Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics pp 1–8Cite as

Restaurant Workers

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

  • 85 Accesses

Synonyms

Chefs; Cooks; Food service workers; Food workers; Servers; Waiters

Introduction

Restaurant workers include a diverse group of occupations and jobs that contribute to the operations of a restaurant. While tasks and occupational demands vary according to each specific position, there are issues that are shared among all workers. These issues include low pay, long hours, occupational and safety hazards, recognition for their services, and representation in the wider workforce.

Background

Restaurant workers are classified as individuals who work within the wider leisure and hospitality industry at the site of a restaurant. What constitutes a restaurant is open to interpretation. Broadly speaking, a restaurant is an eating place where meals are served to customers. Depending on the interpretation, there have been different dates named as the establishment of the first restaurants.

However, the founding of what many consider to be the modern ideal of a restaurant is dated to...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Bell, D., & Valentine, G. (1997). Consuming geographies: We are where we eat. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cobble, D. (1992). Dishing it out: Waitresses and their unions in the twentieth century. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fine, G. A. (1996). Kitchens: The culture of restaurant work. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jayaraman, S. (2013). Behind the kitchen door. Ithaca: ILR Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paules, G. (1991). Dishing it out: Power and resistance among waitresses in a New Jersey restaurant. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rousseau, S. (2012). Food media: Celebrity chefs and the politics of everyday interference. London: Berg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spang, R. L. (2000). The invention of the restaurant: Paris and modern gastronomic culture. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trubek, A. B. (2000). Haute cuisine: How the French invented the culinary profession. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zukin, S. (1995). The cultures of cities. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Liberal Arts Department, The Culinary Institute of America, 1946 Campus Drive, Hyde Park, NY, 12538, USA

    Dr. Willa Zhen

Authors
  1. Dr. Willa Zhen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Willa Zhen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Michigan State University Dept. Philosophy, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

    Paul B. Thompson

  2. University of North Texas Dept. Philosophy & Religion Studies, Denton, Texas, USA

    David M. Kaplan

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this entry

Cite this entry

Zhen, W. (2013). Restaurant Workers. In: Thompson, P., Kaplan, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6167-4_409-2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6167-4_409-2

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6167-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation