Table 2.

Summary of themes generated from semi-structured interviews.

Themes	Subthemes with Corresponding Excerpts (Participant Race/Ethnicity, Gender, Position)
Community and Social Outlet	The workplace as a social outlet and support system “It just actually created more of a community. And whenever I would get frustrated with my own family, I would be able to talk to my coworkers who were affected in the same way.” (Black, Female, Bartender) “Employees, and I’ve got a really cool crew to work with. Hours, they’re okay, money’s alright. It’s just part time, so. It’s really just the atmosphere, it’s kind of family oriented, people look out for each other, and it’s fun. Work isn’t always work.” (Multiracial, Male, Server) The industry as a whole was affected by the pandemic “We were the first to lose our jobs. We’re gonna be the last to get them back.” (Black, Female, Server) “[I]t was definitely a challenge because everyone was unemployed, and there’s not really anything you can do, necessarily, to get a different job, ‘cause all the restaurants are shut down. But then, at the same time, it potentially made it a little bit easier for unemployment and stuff, because there’s not really the option to work. And even if you are looking for work, it’s just not out there.” (White, Female, Server) Stress related to loss of community “[I]t was really difficult at first, you know, not having that connection and being able to see those people.” (Asian, Female, Server) “I wanna be leaving the house, I wanna be around, you know, the people that I work with, you know, I miss my regulars.” So the social part of it, I think, is like a driving force for me to want to go back to work.” (Multiracial, Female, Server)
Ethical Responsibility of the Restaurants	Steps to protect employees from the COVID-19 virus “I think it’s easier for there to be a consistent protocol. So every restaurant kind of has to follow the same guidelines I think that’s helpful, but I feel like most places and people that work there are doing everything they’re supposed to do.” (White, Female, Bartender) “I think if everybody had a distinct enforced rule and everyone, every single restaurant, every single bar followed this law, there could be a chance at it working, but no one’s enforcing these.” (White, Male, Bartender) Transparency and communication about standard operating procedures “[T]he ones I’ve seen that break the rules, they’re just trying to get their money back up to the way it was, and they don’t really care about wellbeing as much.” (LatinX, Male, Server) “And so our owners were like informing us, sending us news articles and all this stuff. And then just kind of like sharing like a general kind of like what the fuck is happening kind of situation like with people. How to share like kind of like the burden of like trying to comprehend what is the future, what’s going to happen.” (Asian, Male, Server) Job protections and support from management and restaurants owners “[I]t’s so easy to, like, fire people or lay them off in the restaurant industry… [Y]ou can just let go of your staff and then hire a whole new one, if you wanted to. So I don’t know, that just seems a little wrong, but I don’t know how to fix that.” (White, Female, Server/Bartender) Policies related to customer interactions “I think the focus is on protecting customers, and I think that’s just, like, a cultural thing in a lot of service industry, like, a lot of different bars and restaurants.” (Multiracial, Female, Server) “There’s certain rules that we enforce, and that’s part of what adds more to my duties and to the stress. It’s a lot more stress, policing people when they come in.” (Black, Male, Manager)
Pandemic Related Health Concerns	Fear and anxiety of being exposed to the COVID-19 virus through work “And like for a lot of us to it’s like if we get sick, what are we supposed to do? Like we can’t go to work then, we can’t work from home. It’s like, yeah, you literally are just out of a job again. And so I know like that’s like a concern even like for me like I don’t want to get sick and then not be able to work. Because then I’m not making money.” (Asian, Male, Server) Stress while working as essential workers “We’ve had some struggles. I’ve had some people literally want to fight me, because I told them you can’t come in here like that. And they get so frustrated. So everything that happens like that, it comes back and affects you.” (Black, Male, Manager) “Man when everybody else was down we were up, we were the ones that was doing everything, making sure everything got across the board. There was, there was no COVID relief funds for us. There was no health benefits for us. There was no up-raise and pay rate or salary.” (Black, Male, Server) “Essential workers, yeah, we’re essential if like no thank you, no pat on the back, like for real. Let me feel like I’m taken care of. Give me pride, give me assistance to do my job better. I gave my best.” (Black, Female, Server)
Wage and Hour, Benefits, and Paid Time off	Pay scale including tipped wage and policies around pay “It just shows you how shitty the pay is if you can make more in unemployment.” (White, Male, Line Cook) “Because that’s one of the things like with tipped wages like a lot of the time your experience does give you an edge and does end up increasing your wages naturally. But if you were to move away from a tipped structure and you would need to see that reflected still like you would in other jobs.” (White, Female, Server) “Yeah, the financial security that was already kind of iffy being a bartender/server, ‘cause if you had a good night, you made money. If you had a bad night–so you never quite you could gauge what you would kind of make in a week.” (Asian, Male, Server) Lack of consistency in pay and hours in general but also due to the impact of the pandemic “I’m doing more jobs than before, and less hours and less pay, still, you know, we have the place open.” (LatinX, Female, Executive Chef) “Because there’s so many hands in the pot and because people are so overworked, there’s no way that we can go back and try to, on top of all our duties, be janitors or just sanitize everything.” (Black, Female, Server) Financial insecurity due to changes in hours, layoffs, and fear about losing job “So some other friends that are going back to work have told me how they’ve worked the same shift and only made $100.00 where they used to make $500.00 or $600.00.” (White, Male, Bartender) Lack of benefits such as employer-sponsored health insurance, sick days, and paid time off “[E]veryone should have health insurance, I think that should never be like a concern. So I think especially in the restaurant industry too, I think that’s so crucial. Because it’s such a hard industry in general and I feel like sometimes it can become like toxic in like mental, emotional, physical ways. Like no one should be coming into work sick because they’re worried about like not being able to pay their bills, so.” (White, Female, Food Prep) “No one should have to feel the pressure of having to come to work sick or to not–to miss work just because not do things because they have to go to work, essentially thing. So I want to see that change.” (Black, Female, Server)
Thoughts of the Future	Unclear future in the short term with reduced staffing and closures “And also I’d say the uncertainty and the back-and-forth of like, “Okay well we’re going to open now” and then we’re not and now we’re like half-open and now we’re back to not open.” (White, Female, Bartender) “Well now, this is like the new normal. So this is the new baseline. And we don’t know where it’s going to go.” (Black, Male, Manager) Returning to the restaurant industry in general “I’m like I’m just surviving, I’m not thriving. I don’t have insurance, I don’t have like job security. [I]f it’s slow I could be sent home. I could like go to work and maybe make money or not make money. Who wants to do that? I think I’m maybe a little past it all, maybe time to look into the next steps for sure.” (Black, Female, Server) ““[Y]ou realize that you don’t have a job. That line of work can’t function unless people can be social…I mean, after all this, if I could find another job, I would love to just stop bartending ‘cause I don’t see it ever coming back to what it kind of was, at least not for a year or longer.” (White, Male, Bartender) Returning to the restaurant industry during the COVID-19 pandemic “[I] also now may not go back to working in the restaurant industry because I don’t personally feel comfortable with restaurants being open and like outdoor seating happening. Just because you are putting yourself at risk and like servers especially, I, yeah, I don’t know. I kind of find it crazy that people are like back to serving.” (White, Female, Food Preparation) “I am more likely to go back. Before the pandemic, I was thinking about quitting, but after this, and not knowing how another future employer might handle it, not knowing what’s going to happen with the coronavirus itself, I believe in what they’re doing and they’ve shown up so far.” (Black, Female, Bartender/Server) Receiving support from the government and concern about the loss of safety nets and changes to entitlements “Financially, I’m okay right now, because I was able to get unemployment. If I didn’t have unemployment, I would not be doing great right now.” (LatinX, Male, Server) “And I’m super thankful for the extra 600.00 bucks a week, but really scared ‘cause I’m not gonna be able to afford rent or really anything at the end of the month if this expires.” (Black, Female, Server)