The Oscars brought attention to #TimesUp and Hollywood’s continuing efforts to abate issues of abuse and harassment. But it’s not the only industry attempting to reconcile with this problem.

The restaurant industry has an abysmal track record when it comes to sexual harassment and assault of women. The past year has seen prominent chefs and restaurateurs including John Besh, Mario Bataliand Ken Friedman accused of harassing and assaulting staff. Chefs whose misbehaviors were well known before the #MeToo movement are being reexamined, such as former James Beard Award winner Paul Qui, who was arrested for domestic assault in 2016.

Detailed by Helen Rosner in The New Yorker, the case of Qui shows the evolution in the conversation over the past year. After his arrest in 2016, Qui closed his namesake Austin restaurant, but soon opened again in the same location under a new name. “The question of whether Qui has redeemed himself lingered in my mind throughout the meals,” wrote Melody Fury in an April of 2017 review of the new space. “When focusing on the food alone, the answer was a resounding ‘yes.’”

Contrast to when Alison Cook recently reviewed Aqui, the latest Paul Qui restaurant, for the Houston Chronicle. In addition to giving the restaurant four-stars, Cook wrote a companion piece longer than the review itself explaining that her review was ultimately, “out of respect to chef de cuisine Gabriel Medina and pastry chef Jillian Bartolome.” Meanwhile, in a newsletter, Eater’s Editor-in Chief Amanda Kludt has since announced that Eater will no longer review restaurants affiliated with anyone with “credible public accusations,” and removed those previously reviewed from its guides and maps.

Restaurants must address the often toxic environment that exists in their kitchens. “The tone in kitchens and in nearly every aspect of the restaurant industry, from chefs and bartenders to sommeliers and management, is antithetical to women’s success,” wrote restaurateur and author Jen Agg in The New Yorker at the time allegations against Besh became public. “When kitchen bros use words like ‘pussy,’ or engage in vulgar banter or make rape jokes, their female colleagues can either be ‘cool girls’ and laugh along, or act offended and be ostracized.”

The bad behavior in restaurants is due in part to the power disparity between staff and management, and between servers and customers—with the withholding of tips. Many servers are women, who are stuck with tolerating bad behavior to protect their livelihood.

One small solution may be allowing servers to be paid standard minimum wages in addition to tips, instead of the sub-minimum wage servers make in most states. Servers in the seven states (AK, CA, MN, MT, NV, OR, WA) that eliminated sub-minimum wages have reported fewer instances of harassment. They are less dependent on gratuities, less vulnerable to harassment, and more likely to report it when it happens. This suggests that an increase of salary is an increase in power: power to fight back and not tolerate harassment.

That’s one small step. Doing more to recognize the work of women in the industry will also be crucial. Prominent food awards have faced criticism for reinforcing the “boys club” nature of the restaurant business. The annual World’s 50 Best Restaurants list featured just three female chefs on its 2017 list, all working in kitchens co-run by men, and not a single restaurant where a woman was the sole proprietor.

The James Beard Foundation recently asked its committee to take the integrity of chefs into account when making nominations for its annual awards, a step so far reflected in the organization’s February 15^thannouncement of award semi-finalists.

“Perhaps this is the silver lining,” Rosner reflects on the restaurant industry’s #MeToo moment. “The culinary world will, I hope, finally be pushed to elevate more women and minorities in an industry that has been historically hostile to both.”

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