How to Celebrate National Restaurant Workers Day 2022

There’s nowhere in the world like restaurants. 

They’re places we go to be together, to experience different cultures, to feel cared for. And while every restaurant offers its own unique experience, each one relies on its workers: the welcoming, carefully choreographed group of people who make it all happen.

Today, December 14, 2022, BentoBox is proud to kick off National Restaurant Workers Day to honor the people who deliver hospitality day in, day out. Below, we’ve curated a few resources to help restaurant owners and diners alike contribute to the day’s events.


Scroll down to see:

• How to set up a Custom Fee (for BentoBox customers)

• A selected list of restaurant industry nonprofits

• National Restaurant Workers Day buzz

How to set up a Custom Fee on BentoBox

Setting up a Custom Fee is a great way to collect critical resources on behalf of your employees If you’re a BentoBox customer using any of the following: Online Ordering, Dine-In Order & Pay, Events Management and/or Pre-Order & Catering. Click here to learn how to set up a Custom Fee on BentoBox. 

Custom Fees can be bundled into the general BentoBox fee or separated into a distinctive fee shown to your customers. Think along the lines of an added $0.99 “National Restaurant Workers Day” or a 2% fee called “Employee Relief Fund.”

Best national restaurant employee nonprofits

Listed below are a few notable nonprofits serving workers in the F&B industry across the United States. (Many cities and regions have their own locally-focused food-related nonprofits.)  Whether you’re looking to donate or you need assistance yourself, the below organizations are great places to start.

Southern Smoke

Southern Smoke is a nonprofit started by Chef Chris Shepherd to help his fellow restaurant workers in moments of hardship. This is a fantastic, community-first organization dedicated to caring for its peers in the restaurant industry. Learn more and consider giving to Southern Smoke at southernsmoke.org.

Studio ATAO

Chef Jenny Dorsey’s nonprofit organization seeks to define more equitable standards for the food, beverage, and hospitality industry. Equal parts think tank, advocacy group and educational resource, Studio ATAO does admirable work promoting social justice in the industry. You can read our interview with them here, and donate at studioatao.org.

Restaurant Workers’ Community Fund

This group epitomizes the philosophy of mutual aid that undergirds many restaurant nonprofits. Founded by restaurant workers for restaurant workers, this organization advocates for employees in important areas such as wage fairness, eliminating sex-based abuse; racial justice, support for immigrant workers, mental health and substance abuse. Learn more about RWCF at restaurantworkerscf.org.

USBG National Charity Foundation

The charitable arm of the US Bartenders’ Guild is dedicated to a proposition worded starkly on their homepage: How can bartenders get out of this industry alive — with their health, a little money and sanity intact? Towards that end, the USBG Foundation serves this goal with programs ranging from wellness education to emergency hardship grants for bartenders in need. Learn more at usbgfoundation.org.

ROC United

Restaurant Opportunities Centers United claims to be the longest-running worker-led nonprofit organization in the restaurant industry. Founded to help displaced New York City restaurant workers in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, ROC United today fights for better workplace conditions. Issues like wage theft, sexism and racism, and poverty in the workforce are at the forefront for this organization. Learn more at rocunited.org.

Family-centric restaurant nonprofits

The Abundance Setting and Children of Restaurant Employees (CORE) are two fantastic nonprofits focused on providing care and assistance to families — especially mothers — working in the restaurant industry. The Abundance Setting’s mission focuses on helping working mothers in the hospitality industry maintain their careers and home lives, while CORE’s grants go to restaurant families in times of hardship.