Is There A 'Missing Middle' Of Middle Class-Friendly Restaurants?

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 03/23/2026) (DETROIT) – From farmers struggling with rising fertilizer costs due to war in Iran to restaurateurs attempting to assist employees with housing, U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) sees a "missing middle" taking shape in dining. She participated in a roundtable where participants warned of middle-class restaurants being diminished, with fast food chains and high-end restaurants better equipped to handle costs.

"Hearing from restaurateurs about that 'missing middle,' those restaurants — that aren't white-tablecloth super fancy … but they're not fast food — (they're) clearly struggling," Slotkin said. "People who are trying to do the right thing and buying from local producers are struggling, in some cases, the most."

She said a "disappearing middle" in the United States is taking place in pretty much every sector she comes in contact with, "and that's just inherently bad and risky, and I would say at this point it's a national security issue because … I believe in feeding ourselves by ourselves."

Slotkin was in Detroit Monday morning speaking with nearby restaurant owners, chefs and urban farmer leaders.

The event was run and moderated by the James Beard Foundation, a national organization that, in 2024, launched a "climate solutions for restaurant survival" campaign.

It took place at the Ivy Kitchen + Cocktails on Jefferson Avenue. The owner, Nya Marshall, said that she lives and plays in the community where her restaurant is located.

Marshall said that all the restaurant's food waste is converted to compost, and that it's right now seeking grant funding to re-use "recyclable to-go products."

However, she said that as a restaurateur, she feels like they take on a lot of social issues, like providing housing to employees because the neighborhood's housing costs have gone up.

"I purchased houses and duplexes and things like that so that I can provide affordable housing where I don't make a profit, which I'm perfectly fine with because I get the equity," Marshall said. "I also provide workforce development training for my employees, and these are all things that I pay for personally out of my own pocket."

Another attendee was Omar Anani, the owner and executive chef of Saffron De Twah, a Moroccan restaurant on Detroit's east side. He said at the end of the day, he thinks the country's middle-tiered restaurants are disappearing.

He recalled $20 once going farther at a fast food joint than it does currently. Meanwhile, a "middle-tiered" restaurant's prices have gotten higher, the service and food quality have stayed the same and "the discrepancy becomes so big."

"How many times have you eaten out, and you're like, 'Was that really worth the money that I just spent?'" Anani said.

He added that his team lost grant money for a restaurant that was "supposed to be a community-based restaurant with free housing for the staff up above it."

"Now we're kind of having to bootstrap and figure out how we build that … I know for farmers, who would have gone under due to either lack of rain or flooding, if it wasn't for all these programs that were in place," Anani said, referencing efforts by President Donald Trump's administration to downsize federal grant spending.

Slotkin said if anyone in the room received a federal grant that has been frozen or cut, they should contact her office, especially if a contract was signed. She said her office has basically been able to "bang pots and pans," with a 50 percent success rate so far of "shaking loose that money."

As for his interactions with Michigan farmers, Anani said if he had a penny for each time he's heard "this is the coldest winter I've seen in forever," he would probably have $1.

Because Slotkin highlighted how Michigan is second to California for biodiversity in its agriculture, Anani said the Traverse City band on Northern Michigan's west side is where the biggest diversity comes from, and it's slowly moving south.

"These farmers Up North, their seasons are getting shorter and shorter, and weirder and weirder," Anani said. "The system itself is inherently broken in a number of ways, and that was exacerbated in COVID … we did 110,000 meals in 2020 for people in need. And it showed us that farmers, even (at) that point, didn't have a way to get their food (anywhere). The transportation system was completely befuddled."

Also in attendance was Jon Kent, the co-founder of Sanctuary Farms in Detroit. He described wanting to advocate for farmer training that is "culturally relevant for people to be able to do that for themselves." He additionally called for Michigan to have its landfill tipping fees increased, which currently stands at 36 cents per ton for solid waste.

"We have more trash per capita than any other state, and we happen to be the bearer of the Great Lakes. I just think it's not wise for us to play with this biggest body of fresh water in the Northern Hemisphere," Kent said. "And the fertilizers that we get from overseas are not the answer to that. The answer to that is food reduction. The answer to that is composting, and that can be done across the state."

Kent requested that Congress develop a "Farm Bill" that infuses more funding into food policy councils where people can mobilize and discuss their respective regions, as well as more money for the Office of Urban Agriculture.

A huge portion of Slotkin's remarks were centered on the belief that Congress should update the federal "Farm Bill," instead of continuing to extend the 2018 statute. However, she described the current state of politics as delaying progress, claiming that she thinks the U.S. Senate's agriculture committee has met publicly five times in the past year.

She told MIRS that out of her four committee assignments, the agricultural panel has met the least.

"The 'Farm Bill' that is guiding farm policy in America and food policy in America is over eight years old," Slotkin said. "You can imagine how different inflation is from eight years ago. It's radically different, so our farmers aren't getting what they need, and then we're sort of refusing to update it … we're dealing with very outdated policies and very outdated pricing."

Ann McBride, the James Beard Foundation's vice president of impact, said that restaurants have become so central to American culture, and folks shouldn't have to spend the year saving money to go out to dinner.

"Restaurants are the places where we celebrate, where we grieve, where we just go and have conversations with friends," McBride said. "The fact that eating out is becoming so unaffordable for so many people, you start losing a critical element in terms of the concept of third places, these places where you gather that are not home or church."

Last year, according to the foundation's recent report, 70 percent of independent restaurant chefs increased menu prices by under 10 percent, and 11 percent of chefs increased them by 10 percent or more. During the year before that, 28 percent of chefs heightened their menu costs by 10 percent or more.

Also last year, 18 percent of independent restaurant owners in the U.S. didn't give their employees raises.