The National Restaurant Association rolled out a new national advocacy initiative on September 9, positioning the foodservice industry as one of the most consequential workforce development engines in the country. Called Made in Restaurants, the campaign combines first-person storytelling, economic research, and community outreach to make the case that restaurants do far more than feed people — they build careers, shape skills, and anchor local economies.
The Case in Numbers
The numbers behind the initiative are significant for any operator looking to sharpen recruitment and retention messaging. The restaurant industry generates more than $1.5 trillion in annual sales, accounting for roughly 6% of U.S. GDP, according to NRA research. Sixty-seven percent of U.S. adults have worked in the industry at some point in their lives — a figure the association uses to argue that no other sector has trained more of the American workforce. The industry currently employs 15.7 million people across more than 1 million restaurant and foodservice outlets, making it the nation's second-largest private-sector employer.
"Restaurants are the heart of America," said Michelle Korsmo, President & CEO of the National Restaurant Association. "They are where communities come together, entrepreneurs build businesses that strengthen neighborhoods, millions of people gain skills and experiences that shape their future, and others stay to build careers that last."
Four Pillars, One Message
The initiative is organized around four themes: restaurants as community cornerstones, economic powerhouses, America's training ground, and career catalysts. Each pillar is designed to address a persistent perception gap — that restaurant jobs are transient or low-skill — by spotlighting the leadership and professional development that entry-level roles routinely provide.
The launch campaign, titled "Where I Started," features individuals whose careers — inside or outside hospitality — were shaped by early restaurant experience. Actress and podcaster Beth Behrs is among the first participants, describing how her time as a waitress built skills she still draws on professionally. The association is inviting others to share similar stories through the initiative's platform.
Founding partners include The Coca-Cola Company, DIRECTV for BUSINESS, Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, and Taco John's — a mix of supplier-side and operator voices that gives the campaign cross-industry credibility.
What It Means for Operators
For restaurant operators, the initiative offers practical marketing and recruiting value beyond its advocacy goals. As the industry continues to navigate labor market challenges and workforce retention, a nationally amplified message that reframes restaurant employment as career-building rather than merely transitional could help shift candidate perceptions at the local level. Operators who align their own hiring communications with the Made in Restaurants narrative gain access to a ready-made framework for talking about advancement pathways and workplace culture.
The campaign also arrives as the broader foodservice and hospitality sectors compete for talent against retail, logistics, and gig-economy platforms — industries that have aggressively marketed flexibility and career mobility to younger workers. A coordinated industry-wide rebranding effort, backed by the NRA's reach across 52 state associations, gives individual operators a louder collective voice than any single brand could achieve independently.
More information and story submissions are available at MadeInRestaurants.org.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
