"It’s crazy, but it’s a calming kind of crazy."

Underneath the famous bow-tie floor of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach resort is a network of hallways linking the property’s four towers. Room service attendants whisk by with carts of food. Workers stop by the cafeteria for a hot meal. A wall of photos honors employees who have been with the hotel for 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50-plus years.

In 16 different kitchens, cooks work to make the food for the resort’s 12 restaurants, cafes and bars.

Michelle Phillips, 33, never thought she’d count herself among the 2,000 employees of Miami-Dade’s largest hotel. Before January she worked as a dishwasher and line cook at a breakfast restaurant making $11 an hour. Now, she’s getting ready to celebrate her one-year anniversary as a cook in the Fontainebleau banquet kitchen making $14.85 an hour with employer-provided health insurance, an upgrade that has allowed the mother of two to support herself for the first time.

Read more at the Miami Herald