We were saddened to hear this month about the closure of Chef Anita Lo's iconic West Village New York restaurant Annisa. The  beloved restaurant with its inviting atmosphere and imaginative cuisine prepared by one of the industry's most respected chefs will shutter its doors in May due to an issue that countless chefs are grappling with at the moment in our industry. 



It was a combination of the rising minimum wage as well as an increase in rent that first posed a challenge for the chef and her team. This, coupled with Lo's commitment to provide her kitchen staff with a living wage is why she decided to eliminate tipping last year in order to counter the imbalance in earnings between the front of the house and back of the house. Annisa's menu prices were raised to supplement the increased pay for all of Lo's employees but this move resulted in a 25% decrease in diners which left the chef no choice but to make the painful decision to close her doors. 

The living wage issue is one that is universally shared by many chefs and restaurant owners in America right now. Annisa is one more unfortunate example of what happens when a resolution can't be found that satisfies both the staff and the guest. 



At our Roots Conference this year, one of our panels is entitled: Nuts and Bolts: Fresh Ideas for Managing Labor Laws, Tipping, Minimum Wage, Insurance and Staff Shortages.  We will discuss with chefs and restaurant owners, including Michael Muser from Chicago's Grace what they are doing to solve these problems in order to ensure the success of their establishments. The goal of this panel is to provide tangible, real world solutions that Roots attendees can carry back with them to their own restaurants.



It is heartbreaking to see restaurants like Annisa close as a result of living wage issues. We are hoping that our discussion at Roots affords answers to the mounting issues chefs face on a daily basis and helps distance them from the fate of extraordinary restaurants like Annisa.