Alliance for a Just and Thriving Restaurant Industry

Income inequality

City of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a citywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

According to our research with the UCLA Labor Center, 72% of local restaurant workers earn low wages and nearly half are rent burdened, while most small, immigrant-run restaurants struggle to stay afloat amid rising rents, razor-thin margins, and insufficient city support. Workers often lack benefits and legal protections, and many are immigrants experiencing language barriers and employer retaliation. Small business owners face bureaucratic permitting hurdles and limited access to capital and technical assistance—barriers that disproportionately impact immigrant entrepreneurs. Despite their shared challenges, workers and small businesses remain siloed and without a coordinated space to build power, develop shared priorities, and push back against multinational chains. As we prepare to host the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics, existing challenges in the city’s restaurant industry are likely to be exacerbated, pushing workers and small business owners to the brink.

The Restaurant Equity Alliance (REA) is a first-of-its-kind initiative co-led by KIWA and IAC to strengthen LA’s restaurant industry by raising labor standards, supporting ethical small businesses, and advancing bold policy solutions. We are laying the groundwork to establish a citywide Restaurant Council of workers, small business owners, and policymakers to set industry standards and shape innovative policies to strengthen LA’s local food economy.
The REA is unique in bringing workers, small business owners, and community organizations together to co-create policy and build shared power—a rare approach in restaurant sector reform.
Throughout the next year, the REA will:
Host multilingual stakeholder meetings, roundtables, and listening sessions to co-develop priorities;
Launch a public awareness campaign to promote responsible restaurants and inform values-driven consumers;
Launch programs and partnerships for direct small business support, including technical and legal assistance;
Establish a Restaurant Council by mid-year, drawing from REA outreach and listening sessions and building from an informal group into a formal, lasting structure.
Develop and promote policy proposals—focused on issues like raising the minimum wage and stronger wage theft protections, reforming the LA City Legacy Business Program, and small business-friendly building codes—to remove barriers and reward responsible businesses that are complying with local labor standards.

As LA prepares to host the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics, this initiative will ensure that global attention doesn’t accelerate displacement and inequality, but instead builds momentum for a more just local economy that centers community-well-being and collaboration between workers and small businesses. We want LA to be known not only for the quality of its food, but also for the quality of its restaurant jobs. If successful, this project will transform how LA thinks about restaurant work, shifting a historically low-wage, exploitative sector into one defined by equity, sustainability, and shared prosperity. Workers will have access to stable, quality jobs. Small business owners will operate on a level playing field without sacrificing labor standards. Diners can make informed, values-based choices. A citywide Restaurant Council will serve as a lasting space for relationship-building, collaboration, and accountability.