A national survey of restaurant workers illustrates the immense stress that hourly workers are under. The 2026 State of Hourly Restaurant Workers Study paints a stark picture of economic instability within the restaurant workforce.
Consider this finding from the survey: 63% of restaurant workers say they’re constantly or frequently stressed.
“This is a major wake-up call for the entire restaurant industry,” said Tal Clark, the CEO of Instant Financial.
“The people serving our meals every day are, in many cases, unable to afford meals themselves. That signals that something is fundamentally broken.”
Restaurant Staffs Pushed Past Limits
Instant Financial, a fintech company, surveyed 750 hourly restaurant employees, finding a majority of them are under intense financial pressure. The study was conducted in partnership with the Center for Generational Kinetics (CGK).
One especially eye-opening finding: 61% of restaurant workers often skips meals because they can’t afford food.
“The restaurant industry has spent years normalizing levels of stress and exhaustion that would be completely unacceptable in almost any other sector,” chef Isaac Bernal Carbajo told The Food Institute. “Over time, that creates workplaces where employees stop feeling passion and instead simply feel used.
“It’s incredible how many chefs and restaurant workers spend entire shifts barely eating,” added Bernal Carbajo, executive chef of the representation of Spain to the UN.
Leadership Blind Spots
The study also illustrated a disconnect between the foodservice workforce and operators, with a majority of workers saying leadership can’t empathize with what it’s like to live paycheck to paycheck – which 75% of the industry’s employees currently do.
“There’s no denying that low pay is a notoriously big problem for restaurant workers,” said Milos Eric, co-founder of OysterLink. “What we also see across the restaurant community is a vicious cycle – workers leave because other workers have already left.
“The burnout is usually about two things: low pay and chronic understaffing,” Eric told FI.
Financial strain requires restaurant workers to make constant tradeoffs and short-term survival decisions. Workers are forced to make difficult decisions to get by, delaying basic needs like healthcare and utilities, while also struggling to maintain transportation and housing stability.
When faced with unexpected expenses, foodservice employees are most likely to:
- Borrow money from friends or family
- Delay paying bills and accept costly late fees
- Sell their personal belongings
According to a press release, one survey respondent said “I was running low on food and couldn’t drive to the store because I needed gas, so I walked two miles and just bought cheap basics like soup and ramen.”
In the past three months, 79% of hourly restaurant workers have used at least one financial workaround, including payday loans, overdrafts, or credit card advances.
Gen Z Pushes Restaurants Toward Healthier Cultures
The study revealed a disconnect among operators, with 35% of workers saying their employer doesn’t care about their financial well-being.
Of note, 81% of workers feel on-demand pay should be a standard employee benefit.
“The operators I see struggling most are still running people management like a financial transaction,” said hospitality expert Benjamin Smith, founder of IntuitiveStay. “The ones holding onto good staff are treating emotional intelligence as a real skill, something trainable and measurable, not just a personality trait certain people happen to have.”
Industry insiders also feel that restaurants need to offer the following to employees:
- Predictable schedules
- Fair work distribution
- Real breaks
- Nutrition for the staff
- Praise and acknowledgement
“The findings from this study show a workforce under significant financial stress and it is clearly affecting their daily lives,” stated Jason Dorsey, CGK’s president. “ … Restaurant employers should take note and realize their workers are in need of financial solutions that can improve their lives.”
Experts say that younger workers like those in Gen Z value work-life balance and sustainable working conditions more than previous generations and, as a result, are rather comfortable with job-hopping.
“Younger generations are far less willing to tolerate toxic dynamics that were once accepted as simply ‘part of kitchen culture,’” Bernal Carbajo said. “Personally, I don’t think that’s a negative thing at all – in fact, it’s forcing many companies to evolve.”
The Food Institute Podcast
At SIAL Canada 2026 in Montreal, Food Institute VP of Content and Insights Chris Campbell sat down with Mathieu Brisson, Global Sales Lead at Prestige Maple, to discuss how the company is transforming maple products for a rapidly evolving global food and beverage market.
