Labor
Yoga classes, therapy and 401(k)s: California businesses beefing up benefits to attract workers
CalMatters 8/11
California businesses are responding to a labor shortage with social media pleas, hiring incentives, bonuses and new benefits. So far, workers, particularly in the service industry, are seeing wages rise.
In push to vaccinate workers, Sonoma County restaurateur offers $21,000 in prizes
Los Angeles Times 8/10
A Sonoma County restaurant owner is offering a lucrative incentive for her employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Food Industry Policy
Pork producers brace for California’s new sow housing rules
Agri Pulse 8/11
California regulations that will require hog farms to provide sows with more housing space starting in 2022 will likely pose logistical challenges for pork exports while increasing production costs and raising retail prices, say producers and industry analysts.
Oceanside comes down hard on plastic
San Diego Reader 8/10
It’s a day many have worked and waited for: when Oceanside restaurants get stingy about straws and other single-use plastics. On August 4, a once reluctant city council finally agreed to require the businesses to provide such disposable meal accessories upon request only.
On the Side
A new Oakland restaurant will celebrate Black women and heritage cuisine
Berkeleyside 8/10
A restaurant celebrating Black heritage cuisine and run entirely by Black women and women of color will open in the Temescal district this fall.
Unlike Competitors, Chuy’s Isn’t Raising Prices
FSR Magazine 8/9
Chuy’s is bucking the trend of raising prices to make up for current labor, supply chain, and inflation pressures, a move that runs counter to what many other restaurants are planning for the rest of the fiscal year.
