Without a moment's hesitation, most Bay Area chefs can rattle off the provenance of every tomato or chicken wing that enters the kitchen. But do they know the people who are building their restaurants?
That's one of the points argued by a local carpenters union that has been demonstrating outside high-profile San Francisco restaurants. The controversy also touches on a huge storm looming in the near future for the restaurant industry: How will restaurants - and their slim profit margins - cope with rising labor costs?
In recent weeks, groups representing Carpenters Local Union 22 have congregated outside Tosca Cafe, Amber India and Roka Akor, among others. They have held hours-long "speech actions" with flyers and signs declaring how the restaurant owners are hurting workers and families.
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