by Vanguard Staff
NAPA COUNTY, Calif. — YIMBY Action has launched a petition urging The French Laundry to withdraw its opposition to a proposed affordable housing complex in Yountville, escalating a dispute over workforce housing in one of Napa Valley’s wealthiest communities.
The advocacy group announced the petition this week, calling on the Michelin-starred restaurant to rescind its request that the workforce housing project known as The Commons “slow down,” despite the city having already held 23 public meetings on the proposal.
The French Laundry’s head chef, Thomas Keller, has asked that the project be delayed, according to YIMBY Action. The Commons is intended to provide affordable housing in Yountville, a high-resource town where rents and home prices have long outpaced wages for hospitality and agricultural workers.
Many of The French Laundry’s employees — including dishwashers, line cooks and wait staff — currently commute from more affordable areas outside Yountville, where housing remains scarce and expensive. A dinner with wine at The French Laundry can cost more than $1,000 per person, while monthly rent for a studio or one-bedroom unit at The Commons would represent a significant portion of the wages earned by sommeliers and kitchen servers making between $16.90 and $17.00 per hour.
YIMBY Action said its petition highlights the urgent need for housing near jobs in Napa Valley’s hospitality and agricultural economy and calls on Keller to publicly support quick approval and construction of the project.
“Thomas Keller is essentially telling his workers, and all of Napa Valley’s workers: ‘let them eat cake,’” said Leora Tanjuatco Ross, California director of YIMBY Action. “Michelin-starred, $1,000-a-meal restaurants like The French Laundry depend on a diverse workforce, from farmworkers to servers to kitchen staff. Those workers deserve the chance to live near their jobs instead of facing punishing commutes or displacement.”
The petition argues that the shortage of affordable housing forces workers to travel long distances, contributing to economic strain, diminished quality of life and higher carbon emissions. It also states that building more homes in high-opportunity communities like Yountville is critical to sustaining local economies and enabling workers to live where they work. According to the group, four out of 10 Yountville residents are currently rent-burdened.
YIMBY Action is encouraging residents, workers and housing advocates to sign the petition and call on Keller to support affordable housing development in Yountville.
“We can all agree that running a globally recognized restaurant requires the labor of people from all walks of life, and a range of skills,” the petition’s appeal to Keller reads. “And we can all agree that people shouldn’t have to drive long distances to get to work. It’s bad for the environment, and bad for people’s mental health. You’re an exceptional jobs creator. Now you have the opportunity to be a housing creator. We hope you seize it.”
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