can see that if we’re able to drive innovative, industry-wide solutions that open pathways to economic mobility for both frontline workers and entrepreneurs, we know that will be a catalyst for providing more equitable outcomes at scale because of our national economic and employing power.

So let’s drop down from the system level to look at how MORE will provide opportunities that meet the needs of all our stakeholders. One of our New York workforce development members, Hot Bread Kitchen, is developing a manager training program that’s launching this summer. It will give experienced frontline workers the training they need to advance, and is free for employers, with the caveat that they have to promote or give a raise to their employees once they graduate. So it helps workers get over that first broken rung while also providing training that small operators would never be able to offer on their own. And then through MORE we can expand that program to other regions via partnerships between members and iterate across the network in a way that would take a single organization years. Collaboration enables us to move much, much faster and actually deliver meaningful results.

Who should consider joining MORE and why should they?

MORE members are organizations already working within one or more of our issue areas (advancing economic mobility and workplace protections). However, the programs that we and our members operate often have direct impact for individuals – workers, operators, employers, and even education for the dining public. If your organization is interested and wants to learn more you can reach us at hello@morecoalition.org.

What impact do you hope MORE has in the next five to ten years?

We’re finalizing our five year strategic plan and are looking forward to sharing it soon, so stay tuned!