incarnation as “Low Life.” January 2016.
COLORS, a restaurant dedicated to worker rights, is making a move from Lafayette Street to 178 Stanton St. on the Lower East Side. From the former home of “Low Life,” a short-lived spot next to the Stanton Street Shul, the organization that owns COLORS will also operate an expanded training and advocacy center.
The gluten free restaurant was first opened in 2006 as a cooperative owned by some of the former employees of Windows on the World in the World Trade Center. It’s now operated by ROC-United (Restaurant Opportunities Center).
According to a press release, the LES location will offer better support for the, “Colors Hospitality Opportunities for Workers (CHOW) Institute, which provides in-depth and advanced professional training in both front- and back-of-the-house restaurant skills.” ROC-United’s Co-founder, Saru Jayaraman, said, “We are delighted to move COLORS–New York to the Lower East Side, a neighborhood with deep historical ties to immigrants and the labor movement.”
COLORS is described as, “part restaurant, part training-facility, part worker-owned cooperative incubator.” Jayaraman has been an outspoken advocate of improved restaurant labor practices. The New York Times profiled her earlier last year.
The restaurant is scheduled to open Feb. 13.
