This study examined the proposition that cultural differences between ethnic-operated restaurants in
high tourism areas of the United States (US) compared to non-ethnic operated restaurants explains the
differences in food safety and sanitation inspection scores in five US cities considered popular tourism
destinations. It was hypothesized that ethnic-operated restaurants, composed of people from different
cultural norms than that ofthe indigenous US population, would resultin significantly higher rates of critical
regulatory violations than non-ethnic-operated restaurants. Food safety inspection data was obtained
from five cities in the west, mid-west, east and two from the south for the years 2009 and 2010. Results
confirmed the hypotheses that ethnic-operated restaurants have significantly higher rates of inspection
and critical violations. Implications for regulators, trainers, ethnic restaurants and organizations seeking
to manage diversity are discussed.