The restaurant industry generates over $12 billion in revenue in the state of Michigan and employs over 130,000 people in Southeast Michigan alone. Yet, as industries go, it is also one  of the least studied and least understood.

ROC-Michigan’s innovative and high quality community-based research uncovers the forces shaping this large and growing industry and identifies policies that can support good jobs, opportunities for advancement, increased worker retention, as well as vibrant communities and local economies.  By grounding our grassroots policy campaigns in rigorous, community-based research, we promote strategic solutions that benefit workers, employers, and consumers.

Our report, Behind the Kitchen Door: Inequality and Opportunity in Metro Detroit’s Growing Restaurant Industry, is the most comprehensive report ever done on Southeast Michigan’s restaurant industry.  Among its major findings:

Did you know that Southeast Michigan’s restaurant and food service industry . . .

Employs more people than auto manufacturing, hospitals, and construction?

Offers real opportunities for living wages – more than 13,000 jobs pay $15.50 an hour or higher?

All too often mistreats workers – more than half of restaurant workers report having their wages being stolen by their employers?

Concentrates people of color and women, especially women of color, in lower-paying jobs with fewer opportunities for advancement?

– To view ‘Behind the Kitchen Door: Inequality and Opportunity in Metro Detroit’s Growing Restaurant Industry’ click here