Labor
As Restrictions for Outdoor Dining Are Lifted Restaurant Owners Decide Whether They Should Open (VIDEO)
NBC Los Angeles 1/31
Hospitalization rates are dropping as counties work to speed up vaccine deliveries; with that progress, outdoor dining restarted this weekend. Business owners are working hard to ensure that customers and their employees are safe.
Rumors are flying that California restaurant workers won’t be prioritized for vaccines. They’re false
San Francisco Chronicle 1/26
Restaurant workers, even young ones, are among the group considered essential workers that will be prioritized for vaccines, the state has confirmed, despite rumors to the contrary.
Food Industry Policy
California’s outdoor dining ban was controversial. Did it help slow the COVID-19 surge?
Los Angeles Times 2/1
Despite heated opposition and vows of resistance from some restaurant owners and elected officials, there is increasing evidence that California’s latest stay-at-home order, including a ban on outdoor dining, worked to turn around a deadly surge of the coronavirus.
As restaurants reopen, L.A. County health officials warn it’s still risky to dine out
KTLA 1/31
When restaurants reopened this time around, they had to adjust to new rules: they can’t have televisions on, waiters must wear both face coverings and face shields at all times, outdoor tables must be placed at least 8 feet apart — not 6 — and no more than six people can be seated per table, all of them from the same household.
On the Side
0 to 300: How Virtual Concepts Are Blowing Up Overnight
Restaurant Business Online 1/31
Virtual concepts are brands that have no brick-and-mortar location of their own. They exist only digitally, as apps or on third-party marketplaces, with the fare produced by actual restaurants for delivery or takeout. Not surprisingly, they’ve exploded during the pandemic as restaurants seek additional revenue streams and more consumers take to delivery apps. And for the companies going virtual, they’ve become a kind of cheat code for expansion.
Saturday Night Diners Flock To Reopened Outdoor Bay Area Restaurants
CBS San Francisco 1/31
Once again there was a buzz among the restaurants in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood Saturday night as outdoor dining returned after being shut down during the recent surge in COVID-19 cases.
