Newswise — The Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi, in partnership with the Council of Independent Restaurants of America and the James Beard Foundation, is coordinating a job bank for restaurant workers displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
"The basic idea is that many people who are displaced by the storm are line cooks, waiters, busboys and bartenders," said John T. Edge, director of SFA. "These people don't have a deep well of savings and need jobs now."
A Web site has been constructed for restaurants and hotels in other parts of the country to post jobs, as well as offers of help with moving expenses and preliminary housing. Job offers are posted at http://www.cirajobs.com/ and anyone can view jobs online. To post a job offer to the site, see http://www.southernfoodways.com for user ID and password.
"I have heard so many people talk about how the restaurant industry pulled together after 9/11, and we want to do everything we can to help our fellow restaurateurs on the Gulf Coast," said Edna Morris, executive director of the James Beard Foundation in New York. "It is important to see the commitment of so many people in the food and wine world."
According to Edge, SFA is acting as a conduit of information to help people respond to the storm. "We asked Louisiana members of the SFA and the James Beard Foundation what was needed, and they said people need help finding jobs," he said.
To help with this task, volunteers from SFA and the James Beard Foundation are calling more than 1,000 restaurants. So far, restaurants in 20 states have posted requests, including the Sansom Street Oyster House in Philadelphia, Pa., which seeks oyster shuckers; Mission Burritos in Houston, Texas, which is looking for burrito rollers; and Bottega in Birmingham, Ala., in need of waiters. Line cooks, prep cooks, servers and hosts are among the other available jobs, and Edge said he expects the number to grow in the next few weeks as the project gains momentum.
"It's really just getting started. This should build as the days go on," Edge said. For more information, visit http://www.cirajobs.com or http://www.southernfoodways.com.
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