ROC United to open worker-owned restaurant downtown

Michigan's Restaurant Opportunity Center (ROC) is in the final stages of signing a lease for a worker-owned restaurant and training center that will open later this year in Downtown Detroit. The non-profit organization's membership works to improve working conditions and opportunities for advancement in the restaurant industry.

The restaurant, COLORS, will be ROC's second such facility nationwide -- the first was instituted in New York City in 2006. The non-profit, worker-owned eatery functions as a training center during the day, with an estimated 100 to 150 low-income restaurant workers benefiting per year.

The restaurant industry is one of the private sector's fastest-growing industries, but some workers -- often those of color and immigrants -- struggle to earn a living wage. "We can promote a better opportunity for people who are working hard to make a future for themselves in the restaurant industry, to make sure that their future is a bright one," says Minsu Longiaru, ROC Michigan's coordinator. "Organizations like ROC and COLORS are really meant to bridge that divide."

In terms of culinary offerings, Longiaru characterizes COLORS as a "farm-to-table restaurant," with an emphasis on locally sourced goods. "We want to support the growing grassroots food justice and urban agriculture movements," she says. "We certainly hope that this restaurant here will really be a community space where people from all walks of life (gather)."

With lease negotiations ongoing, Longiaru declined to identify a specific location for COLORS at this time.

Source: Minsu Longiaru, ROC-United Michigan
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh