Kathryn Garcia Q&A

Kathryn Garcia
Kathryn Garcia, Mayoral Candidate, City of New York (Photo courtesy of kgfornyc.com)
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In our 30 years of publishing Total Food Service, we have tried to stay apolitical. However, with the overwhelming impact of Covid-19 in 2020, we are focused on what this industry is going to look like when New York City comes back to life. From the return of tourists and business travelers to the re-opening of hotels and Broadway’s theatres, it’s all about the reweaving of a tapestry in which every sector is dependent on every other segment.

In each case, the City’s restaurant community is directly impacted by every government decision that is going to be made in the next four years. Many of those decisions and the vision for where New York City is headed will be guided by its next Mayor. With that in mind, we have set out to chat with some of the leading candidates for the post, to get their sense of commitment to the restaurant industry.

Kathryn Garcia brings an extraordinary track record of success and passion for the City while working in key positions for both Mayor Michael Bloomberg and then Mayor Bill de Blasio. She served as Commissioner of the NYC Department of Sanitation, Chief Operating Officer of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, Emergency Food Czar during the Covid-19 pandemic, and now she is a leading candidate for NYC mayor.

Garcia brings a unique perspective to foodservice and restaurant professionals after having to take a deep dive into the intricacies of the industry and how they relate to the city as a whole. After witnessing first-hand the ways in which the city and the food supply are interrelated, Kathryn Garcia shares how foodservice professionals were repurposed during the pandemic, what is necessary in order to get businesses back open, and provides hope for New York City with her as their leader.


Could you share a little bit about your background?

Certainly. I grew up in Park Slope in Brooklyn. I’ve lived here all of my life and raised my two children here. I even managed to live two whole blocks from my mother!

What got you interested in public service?

When I was growing up both of my parents worked in public service and really instilled in me the need to do something with my life that was about giving back. They also emphasized the need to be mission-driven in what you’re doing in order to find fulfillment in it.

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We met you over three years ago, you were the City Sanitation Director at the time. What did you learn about the foodservice industry from being in that position?

One of the things I was very open to when I was working at the Department of Sanitation was collaboration. I realized that there were all of these people that could be stakeholders in sending zero waste to landfills, which was my pursuit at the time. This realization resulted in a very creative partnership with the foodservice industry and the workers it employed. I found that people in the industry cared a lot about food waste and figuring out how to be creative with things that may have otherwise been thrown away. In fact, they were extraordinarily gung-ho about it and also viewed it as a business proposition, understanding that anything thrown away was profit being thrown away.

What’s led to your decision to run for mayor?

During the pandemic it became very clear to me that the city was defunding multiple crises: the public health crisis of Covid-19, financial crisis, economic crisis, and then as we saw over the summer, the crisis of racial strife. When I looked at the field I did not see folks who had the management track to take on what we were facing. I have extensive experience in the field and this is a moment when we need steady hands on the wheel.

Kathryn Garcia
In her role as Emergency Food Czar during the initial months of Covid-19, Kathryn Garcia was hands on; here she helped give out food at the NYCHA Taft Houses, part of the City’s partnership with FreshDirect. (Photo by DSNY Twitter)

You have a unique perspective on the relationship between the city and its’ food supply from working with Mayor de Blasio as the food czar. Talk a little bit about what that experience was like and how it could help you moving forward if you’re elected mayor.

I was given a very broad mandate. The first objective was to make sure no one went hungry, the second was to make sure there was still food on the city’s grocery shelves for those who can afford it. As you can recall, there was a crisis of toilet paper back in the beginning, and that I don’t think anyone predicted. We were able to very quickly put together a delivery system to deliver food to people across the city as well as to shore up our food pantry and to distribute food at public schools. It resulted in a deeper understanding of what the capacities were of both people and institutions within city government. In order to make everything work, you find that you have surprising strengths. For example, the taxi drivers didn’t have work and became our delivery staff during that period. It was a very creative way to repurpose those workers. We also learned how to use technology in order to make sure deliveries happened. It’s also important to engage with advocates and elected folks to make sure you’re hearing their voices. These are the people who often have boots on the ground and need to communicate with you, and I think it made us better and better as we went along. At one point we were delivering over one million meals a day to people all across the city, and thank goodness that actually had dissipated by the time I left. Hopefully, we will not get to that point again. I also learned a tremendous amount about the food industry in New York City as a whole from this experience.

What did you learn about the City’s food industry?

Well, we don’t like to cook fish except for salmon and tilapia in our own kitchens, and we’re not so good with a whole chicken – we like chicken breasts. I really saw the industry transform. You know, restaurants became grocery stores because they could butcher meat, some of the big distributors for restaurants became residential delivery men, overall they were able to pivot incredibly quickly to try to figure out how they could be helpful to people in need.

What role do restaurants play in the City’s economy and psyche?

I think outdoor dining has been amazing, not only for the fact that we’ve all been able to partake in it but also for the fact that we’ve been able to help support people’s livelihoods by supporting those small businesses. One of the things that makes New York City so great is its food scene. If we didn’t all care about food, we simply would live somewhere else. The industry drives so much of our economy. 40% of the city’s food goes to restaurants. It also employs an enormous amount of people, so we have to be supportive of our restaurant industry. We have to get restaurants back open and make it so New York City residents can go out to eat and celebrate all of our accomplishments and milestones again. The reopening of the restaurant industry is also crucial to be able to attract visitors back to our city. Visitors come to the city because of the restaurant scene and all that the hospitality industry has to offer. What Covid-19 highlighted was how social the city is, so I’m very supportive of the restaurant industry. When Covid hit, everyone stepped up in the restaurant industry to feed essential workers and do their part for their neighbors. Knowing they’re doing their part when they’re struggling themselves was really inspiring. We connected with these chefs and were able to utilize them in ways we never have before.

What do you think went into the government’s decision to close indoor dining last month?

I’m not entirely sure. It doesn’t really make sense to me. The data suggests that at 25% capacity, there’s no large transmission of the virus. Maybe at 50% capacity, but at 25% capacity, it doesn’t seem like that’s the case. I don’t know if perhaps he is having anxiety about the number of hospitalizations. I don’t know exactly what’s driving that decision. I feel like we have to keep open as much as we can keep open while remaining safe. If patrons think it’s not safe, they’re not going to show up. Everything that I’ve seen says that at 25% capacity, it doesn’t seem like we’re transmitting the virus. Most of the evidence suggests that transmission is happening in private dwellings.

How do you tie in the vaccine with the city and restaurant industry coming back to life?

The city has to be really transparent about who is receiving the vaccine first. It makes complete sense that essential healthcare workers and the elderly population receive the vaccine first. However, we need to make sure that the next phase of essential workers includes hospitality workers to get things moving again. We need to do everything possible to get the food service industry open because people are desperate for employment. It’s difficult to say exactly what reopening will look like. It may be that the road back to normal happens in steps. The first step may be front-of-house staff wearing face coverings and customers having their temperature taken, and as we get to lower and lower transmission rates, and eventually no transmission, that changes.

How do you build a strong relationship with Washington and the new administration to fund a comeback for the restaurant industry?

We have to be advocating for restaurants on a federal level. We also need to advocate at the state level for restaurant owners to be able to keep or forgo the sales tax until the industry gets back on its feet.  If I’m elected mayor, I would work closely with the private sector and create pools of capital to support restaurants. This is really going to be a situation where, if restaurants can hang in there, we will be able to build back. It’s just a question of whether or not we can hang in there. We’re just not attracting anyone to restaurants now that it’s cold, and with the closing of indoor dining, more people were laid off. Businesses have to have enough money to pay utilities so they can come back strong in the spring. We need grants and loans to ensure we keep this industry alive. The real estate industry in particular is tied to the food service industry. They’re as stuck with us as we are with them. They can’t move their buildings anywhere and they need the restaurant industry to occupy them as well as be there to feed businesspeople that will be returning to the office. Who is going to go back to the office when there’s nowhere fun to go for lunch or after work?


To learn more about Kathryn Garcia’s campaign, visit her website.


Editorial contributions on this article made by Juliette Miettunen

  • DAVO Sales Tax
  • RAK Porcelain
  • Red Gold Sacramento
  • McKee Foodservice
  • RATIONAL USA
  • BelGioioso Burrata
  • Imperial Dade
  • Inline Plastics Safe-T-Chef
  • Texas Pete
  • Atosa USA
  • Simplot Frozen Avocado
  • T&S Brass Eversteel Pre-Rinse Units
  • AyrKing Mixstir
  • Day & Nite

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