The New Hospitality

- AN EXPLORATORY TRANS-MEDIA PROJECT -

HOSPITALITY IS ON THE VERGE OF A REVOLUTION. Since March 2019, when the COVID-19 pandemic reared its ugly head, America’s restaurant industry has been decimated. Food businesses shuttered at sky high rates, and government regulations fluctuated month-to-month. Takeout and delivery have become both lifelines and stop-gap measures without any prolonged, meaningful support from the government. The result: major chain restaurants thrive at the expense of small establishments, and the remaining restaurant workers who risk their lives everyday to serve and feed are disproportionately black, brown, working-class, queer, or undocumented.

“THE NEW HOSPITALITY” is an exploratory media project that aims to document what resilience, creativity, and justice looks like for an industry in crisis. What does “feeding” and “serving” look like for a community, a neighborhood, a chef, or a worker? How are folks at all of these levels thinking about a better path forward? Through photography, podcasting, and video work, “THE NEW HOSPITALITY” looks to explore all of these questions.

#PHOTOSERIES

Argyle: A Changing Food Community

ARGYLE is a vibrant Chicago neighborhood full of color and life, and it’s been home to many East Asian immigrant communities, especially to Vietnamese Americans who landed in the U.S. after the Vietnam war concluded. Food and foodservice have always been vital to Argyle; restaurants and grocery stores line every block and intersection, and the neighborhood relies on this bustling food scene to bring people into the community. This dependency on foodservice, unfortunately, also means that Argyle has been massively impacted by the pandemic. Many restaurants – decades-old community strongholds – have since shuttered, and hungry tourists frequent Argyle no longer. This makes Argyle the perfect setting for my photo story, which aims to capture through the “lens” of food what resilience and adaption looks like.

#PODCAST

“Broken Table:” A Conversation with Chef Jennifer Kim

“BROKEN TABLE” is a speculative podcast series that aims to gather creative, justice-oriented voices within the hospitality industry to imagine a better path forward. “Broken Table” starts with the baseline assumptions that our current restaurant industry is flawed and oppressive, and that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought out the best and the worst in us all. Our pilot episode features Jennifer Kim, a Chicago-based chef and founder of the Alternative Economy collective.

#SHORTFILM

“The Feed”

Out of work and down on his luck, a former restaurant line cook embarks on a viral journey to turn his life around: that is, by becoming a TikTok content creator.