Labor
McDonald’s raises hourly wages for company-owned restaurants
CNBC 5/13
McDonald’s will raise pay for hourly employees at company-owned restaurants by an average of 10% and hourly pay is on track to hit an average of $15 by 2024, the company said. The raises come as McDonald’s is recruiting to fill 10,000 job openings at the restaurants it operates.
Small restaurant jobs not protected under California’s “Right to Recall” law
KTVU 5/12
Despite a new labor law passed in California last month that requires employers in certain service industries to call back laid-off workers in order of seniority, many restaurant workers aren’t getting their jobs back. Small restaurants, which make up a large portion of food employers in the Bay Area, are not included in the law.
Food Industry Policy
Suit challenges restaurant aid priority to women, minorities
AP News 5/13
A conservative legal outfit filed a lawsuit Wednesday against President Joe Biden’s administration for its prioritization of restaurants and bars owned by women and certain minorities in its COVID-19 relief package, arguing white men are being “pushed to the back of the line” for aid for their eateries.
Editorial: Give restaurants a break on fees
The Press Democrat 5/12
They lost an incalculable amount of business, and many of them will never reopen. Despite their struggles, they were dunned for the full cost of annual permits and fees.
Grubhub Launches Commission-Free Platform ‘Grubhub Direct’
FSR Magazine 5/12
Grubhub on Wednesday announced Grubhub Direct, a platform to help independent restaurants better compete online through commission-free online ordering and access to their customer data.
On the Side
Will these Fresno restaurants ever reopen? Closed since COVID, here’s what they say
The Fresno Bee 5/13
With the whiplash of closings, reopenings and increased cleaning expenses, some restaurateurs said they couldn’t bring in enough money to justify staying open. Most intended to reopen, but now that we’ve been dealing with the coronavirus for more than a year, will they really? Or did the lack of money coming in mean the restaurants decided to call it quits? Did their leases expire in the time they were closed?
9 Restaurant Openings in San Francisco You Need to Know
Thrillist 5/12
The last 14 months have been pretty brutal for the restaurant industry. For what felt like eons, it was just temporary closings and reopenings (and repeat), shutterings, and an overwhelming feeling of unrelenting angst. Now, though that feeling of angst is still very much there, it’s accompanied by a sense of hope.
I ate weed-infused fried chicken and doughnuts and was shocked the cannabis didn’t ruin the flavor of the food
Business Insider 5/12
Recently, I bought a $200 ticket to a dinner party with a prix fixe menu-for-two. Of the seven courses on the menu, three of them were infused with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component in the cannabis plant — yes, the part that makes you feel “high” when you consume it.
