Restaurant Revitalization Program Spotlights: La Morada
To help restaurant workers and restaurants that were hard hit by COVID-19, New York City launched the Restaurant Revitalization Program (RRP). To date, through the program, over 440 employees have been hired or brought back to their jobs and over 150,000 free or low-cost meals have been provided to people in need.
RRP was designed to promote equity at the same time as it helped restaurants recover. When restaurants accepted the City’s nearly $3 million (from NYC Opportunity and the Mayor’s Fund to Advance NYC) RRP funds, they committed to incorporating equity principles for hiring and employment into their workplaces, to feeding those in need in their community, and to raising their minimum wage for tipped workers to $15 per hour. RRP’s approach recognizes that building resilient community businesses goes hand in hand with breaking down race and gender inequities.
The Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity is happy to share this second post in a series highlighting the impact of RRP and the hardworking people behind its success. (You can read the first post here.) This post features a conversation with Yajaira Saavedra, manager at La Morada, a restaurant in the South Bronx specializing in Oaxacan cuisine, which has featured a lending library and a Poet in Residence in the past. Yajaira spoke with us about advocacy for the South Bronx community and family-owned businesses at large, as well as La Morada’s experience with RRP.
Our conversation (edited for brevity) is below.
La Morada
“La Morada has always been a place for activists; we started with those values as undocumented and indigenous people.”
Could you tell us a little bit about the history of La Morada?
La Morada opened in 2009 during the last economic crisis. It was established in the South Bronx with the goal of creating a place of refuge for our neighbors. We serve well-recognized indigenous Oaxacan food, and have been recognized by many newspapers across the United States and abroad. La Morada has always been a place for activists; we started with those values as undocumented and indigenous people. For example, at the beginning of COVID-19, La Morada used Go Fund Me to raise funds from and for the community. [We] put these funds towards a soup kitchen operated out of the restaurant.
Can you tell us how RRP has impacted the operations of La Morada during the pandemic?
It helped . . . However, we weren’t going to be able to actually benefit from RRP if it wasn’t for the fact that we had enough money to invest to cover payroll and get reimbursed. It was the community who came through to help us.
How has RRP impacted La Morada’s ability to retain and hire employees?
With employees, we have sustained our employees and have offered hazard pay through the RRP program, because that’s the right thing to do during this pandemic crisis. Thanks to RRP we are able to provide hazard pay to everybody on our team. I just wish RRP had the same amount of funds as the New York Police Department . . . because I feel like the city could do a lot more.
High Road Restaurant Practices
“We have a great retention rate, we always include our employees in our decision making, and we always make sure to put our community before our profits.”
Can you talk a bit about La Morada’s commitment to high road restaurant practices?
La Morada restaurant is owned by an indigenous woman of color, we are led by a female chef, and the restaurant industry is mainly run by male chefs, so our hiring practices have been to make sure people of color, specifically women of color, have priority in the hiring process. We have a great retention rate, we make sure to always include our employees in any actions and we always make sure to put our community before our profits. We are continuing paying our staff at $20/hour; everyone has a flat rate including anyone hired. Right now this includes hazard pay, but we are going to continue making that our main pay.
What has been your experience providing low-cost and free meals to the community?
The South Bronx is one of the poorest Congressional districts in NYC [and the nation — eds] and we also have one of the highest asthma rates. . . . However we are left out from [receiving] any major resources including the USDA truck, who finally after a year of the pandemic decided to bring food to the South Bronx. We are the borough that is often being left out of any major resources that the city or the federal government has to offer. I just feel that the soup kitchen has been working through mutual aid in saying “we are going to be saving ourselves, through community effort” run by volunteers, run by people of the community through mutual aid because we just got tired of waiting for resources that come late, if they come.
What have employees shared regarding their experience of working at La Morada?
From the employees’ side, it’s more of a relief to know that no matter what we are sticking together, and to know that no matter what, my parents, who own the restaurant, and myself are constantly here with them. We were very vocal about getting the COVID vaccine to restaurant workers and we continue fighting together. We’re all on the same page and have the same voice, making sure there’s no hierarchy and making sure the resources are equally distributed amongst everybody that works and volunteers at La Morada.
Have new staff been brought on since the outbreak of COVID-19?
Yes, we had volunteers, mainly high school students and also college students who were home due to the pandemic. From volunteers, they were hired on as part-time staff and they’ve been with us since the beginning of the pandemic. These students are between the ages of 16–21.
The Restaurant Industry After COVID
“I think that the RRP program and bringing a pay raise to the minimum wage is a good start to what the restaurant industry should and can be doing.”
How do you see the future of the restaurant industry in NYC going forward?
I think that the RRP program and bringing a pay raise to the minimum wage, it’s a good start to what the restaurant industry should and can be doing. If a small undocumented restaurant is able to provide a fair living wage to their staff, then there’s no reason why fine diners and catering companies that are world-known and have million-dollar budgets don’t provide a living wage to their employees. I think that the small family-owned restaurants are the beating heart of New York City and therefore should be prioritized over any major catering company or fine dining. That’s a change I hope to see once the city reopens.
Will you be continuing with RRP going forward in the next round of funding?
Yes. We hope that the RRP gets more money allocated because it’s an important program and a much-needed program for the safety and revitalization of NYC.
[Note: This interview was conducted in March 2021. In April 2021, RRP restaurants were eligible for $15,000 in expansion funds to support worker wages. In total, 62 of the original 68 RRP restaurants applied for and received expansion funds.]
How do you personally remain resilient and what gives you hope in terms of the pandemic but also some of the other issues you’ve described?
I remain resilient because there’s no other option. As an indigenous woman working in the restaurant industry, there’s no other option. We’ve always been left out — you can call it resilience or stubbornness, we keep on demanding humane treatment because there’s no way we could go any lower.
If you would like to learn more about La Morada and the work they are doing to help out their local community during the pandemic, you can visit their website here.
