“Who Takes Care of Us?” A Candid Discussion About Mental Health in the Hospitality Industry

In an industry focused on creating welcoming environments and positive experiences for guests, the question “Who takes care of us?” acutely highlights hospitality workers’ needs for mental health support and resources. Southern Smoke Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting food and beverage workers, used this prompt for an intimate roundtable discussion with Yeshiva University and ROAR (Relief Opportunities for All Restaurants).

The event, which was presented by Resy and American Express, took place at The Raines Law Room at The William in New York City, bringing in a wide range of hospitality leaders and passionate advocates for creating healthier workplaces.
Moderated by Noah Rothbaum, head of cocktail and spirits at Flaviar, the panelists took a deep dive into the mental health crisis and efforts to combat it in the restaurant world. Here’s what they had to say.

Leading with Transparency and Compassion

According to Billy Durney, James Beard Award nominee and owner of Hometown BBQ and Red Hook Tavern, “No one was talking about mental health problems,” back in 2018. He recalls approaching Chris Shepherd, the founding director of Southern Smoke Foundation, and saying, “Hey, I’m just going to lay it out there. I suffer from anxiety and depression – mental health problems – and I’m going to talk to the chefs.”

Once he did, the floodgates opened. “Every chef in that room came to me privately and expressed their issues,” Durney said, reflecting on the conversation.

A year later, he found himself still having mental health–related conversations with those chefs. Durney said that opened his eyes to a mental health crisis in the industry.

“I never saw it that way because I was in my own problems,” he said. “In our restaurants, we talk about how people are feeling. You’re normally not supposed to talk about your feelings, but we make it very clear within our organization that the guy at the top has more problems than them, and I’m here to talk about it.”

Durney says the main question he asks himself is: How he can be more helpful? He elaborated, saying, “How can we, as leaders within our community, do more and be more impactful? Just like I was impacted that day by sharing my story, now all those chefs I talked to are sharing their story.”

Making Mental Health Resources Available

In July 2020, Southern Smoke launched the pilot of Behind You, a no-cost mental health program for food and beverage workers and their children. This initial program began in Texas in partnership with the University of Houston, serving as a blueprint for the nonprofit’s future initiatives and efforts. Now, Behind You provides grants to universities in exchange for providing no-cost counseling for food and beverage workers.

“We need to make sure that we have the roadmap [for Behind You] built in each state,” Shepherd said. “This program is going to be going long after I’m gone because it’s always going to be needed, so we have to build that path of success instead of just throwing it all at one thing and see what sticks.”

“We offer as many languages as we possibly can,” Cat Bill, chief mission officer of Southern Smoke Foundation, said. “[It] just depends on what clinicians and what is available for the university, but we’re always trying to find ways to make it work.”

Southern Smoke offers telehealth in an effort to make mental health resources more accessible to people who work in the restaurant industry. “If you can’t get across town because you’re working a double, you can take advantage of telehealth,” Bill pointed out.

Fostering a Community

In April 2020, a group of friends who work in the hospitality industry started ROAR. They were eager to figure out ways to support industry workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. At first, they assumed cash would be the most urgent need, but they quickly learned that employee mental health was the top concern.

Sean Feeney, co-founder of ROAR, remembered the group’s initial impact. “People were talking every day—for the first time ever really—honestly and vulnerably communicating with each other about the challenges the industry faces or they face.”

Feeney said it was important for the team to continue the work, even after employees were allowed to go back to work. “Since then, we’ve just figured out ways to help where restaurant team members need support the most, whether it’s through financial literacy, mental health or fitness,” he said. “Our dream—and all of our dreams—should be to create a reality where people in our industry, every single person in our industry, is able to get access to the support that they need.”

Our dream—and all of our dreams—should be to create a reality where people in our industry, every single person in our industry, is able to get access to the support that they need. — Sean Feeney

Addressing Needs Reliably and Consistently

“We deal with people that aren’t [feeling] so good, you know, and they’re allowed to not be [feeling] so good when they come up and see us,” said Dr. William Salton, clinical professor of psychology at Yeshiva University. “Because although we’re partnered with Southern Smoke, [their employers] won’t know what’s going on. It’s confidential. They get 20 sessions, and they can talk about whatever they want.

“Being in therapy is a pain in the butt because you’ve got to look at all these things about yourself that you don’t like, and it’s much easier to cover it up,” Dr. Salton said. “But I can tell you that in our program with Southern Smoke, people stick around. They come for one session for the intake, and they want to continue.”

Southern Smoke Foundation’s no-cost mental health program Behind You is currently available to eligible food and beverage workers in participating states.

Learn more about Behind You here.