Bear Tooth Theatrepub
Bear Tooth Grill
Broken Tooth
BLACK LIVES MATTER.
The Moose’s Tooth, Bear Tooth, and Broken Tooth have been a part of the Alaskan Community for 24 years. We have built our businesses on quality, value, and people. And right now, people are hurting.
The Black Lives Matter movement is an opportunity to acknowledge the inequities of race and reflect on ways that we, as white business operators, may improve our business practices and community mindfulness. We have staff from every socio-economic background and every race that calls Alaska home, but the distribution is clearly not even. And it’s important to ask the hard questions: why are there more minorities in the Back-of-House than the Front-of-House? Do we provide equal opportunities and fairly promote from within? And when we speak of love and diversity in our hearts, do these ideals actively get projected through the actions and motions of our companies?
So how do we take action and help with real change? What can we do now, and just as importantly, what can we do every day moving forward to remember and improve?
The current combination of racism, wealth divide, and COVID-19 have created a perfect storm of extreme need for many of our community members. In order to help with these immediate needs, we would like to join you—as staff members of the Moose, Bear, and Brewery—and match up to $10,000 in donations to a handful of different local nonprofits of your choice. Please email Lisa/HR at freshalelisa@gmail.com or call her at 264-9163 to submit the nonprofit group you would like to donate to by Wed, June 24th. We will research the nonprofits and roll out our donation program starting Monday, June 29th and it will go through the month of July (more details to come on how it will work).
Secondly, we want to hear from you! What is your honest assessment of our internal business practices? What can we do better? We have created an anonymous feedback form to discuss concerns and ideas about equality, racism, and procedures within the Tooth companies. You can find the form here. Additionally, if you’d like an opportunity to speak directly with an owner or manager, this link provides a way to make that request.
Finally, we have always tried hard to honor those who help contribute to the success of our companies: competitive pay, health care, profit sharing, meal and beverage discounts, and flexible scheduling. Now we are asking ourselves, can we do more? Restaurants are notorious for low paying, low advancement jobs. When a person isn’t able to advance within, what might we offer that could improve someone’s chances of finding a better paying job and career? We have some ideas and we’d love to hear from you about this important concept. If we believe in the community of people that work for our restaurants, we must foster growth and opportunity not just on those wishing to have a successful and rewarding career with us, but to all those whose time and dedication to our companies prove so essential to their success.
This is serious stuff at a time when almost everyone is struggling on some level. But we would like to be part of the solution. We live in an amazing and diverse community that we hope to be part of for another 24 years. We will keep on trying and fighting for improvement. Our eyes are a little more open. Thank you.