Are Black Workers Being Hired In The Fast Food Industry Anymore?

by Betty Jean Grant

About a month ago, this writer stopped at the McDonald’s Restaurant on East Utica St. to grab something to eat. As I was eating my lunch. I noticed that all the workers that I could see, including those working in prepping the sandwich making were young Asian women. I thought that it was cute to have a restaurant staffed with only women until I realized that the East Utica St. McDonald’s has a high African American customer base, yet no person of African origins was working that particular shift.

Betty Jean Grant

Put that situation down to being a fluke until I visited the restaurant again, a few weeks later and although there was a black female working, the majority of the workers that day were still young women of Asian ancestry. I thought it was odd that a restaurant in the heart of the Eastside that had hired young black men and women as its primary source of employees for decades, seemed not to be in the business of hiring black worker, anymore.

This week, during one of my daily travels over to my grandsons’ home, I stopped by the restaurant again and was surprised to see that on this particular day, most if not all of the workers, seemed to be Latinx/Latin descent. No one in the restaurant was speaking English and everyone was communicating in Spanish. I felt kind of funny because it was strange to hear a language other than English or Arabic being spoken inside of an Eastside eatery.

While I waited for my food to be prepared, I took a look around the room. In one corner, there was a large, framed photo of employees from the restaurant who have been awarded scholarships, one specific year to further their education. I was absolutely stunned to see that out of about 40 or more awardees so honored, only 4 photos depicted young, African Americans. Twenty years ago, if such a reward for achievement program existed, my bet would be that at 40 of those slots would have had young black faces smiling at us in the framed picture.

I am saying this to say that it is not just the East Utica St. McDonald’s where there are no or just a few black workers; it is all of the fast food joints, Dollar General, Family Dollar, Walmart and all of the non African American owned supermarkets and stores on the Eastside of Buffalo.

A few years ago, I would have said that jobs would be plentiful for young, black youths because it will be a long time before AI replaces them. That is not the case anymore because employers are now hiring eager workers with different accents but who are courteous, respectful, have no bad attitude and are grateful for their jobs. Employers do not have to settle for an obnoxious or rude worker anymore and they know that if they have to fire a disorderly employee, five or more applicants are already lined up to take their place.