Tartine has not been the first nor will it be the last food industry team to seek unionization. Their team itself was inspired by their neighbors Anchor Steam Brewing, who joined the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in 2019 (the same union with which Tartine is organizing) after their brewery began to cut back on benefits, from the amount of time allotted for lunch to slashed health benefits, and was bought by Japanese brand Sapporo. Bacchanal, a wine bar in New Orleans, went through a protracted and ultimately unsuccessful union battle in 2017 . In the days when dining was more formal and going out for a meal was less commonplace, restaurant unions were the norm because the jobs were understood to be career-long. It’s less common now for foodservice workers outside of hotels, stadiums, and larger catering operations to be unionized. These jobs are treated as temporary and are often part-time, considered “unskilled labor” — an absolute misnomer. Because of the widespread tipping practice in the U.S., many of these jobs require a high level of emotional labor despite this payment structure being a ripe foundation for race, class, and gender discrimination.