Local Bloomington restaurant Feast Market and Cellar’s unexpected shutdown in December calls attention to the working conditions of the food industry.
The closing was due to the fact that 90% of the restaurant’s employees furiously quit, upset by their working standards. Multiple employees reported to The Herald-Times that they had been receiving noticeably lower pay stubs. Owner Mark Kiang told them this was partly due to them stealing food and alcohol from the restaurant, which they report is not the case. Some employees received final checks for less than $1 for two weeks of work.
Kiang admitted to having lowered their wages, because he believed the restaurant needed to be “financially sound,” he said in an interview with Herald-Times. According to the Indiana State Department of Labor, it is legal for an employer to lower the employee’s earnings, as long as it is above Indiana’s minimum wage, and the employer has let the employee know before the wage cut, which doesn’t seem to be what happened here.
Despite it all, Kiang claimed he hopes to reopen in early 2025 after making some changes to the menu and staff.
But this mayhem brings up the question of the working standards of Indiana. The state currently adheres to the federal minimum wage rate – the lowest a state is allowed to set the minimum wage is$7.25/hour. But for tipped employees in the food industry, the minimum wage is set at $2.13/hour.
Additionally, the Indiana House Bill that went into effect January 1, 2025, revised the previous child labor regulations. Teens who are 16 and 17 are allowed to work later and longer hours, and don’t need the previously required parental permission to work past 10 p.m. The bill also eliminated “hazardous workplace protections for those working in agriculture,” according to the 2024 Indiana Labor & Employment Year End Review.
Numerous South students are employed, and that number will only go up once the new Indiana graduation requirements are in effect for the incoming freshman. Optimist checked in with a few of these students to see how they believe they are being treated, specifically those in the food industry.
Junior Kylie Hansen spoke on her time as a server at Bedrak, which recently shut down. She said serving is very “high pressure” and “it’s tough as a high schooler, because it takes a lot of energy.” She relied on tips as she was being paid minimum wage, which led to the topic of the tipping culture of America and how she believes it isn’t great but it’s a cycle that’s “hard to stop.”
Ruby Lowe is a hostess at the new Half Bottle Bistro, and is another junior at South. Lowe stated that, even as a hostess, she is getting paid less than minimum wage and still relies on tips, but she doesn’t make as many tips since she isn’t a server. With this she said, “I feel that if I’m there to do my job I should be paid an actual hourly wage rather than relying on having business to make money.”
Junior Iris Conway works as a food runner and a hostess at Lennie’s. Conway feels her overall time at Lennie’s has been good although food service is still “a difficult job” but says that “everyone should do it once just so they can have that perspective.”
Junior Adam Kinney works as a line cook at Truffles, which is also owned by Kiang. Kinney said, “Mark hasn’t done us wrong at all at Truffles,” and that he hasn’t experienced any of the wage problems they were having at Feast. He also backed Kiang’s previous statement that he was working on reopening Feast by mentioning that the head chef at Truffles is planning and working on the new menu.
