Rough Riding

“A dirty little secret” that needs exposure is not something of which the industry can be proud.

By Patricia B. Dailey, Editor-in-Chief -- Restaurants & Institutions, 4/15/2007

However they’re added up and arrived at, salaries generally stand as universally understood shorthand, a cash-based way of measuring success, worth and value—to a company and, for the status- and money-conscious, to society at large.

Viewed with dollar signs attached to their names and ranks, CEOs with seven-figure incomes and tall stacks of stock options come out looking pretty good; bicycle-riding restaurant delivery employees who might be paid no more than $1.60 an hour, not so much.

Other than in a few dense urban settings, meals delivered on two wheels are just this side of nonexistent, the man-powered method out of synch with modern-day demands of speed and motorized efficiency. But in New York City, that great anomaly on the East Coast, it somehow works to have a huge corps of bike riders coursing the streets with phoned-in food orders. Whether it’s lunch delivered to a cramped office or dinner to the penthouse suite, the city remains well-fed, due at least in some measure to this mostly outmoded practice.

Last month, the 36-person delivery team of two Vietnamese restaurants was locked out after indicating to the owners their intention to unionize. In the wake of heavy media coverage of these idled bicyclists, boycotts, pickets and lawsuits have ensued, along with renewed dialogue around the minimum wage, putting out in full view the sweatshop nature of it all.

By many accounts, the restaurants at the center of this story are both good and prosperous. Zagat rates them at 23 out of 30 points while it has been reported that the two units have monthly revenue of $2 million. A sizeable portion of business is from carryout and delivered meals; one of the units, on the city’s Upper West Side, is said to augment eat-in business with 700 delivered meals each day, the bulk of them dispatched by bike.

Despite the business success, delivery workers felt exploited, putting in 12-hour days and required to purchase and use their own bikes. When something went wrong—say, bad weather that caused delays or muggers that emptied their wallets of the restaurant’s cash—they were heavily fined by the owners, the workers allege, the amount deducted from meager salaries.

The arguments for and against these workers’ circumstances will play out on a public stage; while some New Yorkers have vowed to get their spring rolls and pho elsewhere, others have dreamed up amounts and figures to calculate the supposedly comfortable salaries the workers must surely earn with tips. But as it does, the restaurant industry—in ways that seem unfortunate and needless—is placed under critical scrutiny. These conditions are "a dirty little secret that needs to get exposed," said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, one of several politicians who has publicly commented on the issue.

Viewed as a whole, the restaurant industry is strong, vibrant and equitable in its practices. Anything, including questionable treatment of its workers, that refutes or rebuts that image should assiduously be avoided. Using fairness and an unerring sense of honor to guide decisions about employees is an important first step.