Labor
Is California blowing it on unemployment reform?
Palo Alto Online 4/4
Amid the chaos, another big problem has largely been overlooked: The state is out of unemployment money, and nobody is doing much about it. California has a history of going deep into the red to pay for jobless benefits during recessions, but the stakes are especially high this time as businesses hit hard by unprecedented pandemic shutdowns look to restart hiring.
California Restaurant Foundation Launches $1.25M Relief Fund for Woman and BIPOC-Owned Restaurants
FSR Magazine 4/2
The California Restaurant Foundation (CRF), a non-profit that invests in and empowers California’s restaurants and its workforce, has received more than $1.25 million from SoCalGas, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E), and others to launch the Resilience Fund. The fund will provide grants of up to $3,500 to single-unit restaurants across California, with priority given to woman- and person of color-owned restaurants.
Food Industry Policy
Is sustainable fish a scam, like Netflix documentary ‘Seaspiracy’ suggests?
San Francisco Chronicle 4/5
I watched the documentary last week, and I was impressed with how effectively it layered images of despair and horror to erode viewers’ sense of hope. The solution that the documetary presented — “stop eating fish” — felt so simple, but from my experiences as a chef sourcing sustainable fish and living in coastal regions of the continent where fish and seafood are a central part of everyday life, I sensed that the answer was much more complicated.
On DoorDash, these S.F. sushi spots look like famous restaurants. The real owners say they’re fakes
San Francisco Chronicle 4/5
Things seemed normal when Blowfish Sushi opened for dinner Friday night in the Mission District, the familiar red spiky blowfish logo prominently displayed on a square sign above the door and a chalkboard sign advertising delivery. But then Jason Teplitsky showed up, ready to fulfill his nickname, “The Monster”: He owns Blowfish — or at least the trademark rights to its logo and its name. And as far as he knew, he’d shut the business down in December after more than 20 years.
On the Side
Established restaurateurs try new concepts in Los Gatos
The Mercury News 4/5
The owner of North, a Vietnamese restaurant in downtown Los Gatos, is creating a new concept to capitalize on what she calls the “pho cult.”
New Businesses Open, Expand In San Francisco As COVID Restrictions Ease
CBS San Francisco 4/4
Several new businesses in San Francisco are opening on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, pumping a new kind of energy and optimism back into the city.
