I recently walked the halls of Congress alongside 14 independent restaurant and bar owners from across the country. We flew in from big cities and small towns, representing a vibrant spectrum of our industry and the communities we call home.
We gathered together in Washington, D.C. under a unified mission: to ask Congress to recognize that independent restaurants and bars are not just part of the culture of the U.S., they are an essential driver of its economy, and they cannot survive without meaningful policy change.
I joined the Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC) after closing my Downtown Los Angeles restaurant, barcito, in the summer of 2021. I love the hospitality industry, but I was burnt out. The days are long, the work is grueling, the margins are slim (or in my case, non-existent), and the prospect of having a more stable, sustainable life always felt so far out of reach.
I spent the bulk of my career attempting to address these challenges creatively, but I was pursuing a short-term solution to a long-term problem. What our industry actually needs is lasting, structural change. I decided that advocating for public policy that supports the unique needs of independent restaurants and bars is the only path to our collective survival and enduring success.