Service workers, including wait staff and bartenders are surrounded by alcohol during their work shifts. The combination of the high-pressure of the profession combined with odd hours and the proximity of alcohol can have potentially dangerous ramifications.
According to a 2015 study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the food service and hospitality industry has the highest rates of substance use disorders and third-highest rates of heavy-alcohol use of all employment sectors.
Some in the industry are looking to buck that trend and offer help to coworkers who may be struggling with addiction.
Groups like Ben's Friends, Big Table, and The Giving Kitchen all provide help in the service industry space.
Tony Kost is a long-time service industry employee. He works as the bar manager at Immigrant Son Brewery and he also serves as the chapter lead for Ben's Friends.
He recently joined Ideastream Public Media’s “Sound of Ideas” and host Jenny Hamel to talk about his own sobriety journey.
Kost says he grew up immersed in the food service industry. His mother ran the former Watermark restaurant in Cleveland, and he built on his early experiences spent there by working with Cleveland celebrity chef Michael Symon for a decade.
He detailed for the “Sound of Ideas” how much alcohol became part of his identity. “I thought it was so cool to be this party animal. … I had no desire to stop drinking until I finally did. And I think that's a big thing of, you know, the truth of recovery or getting sober is that you will never actually do it until you're really ready. No matter who tries to convince you or no matter how bad things get, it's not until you are absolutely ready.” Kost said.
He says he believes there are many people like him who fall into that place where they’ve become dependent on alcohol without even realizing it.
“It’s their own fault. Sure. But it's also society's fault because we turn such a blind eye to alcoholism. You know, we all sit next to each other at the bar top area pounding down shots or drinking cocktails at a beautiful awesome bar or emptying bottles of wine left and right," Kost said.
"That's harmful behavior. I mean, yes, it's fun to a certain extent, but when you're doing that every single night, you're very, very quickly getting close to that physical dependency and that becomes really, dangerous.”
Kost went through a months-long detox program and got sober. He then re-entered the food industry working for a friend as a bartender.
“So as terrifying as it was, I took a job bartending, you know, after about four months of sobriety. … And I got back behind the bar, and it wasn't a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde moment. I didn't turn into this maniac that all sudden wanted to pick up the bottles and start chugging booze.”
He is now the chapter lead of Ben’s Friends. It is a coalition of sober food and beverage workers who support others in the industry dealing with addiction.
“I've never been ashamed of being a sober person because I don't think there's anything to be ashamed about. There are so many people every single day struggling with so many things, and it's a travesty that people make them feel bad for it, especially when they don't have any control over it.”
Guest:
-Tony Kost, Bartender; Ben's Friends Cleveland Chapter Leader
