Bartender Shares Sobriety Journey and Works to Help Others

AUDIO – SERVICE WITH HIS SMILE –

April 7, 2024 – 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.