Restaurant Recovery

There are 14 million people in the restaurant industry (which makes up about 10% of the US workforce).  We are an economic powerhouse (restaurants contribute nearly $2 trillion to the economy) (NRA) benefitting neighborhoods and communities, as well as well as our country, and there is no other industry quite like ours.

But we need help.

The Problem

According to SAMHSA, the restaurant industry has

• The highest rates of past month illicit drug use (19.1%)
• the highest rates of past year substance use disorder (16.9%)
• the third highest rates of heavy alcohol use (11.8%)

Coupled with that,

• Treatment is extremely cost-prohibitive
• The ACA doesn’t require businesses with fewer than 50 employees to offer health insurance, and 9 out of 10 restaurants have fewer than 50 employees (NRA)
• Most restaurant employees make $11.75/hour (BLS)

Which means that nearly 2 million of our people are struggling with mental health issues and we are not providing them with the resources they need. We are losing our teams to and in addiction, and it’s time to help our industry heal.

The Solution:

Restaurant Recovery aims to fill this gap. We have four main areas of focus:

• assessments and treatment for restaurant workers who are looking for help
• supporting family members during this process
• providing a sober support network for people once they have returned from treatment
• restaurant education and outreach