Undocumented workers vital to Fresno restaurants. How much will deportations hurt?
A farmworker picking oranges or grapes is often the image that comes to mind when talking about undocumented immigrants working in Fresno.
An estimated 75% of California’s farm workers are undocumented — but what about restaurant workers? How much do Fresno restaurants rely on the labor of undocumented immigrants? And what could happen to Fresno’s restaurant scene if those workers were suddenly deported?
We went right to the source to ask: restaurant owners.
“Restaurants hire undocumented workers every day,” said one owner of three restaurants in the area. “The backbone of our restaurants are undocumented workers.”
It’s a topic Fresnans likely don’t think deeply about when ordering their ceviche or tri-tip sandwich with garlic aioli. But it’s one that could soon affect not just the lives of immigrants, but the dining out experience of the average Fresnan.
Restaurant owners aren’t comfortable speaking publicly about employing undocumented workers. They don’t want ICE busting through their doors and hauling off cooks and dishwashers in handcuffs in the middle of dinner service.
So The Bee agreed to talk to six restaurateurs without identifying them or their restaurants so they could speak freely. Some employ undocumented workers. Some don’t. But all have worked at restaurants that employed undocumented people.
“That’s what makes this issue so challenging: Everyone’s so afraid because of the fear of what might happen,” said Jason Leverant, president and chief operating officer at AtWork Group, a national staffing agency that has a location in Visalia. The company does not hire undocumented workers, but competes with companies that do.
Several organizations representing local businesses did not return messages seeking comment, including the Fresno and Central California Hispanic chambers of commerce and the Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation. The state and national chambers declined to comment as well, along with the California Restaurant Association.
So The Bee talked to the employers themselves.
Kitchen workers
Undocumented workers are most commonly in behind-the-scenes roles in the kitchen: cooks, dishwashers and bussers cleaning up tables.
It used to be much more common decades ago, but today just how many undocumented workers restaurants employ many varies by location.
One owner said 12 of 14 cooks at the company’s multiple restaurants are undocumented. Another said chains and franchised restaurants employ mostly undocumented kitchen workers as a way to meet strict budget limits. Yet another said 10% of his staff are undocumented.
Some restaurants don’t employ any.
Workers without proper documentation are often from Mexico because it’s so close, but restaurateurs say they have also worked with people from Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
The workers are at restaurants ranging from the most popular high-end places in town to casual mom-and-pop eateries. The restaurants include Italian, Mexican, American and family-oriented chain spots.
The owner of the north Fresno Italian restaurant Bella Pasta does not employ undocumented immigrants. He doesn’t want the stress of worrying about getting busted by authorities, he said.
At age 22, Fabian Rodriguez worked at the Italian restaurant he would eventually own.
“Everyone in that kitchen was an illegal immigrant. We knew it,” he said.
Customers had to walk through the kitchen to get to the restroom and the staff was instructed to stop speaking Spanish when they did, he said.
About 11 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the United States in 2022, the most recent figures available, according to the Pew Research Center. That’s about 3.3% of the overall population.
Of that 11 million undocumented number, 8.3 million people are working — an increase from 7.4 million in 2019, but essentially the same as previous highs in 2008 and 2011.
Most entered the U.S. without legal permission or arrived on a temporary visa and stayed after it expired according to the center.
The majority of immigrants overall — 77% — are in the country legally, according to the research center.
Why hire undocumented workers?
Restaurant owners cited the same three reasons for hiring workers without the proper papers: difficulty finding workers, an ability to pay them less than legal workers and a work ethic they say they can’t find elsewhere.
All this is happening against the backdrop of a labor shortage, noted Leverant, from the AtWork staffing agency. About 7.6 million jobs were unfilled nationally in February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“The role the undocumented workers are filling are those that are very challenging to staff with documented employees,” Leverant said.
One restaurant owner, said that young people ages 16 to 20 who might be expected to fill some entry-level restaurant jobs often struggle, especially in their first job.
In restaurants, workers are expected to pivot quickly. A dishwasher can be asked to clean toilets, fetch silverware or wipe tables at a moment’s notice, he said.
People who grew up here, in a culture where parents try to protect their children from hardship, don’t always last very long washing dishes, he said.
“Their work ethic is not really there,” he said. “I feel like immigrants fill that void so easily because they’re so willing to just work. They put their head down. ‘OK, I’ll clean tables.’”
The work is also hard. It is fast-paced and sweaty, with kitchens sometimes reaching well over 100 degrees, and cooks are always on their feet, restaurateurs note.
Several restaurateurs said undocumented workers were some of the hardest working employees they ever had. Often, they have families back home, and are sending a good percentage of their paycheck to them.
Some cooks work multiple jobs, said the owner of one central Fresno restaurant.
“Those guys are working 80 hours a week and they don’t seem to be complaining about it,” he said. “You send half your paycheck back home, and your family is building a home for you. And you do 10 years here, and you move back home.”
The owner of Bella Pasta said he’s struggled to find good workers who aren’t undocumented.
“We’ve not hired people on purpose and it kills you because, you are what I need, you are what I want, you are what is going to help me achieve my goals,” Rodriguez said. “The frustration (is) ... finding people with the experience that are willing to work hard. … It will take a long time.”
Despite being the son of an immigrant himself, Rodriguez said he believes in giving high school kids and people who have the right papers a chance, even if it means he has to work a little harder. He fondly recalls a group of Clovis North High School kids he said were the best workers he’s had in 30 years.
Lower pay
Undocumented cooks at one popular restaurant in town make about $20 an hour. Cooks who went to culinary school, even starting out, typically want $30 or more, the restaurateur said.
“I’m not going to find an American cook that’s going to do what I need them to do for $20 an hour,” the owner said. “They’re going to want $40 an hour, but I can’t do that because I can’t charge $80 a plate.”
Several restaurateurs also said undocumented immigrants are more likely to follow orders, where recent culinary grads often want to put their own spin on dishes — something you can’t do in longtime restaurants where customers expect the same classic dish every time.
Restaurant owners cite concerns over pay in an industry where eateries are struggling to keep their doors open. Last year, 37 restaurants in the Fresno area closed, most citing rising food and labor costs — including a minimum wage that rose to $16.50 an hour Jan. 1 — and astronomical energy bills, climbing rent and other expenses.
Still, at least two restaurateurs said they have worked alongside colleagues over the years who they knew were making less than minimum wage.
One owner of a downtown restaurant said he once worked with a woman who got one legitimate paycheck paying her minimum wage for some of her hours. Then a second paycheck that didn’t play by the rules, including not having any of the taxes, insurance or other expenses employers are supposed to pay taken out.
In all, she was making less than minimum wage, he said.
“I’m sure there’s a lot that are not getting paid minimum wage,” the restaurateur said.
Another longtime chef and former restaurant owner confirmed he’s seen workers making $14 or $15, but they often don’t stay at the job long. It all depends on the owner, he said.
On the other end of the spectrum, some of the best chefs in town are undocumented and making excellent money, he said. If someone is really good, he or she is going to be taken care of so they stay, he said.
“I know a couple people in this industry who don’t have papers and they’re making bank,” he said.
How does it work?
Some restaurant owners told The Bee they knowingly hire undocumented workers. Others said they don’t know when they hire someone, and only find out later that their workers are undocumented.
As long as an employee has a Social Security number or an ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number), they can be hired.
Some restaurants run their employees’ Social Security numbers through an I-9 employment eligibility system (though if a number and name match and are valid, it will check out). Some don’t, and there’s very little enforcement of using the system, they say.
Sometimes the Social Security number is stolen. Sometimes it belongs to somebody’s uncle. Sometimes the job applicant has a different name on the application than he does on his Social Security card, restaurateurs said.
But as long as the worker has a name, birth date and a Social Security or ITIN, the person can get hired.
It’s especially easy to hire undocumented people in chain restaurants, said one restaurant owner, where there’s several levels of management involved in hiring. Locations are also often saddled with strict budgets from corporate that are most easily met by cutting back on pay.
The restaurateurs said workers are usually getting paychecks with the appropriate taxes, workers’ compensation and Social Security removed — though workers may never get some of that money back.
What could deportations mean for dining out?
Deportations are already happening around the country, though few have happened in the Fresno area so far. Although Trump first promised to deport criminals, ICE’s own statistics shows about a quarter of the 33,242 people swept up by ICE so far this year did not have convictions or criminal accusations.
As time goes on, losing workers from local restaurants could have a big affect on the local restaurant scene and the national economy, said Hannah Archambault, an assistant professor at Fresno State with a doctorate in labor economics.
“Even eliminating a small portion of them is still going to have a significant negative recessionary impact,” she said. “It’s going to slow our economy down.”
It would mean less spending at local businesses by those workers, less tax revenue paid to the government, and jobs left vacant, Archambault said. One study she cited shows that prices would rise as fewer workers means less output of goods — from farms or factories — and the gross domestic product shrinks.
Specifically in Fresno, several restaurateurs said the situation would be similar to COVID-19 times, when restaurants suddenly wouldn’t have enough staff to run a restaurant. They would have to close temporarily, at least — and some permanently.
One restaurateur said losing staff on top of all the other challenges the business is facing would be devastating: “I would probably have to shut down half of my restaurants if I did not have undocumented workers because I would not have the staff.”
Replacing those workers with higher-paid employees here legally would cost more. And those costs would be passed on to customers, restaurateurs said.
Think $5 for a taco is expensive now?
“Get ready for $10 tacos. Get ready for $20 burritos,” said one restaurant owner. “It doesn’t take much to trigger that.”
This story was originally published April 13, 2025 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Undocumented workers vital to Fresno restaurants. How much will deportations hurt?."
