The restaurant industry strongly  influences or directly impacts some of the biggest issues in American society including obesity and poverty. The obesity issue is being tackled from a variety of angles, including legislation that seeks greater transparency in labeling of calories and ingredients and re-drawing of the Food Pyramid by folks like Dr. Walter Willett from the Harvard School of Public Health.

The poverty issue, on the other hand, is far more insidious. The minimum wage is less than 60-70%, at best, of a living wage. Add to this the widespread practice in some sections of the restaurant industry of not hiring workers for 40 hours or more to avoid paying benefits, forces the poor to take multiple jobs, stay away longer from home, and still not have any health coverage etc. This leaves no time for self-improvement via education, or indeed, not even a decent family life creating other long term social issues.

On the other end of the spectrum are restaurants like the ones listed  on NP Enterprises Forum’s website – a link to social enterprises that provide great food while being socially and/or environmentally responsible.