Congress and the administration are making decisions right now that will impact the workers who keep our restaurants, hotels, vineyards, farms, and bars running.

To the American people,

Over one million jobs in restaurants, bars, and hospitality remain unfilled, putting long standing businesses and livelihoods at risk. When there aren’t enough workers to plant produce, there are no crops in the field. Farms, restaurants, and bars operated by the same families for generations face closure. When hotels cannot staff events, they lose bookings, lay off teams, and face a long road to recovery. When restaurants cannot hire skilled professionals—cooks, servers, bartenders—who have earned their place on our teams, the daily operations and long-term success of our businesses suffer. These are not temporary setbacks– they are lasting losses that unravel communities.

Hospitality is built on relationships—with our neighbors, with local farmers, and especially with our staff. Restaurants and bars connect farms, kitchens, restaurants, hotels, and communities. Overall, the food service industry represents nearly 16 million jobs and $1.5 trillion in revenue. Single location full-service restaurants alone in the US are the 5th largest industry by employment. That means 3% of the U.S. workforce – totaling 3.9 million workers, generating $75 billion in wages in local economies across the U.S. and over $209 billion in revenue. The industry depends on millions of people working together every day to grow, prepare, and serve the meals we all rely on.

Today, this system is under serious strain.

Seventy percent of restaurants and bars operate as single-unit businesses, and nine out of ten have fewer than fifty employees. Sixty-three percent of American adults have worked in the industry at some point. These are not faceless corporations: they are family farms, corner diners, catering teams, dishwashers, prep cooks, servers, hotel staff, bartenders, and truck drivers. Immigrant workers represent 36% of restaurant owners—nearly twice the share found in the broader private sector—and make up over one-fifth of the restaurant workforce, especially in kitchen leadership. Their labor, creativity, and investment are foundational to the industry’s strength.

The shortage is widespread. Fifty-seven percent of restaurant and bar operators say they are understaffed by more than ten percent. Eighty-two percent of employers across the food system are actively hiring. From farms to fine dining, chefs, cooks, bars, and laborers are in high demand—and increasingly hard to find.

When immigrant workers fill gaps in this workforce, it also makes it possible for American workers to keep their own jobs. When a restaurant or bar stays open, servers keep their shifts, managers keep their teams, farms keep their buyers, and supply chains keep moving. Without workers, everyone loses.

Work permits won’t solve every problem. But they are a practical, immediate step that allows willing workers to contribute legally, and gives struggling businesses a fighting chance to stay open. And we know first hand who would benefit from these permits: the bartenders who are closing the bar every night, washing beer glasses and bussing tables after baseball games are turned off. The vineyard workers who come to the vineyards in the dead of the night to pick grapes before they over ripen. The chefs who stay late to close the kitchen, preparing dishes on the menu tomorrow.

If you believe that food should be grown with care in America, handled responsibly, and prepared thoughtfully; if you understand restaurants and bars are the backbone of communities across the country, now is the moment to ask your elected officials to take action on work permits for long-term tax-paying immigrant workers in restaurants and bars, food, vineyards, hotels, and hospitality. The future of our communities depend on it.