Amanda Cohen: Getting down in the dirt of change

As one of the restaurant industry’s foremost voices calling for positive change to make the lives of staff and restaurateurs better, it is sometimes easy to forget what a singularly talented chef Amanda Cohen is. Her New York restaurant Dirt Candy pioneered the vegetable-forward movement, changing the way we think about plant-based food, elevating vegetable cuisine while cementing its place as one of New York’s very best restaurants.

It is for her work within the industry at large that Cohen was nominated and awarded the title of one of Fine Dining Lovers’ Hospitality Heroes, nominated by FDL’s readers and an award that recognises true leadership in the restaurant industry.

Long before the pandemic shook the restaurant industry, Cohen was vocal about the need to change conditions for restaurant workers, but it was during those two traumatic years that she became a figure of national importance with her energies focused on instituting positive and lasting change in the aftermath of the biggest shock to the industry for a hundred years.

Cohen is a great chef, in the real sense of the word. A natural leader that inspires through her passion and her actions, indeed it seems appropriate to call her an activist, although she is somewhat reluctant to accept the label.

“It’s kind of an unintentional activism,” says Cohen. “You could say that it’s a kind of selfish activism because I’m doing it to make my life better. So I just keep trying to do things that will improve the quality of my life and the life of my team. Thankfully it so happens to help other people.

“Work is hard, it’s supposed to be otherwise it would be called ‘vacation’, but it doesn’t have to be miserable. It should be a rewarding place to be. We have to figure out how to make it so, obviously, to do that, we have to set up the inherent set-up of a restaurant.”

The restaurant industry is the second biggest employer in the US, second only to the government itself, and yet, there is no one single union or administrative body that can demand change or conditions of work. It is in fact, just hundreds of thousands of small businesses pulling in their own directions.

“I think we are just on the cusp of change,” says Cohen. “One of the problems with the restaurant industry is that we call it an industry, but it’s not really. It’s hundreds of thousands of restaurants doing their own thing, and we are not united, we don’t have one guiding principle, or unity of purpose, except not to shut down and to serve good food.

“In the US there isn’t really one umbrella organisation for all these restaurants. We have the National Restaurant Association, but that’s really more for big multi-restaurant groups, the restaurant chains. We have the Independent Restaurant Coalition, which is great, but it’s just getting started. But there’s not just one organisation that’s for employees and restaurateurs that really unifies the industry.

“We are starting to get there, as in people are starting to see the need for it. Rules, regulations and standards are a good thing and can only benefit the industry, the staff, the employers and the customers.”

If there’s an important industry conference, symposium or think tank, Cohen’s name more often than not features on the bill. She is an inspirational speaker, but her real value to the movement for change is that she has been able to affect positive change in her own restaurant and still make a profit.

“It was sort of a surprise, that all the changes kind of worked so well,” says Cohen. “We are a more employee-forward type of restaurant, and yet we still actually make money and turn a profit. But really, I was surprised with the success that we’ve had so far.

“We’ve done things like change and simplify our menu, to reduce costs, so that we can give our employees more benefits. We have a few fewer employees than we did pre-pandemic, but nothing too extreme. We went from 33 to 25, it’s a small restaurant so it makes a difference.

“The menu is leaner, but the prices are in line with what they were before, maybe a little higher, for the four or five course menu and surprisingly we are able to turn a profit while being able to pay our staff, not as much as I would like to, but we’re getting there. Minimum wage is $15 but we are able to pay $29 an hour.”

Over the years Dirt Candy has built a loyal clientele, based not only on the consistent high quality of the food, but also because of the fair wage ethos that Cohen has instilled. Cohen has proved that the customer has an appetite for fairness and to know where their money goes. “You can see it in our reviews online,” says Cohen. “The phrase that comes out the most is that customers say that it’s so nice to know that we can pay our staff a living wage. Part of that is that we don’t have tipping, which means we can pay our staff a living wage. People really like supporting our restaurant.

“People like to know where their money is going. I don’t think we are particularly expensive, but it’s a nice meal. You’re not spending $5 on something, you’re sitting down and you’re having a whole dinner. It’s a commitment, a couple hours visit, and people want value for money. But knowing that the staff are treated well gives an added value on top of the food and the service.”

Despite her national profile and her activism, Cohen remains a heart at chef, whose focus is her restaurant.

“My life is really all about the restaurant and making it the best place possible for my staff in which to work, as well as giving our customers the best possible experience when they trust us with their hard-earned money or their occasion. I always try to improve.”