The restaurant industry faces challenges with poor working conditions and low job status, making it difficult to recruit and retain staff. With this premise, this study examines how the concept of restaurant work is constructed within the restaurant industry and broader societal discourses by applying two Foucauldian analytical tools: the problem and the truth. The article's contextual starting point is the reduced VAT rate for restaurant and catering services in Sweden, which is implemented to combat unemployment and increase the flow of labour into the industry. The analysis reveals three key representations: the social entrepreneur, the entrepreneurial victimhood, and the frontline guardian of the moral economy. These representations highlight the restaurant industry's position in addressing unemployment and integration, while also emphasising the economic hardships faced by restaurant entrepreneurs. The study concludes that an entrenched link between low-status jobs and the restaurant industry is perpetuated by these representations, suggesting that investments in improved working conditions are considered to put the economic foundation of the restaurant industry at risk.