Expo Magazine is a zine for service workers, by service workers, about life in the industry. Expo is about DC’s bars, cafés, kitchens, and restaurants, and the labor that run them.
In a restaurant, the ‘expo’ station (short for expedite) is the bridge between the kitchen, or back-of-house, and the front-of-house. It is the connecting point between realms, the space where dishes are reviewed, garnished, and made ready to serve to waiting guests. In choosing this name for our publication, we hope to similarly serve as a connecting point between back- and front-of-house workers, acknowledging and processing our shared experiences before presenting them to you, the reader.
Want to support Expo as a member of the production team or as a volunteer? Fill out the form below, and we will be in touch!
WElcome to expo
the backstory
Expo was first imagined in 2025 after the repeal of Initiative 82, the bill that would have raised DC tipped workers’ wages to match the city’s regular minimum wage by 2027. The repeal, led and bankrolled by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) was a classic case of everyday workers being out-organized and out-financed by special interest groups, the owning class, and impressionable Councilmembers willing to betray workers’ wellbeing for the favor of wealthy restaurant groups and pro-business forces.
Expo emerged in direct response to the repeal of Initiative 82 and has since grown into a project bursting with opportunity for solidarity, organizing power, and worker autonomy. We the workers are tired of having our voices and our realities denied by our managers, bosses and owners, a misinformed or entitled general public, and even our own elected officials. Expo is our words, our stories finally put down on the page.
the Mission
Expo’s mission is to shed light on the shared struggles of workers across the industry, build and encourage solidarity and political mobilization, connect workers to their rights, and ultimately ensure dignity and a voice for every worker. We are committed to being a publication entirely run by current and former service workers.
Expo focuses on the DC-metropolitan region against the broader context of restaurant and service work in American history and its place in the American labor movement.